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Pleasantville |
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Pleasantville |
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"Movies, The Reel Deal" Film Review: Pleasantville copyright: Mike Way posted: 10-30-98 |
| Every now and then, a director steps out, takes a chance,
and gives the world a wonderful jewel worthy of being called history making. On Friday
October 23, 1998, such a thing occurred with the theatrical release of Pleasantville.
When you add to the fact that the film was written, produced, and directed by a single
individual, Gary Ross, one realizes a third the way through the movie that Pleasantville
is not just a movie, but a vision quest extraordinaire. Pleasantville is an endearing story of many stories. No, that’s not double-talk, it’s truth. Pleasantville is the most wonderful combination of so many great books and film that it threatens to create a new genre, all by itself. The film oozes with the hypothetical wit of It’s a Wonderful Life, while carefully being faithful to the fun and charm of Stay Tuned. It then hunkers down to become the great love story of Love Is A Many Splendora Thing and then completes the sandwich with a slice of To Kill A Mockingbird and a slice of The Fountainhead and best of all, it’s a delicious meal. Pleasantville owes much of it's charm to it's marvelous cast as each allow you to feel the torture of seeing their safe but phony world torn apart by people of color. The plot is simple: two teenagers, one precocious, the other more mature than his years, are transported by a mad scientist of a repairman in the person of Don Knotts to the television land of Pleasantville. Pleasantville is a careful combination of The Donna Reed Show, Father Knows Best, Ozzie & Harriet, and all the black and white sitcoms of the 1950's and 1960's. Life is sedate and everyone knows their place and what to do. The two intruders bring out emotions the people of Pleasantville have never experienced. This emotion, when strong enough, causes the people to change from pasty black and white to full vibrant color. People begin to fall in love, become angry and wonder about existence. Call it the fall from Eden and the mayor wants to banish the newcomers before any more harm can be done. The story progresses well with outstanding performances by Joan Allen and Jeff Daniels. Every performance was great but these two, take the show. There's an interesting caveat that some will be unprepared for. That caveat being the way "whites" treat "colored". It's a stinging commentary of real race relations in America. It gives the enlightened viewer the ability to see racism based on color in an entirely new, revolutionary, and ingeniously exposing light. I enjoyed Pleasantville. Many will compare it to The Truman Show. Don't be fooled -- Pleasantville is a much better movie with a whole lot more going for it than fancy tricks and dubious cunning. Pleasantville is a sleeper that promises to be heralded as one of the best dramatic films of the decade. Art reflecting life! Mike Way
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Copyright 1999 Creative Computer Specialists |
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| "Movies, The Reel Deal" Film Review: Pleasantville copyright: Mike Way to be posted: 10-30-98 |
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Copyright 1998 Creative Computer Specialists |
