Local Color

Post Reply
User avatar
OscarGuy
Site Admin
Posts: 13668
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 12:22 am
Location: Springfield, MO
Contact:

Post by OscarGuy »

Wesley Lovell
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." - Benjamin Franklin
flipp525
Laureate
Posts: 6163
Joined: Thu Jan 09, 2003 7:44 am

Post by flipp525 »

Puke. This movie looked at treacly vomitriciousness when that dude was shilling for it a couple weeks (months?) ago. Aside from the renewed presence of Samantha Mathis, I wouldn't go near it.
"The mantle of spinsterhood was definitely in her shoulders. She was twenty five and looked it."

-Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
User avatar
OscarGuy
Site Admin
Posts: 13668
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 12:22 am
Location: Springfield, MO
Contact:

Post by OscarGuy »

I can't seem to find the original thread on this, but here goes.

While a full review won't be posted for some time as I'm hitting a super-busy period, it's not a bad movie. It's about on par with Love Song for Bobby Long in terms of preachiness and about as well acted. I liked Bobby Long and I like Local Color, but not enough to elevate them very high.

While Armin Mueller-Stahl is fairly good, though not his best as Eastern Promises is probably taking that cake, he is a strong presence in the film. However, more striking, is that Trevor Morgan does fairly well standing his ground against Mueller-Stahl. He's a young star who could go places given the right management and the proper push.

Ray Liotta is just about awful taking the prejudiced "not as cruel as could be" father to no new places, relying mostly on stereotype. Samantha Mathis is underused and seems to be a far-too-tangential aspect of the film. Ron Perlman is a lisping straight art dealer. I don't know why he's protrayed that way.

I wasn't 100% sure who did the voice over (I keep thinking it was Ron Perlman, but I can't be certain), but the narration was distracting and the direct relied too heavily on it to tell the story, avoiding any chance for the audience to form their own opinion. It was probably this heavyhandedness that really distracted me most. Pair that with the sometimes rambling narrative and the general abstraction that seemed to be the plot and you have a few problems.

The direction is mostly assured when dealing with the technical elements, including the cinematography, which I could see competing for an award at the Independent Spirit Awards. Considering the size of the budget, there's a lot of positives in this technical proficiency.

Overall, there are more positives than negatives, but I doubt Armin Mueller-Stahl has much of a chance at the Oscars, but there is an opportunity if the film is submitted to the Spirit Awards.
Wesley Lovell
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." - Benjamin Franklin
Post Reply

Return to “2008”