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Reviews
Pack Strap Swallow (2005)
Eye opening realism and a bit of a scatterbrained format.
I just saw this movie on On Demand and it was riveting. The story of foreign girls getting caught trafficking drugs through the various methods described in the title is heart breaking and grounding. The movie is best when it allows the women to be open and honest about life in the prison and their past mistakes. Each woman's story is remarkably similar and told in such a sweet, regretful tone that I couldn't help but feel increasingly sympathetic for them. I really liked a scene near the end with two women talking in their room. Chalene, an Australian, and one of the older women in the group, talks about how she should have listened in her past and then the conversation shifts to the younger woman. It seems like such a scripted, poignant moment, and it is real.
I Am Sam (2001)
An ambitious premise that failed to follow through.
***SLIGHT SPOILERS*** `I Am Sam' is about growth and acceptance, and how people aren't always what they seem to be at first glance. But it loses track trying to please everyone and what it sets out to do becomes compromised in the delivery of a happy ending.
Penn plays the title character, Sam, who suffers from autism. Sam survives, as is shown in the opening credits, by living through routine and order. He has an order to everything and is able to function in `normal' society only by keeping all elements of his day constant. That's why, when Sam impregnates a homeless woman and is left with the kid; his life is affected drastically.
Initially, Sam has absolutely no clue how to be a father. He relies on his reclusive neighbor Annie to look over Lucy, his daughter, while he works. His job is at a local Starbucks delivering drinks to tables. He aspires to be behind the counter someday. When he comes home from work Sam faces a new and strange responsibility of taking care of a child. He does so the way he does so many other things: by setting up constants to rely on. Sam eventually develops a routine that includes Lucy, and slowly becomes able to function as he was before the birth.
Lucy grows rapidly and her intelligence quickly surpasses that of Sam's. She helps Sam out with reading stories, and grows tired of playing games well before he does. In school she has to deal with taunts about her father and wonders why her dad isn't like the others. Sam, of course, can't explain. Regardless of their awkward relationship, they develop a strong bond. This bond, however, is broken when the Children's and Families' Center takes Lucy away because they think Sam isn't capable of taking care of a child.
Sam's routine is again dramatically changed. He turns to a high profile lawyer, Rita Harrison (Michelle Pfeiffer), to help him out with his custody case. She is a vain and self-centered workaholic who cares more about her self-image than anything else. And when she's presented with Sam's case, she immediately turns it down because of his lack of funds. She changes her mind, however, and signs him on as a pro bono case when her colleagues call her greedy and selfish.
`I Am Sam' sets out to make people aware of an issue that normally would go unnoticed. And it doesn't quite make its point. This movie, through a series of courtroom scenes, has to come up with a definite decision as to who gets custody of Lucy: Sam or a foster family. Yet, in an effort to make everything come together in a Hollywood sort-of-way, a definite decision is never made. I guess audiences wouldn't like it if Sam never got Lucy back, and any point of making people aware of autism would be lost. But this film doesn't work the way it is.
After the first trial the movie seems set to end. But then, in an effort to give Sam a second chance at custody, the movie heads for another trial. What's wrong with that is the film's need to make everything turn out right in the mind of the audience. This film would be fair if the first trial resulted in Sam gaining custody of Lucy, but it chooses to stretch itself out and make a contrived ending difficult to arrive at.
Deciding, Who will get Lucy? isn't what this film is about. It's about how people like Sam are easily looked over in the world and how people suffering from mental illnesses still can be contributing members to society. And once this film strays from that point to a conventional and, ultimately, unsatisfying plotline, any message of awareness is lost.