In America
... movie reviews
tue 2005-apr-26 11:24:54 pdt
... permalink
Saturday we watched In
America. I knew almost nothing about it going in, which of
course is how I like to see movies. It was really great. The story
is engrossing, and the actors are great, especially the two little
girls.
Really minor complaint -- it's not really clear when the film is
supposed to be set. Presumably because it's partially
autobiographical, certain things are clearly drawn from the early
eighties when the director/co-writer himself actually came to the US,
such as E.T. being in theaters and popular. But then other things --
the 10-year-old's camcorder, for example -- kind of require placing it
more like late nineties or early zeroties (or whatever we're supposed
to be calling this decade).
But in the end, such details don't really matter. The story, as I
mentioned, is quite engrossing, regardless of time. The very last
scene (and one moment in particular) actually made shed a few tears,
something I haven't done in a movie in a very long time; I've felt a
bit teary-eyed now and then -- for example, during My Life Without
Me, I think -- but haven't actually had tears going down my
cheeks. Anyway, it wasn't really that this moment was so incredibly
sad, it was just the way it was done, I guess. Or perhaps it's more
just about the particular kind of sad, or something. I dunno.
In any case, highly recommended.
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