Almost There: Joan Allen in "Pleasantville"

by Cláudio Alves

You guys really love Joan Allen. Once again, this three-time Academy Award nominee has won the readers' vote in the Almost There polls. When choosing from a selection of 10 non-Oscar-nominated performances in new to streaming movies, you picked Allen's turn in Gary Ross' Pleasantville. It's a 1998 fantasy about two modern teenagers who find themselves teleported inside a 1950s black-and-white sitcom. As their influence humanizes the neighborhood, sexual autonomy blossoms as do other desires, wills. Even color starts to appear in the monochrome universe. Odious prejudice is soon to follow.

Between metaphors about sexual liberation, racism, and midcentury conservativism, one cast member shines brighter than all the others, rises above the picture's relative shortcomings. As the kids' televisual mother, Joan Allen is a miracle of stilted cheeriness melting into delicate gradations of humanity…

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Yes, No, Maybe So: "The Hunger Games"

We watch trailers. To avoid entirely selling our souls to marketing experts or entirely caving to our preconceived biases, we try to stay balanced as we do so. Sometimes we fail with unqualified "holy hell yes" or "dear god, no!" reactions but it's good to try and keep an open mind. 

On the subject of The Hunger Games, I haven't always had one. Though I live for the movies, the past decade has been rough going for me in franchise-land as Twilight and Harry Potter fandom have reigned for so long that I've begun to feel like an outcast from my own church, the church of the cinema. And now yet another YA appeal genre franchise which promises endless movies that will not be judged on their cinematic merit but on how well they fill fan cravings for beloved characters? I CAN'T DEAL.

I felt abused by the marketing, which has released so many morsels that we know they're building not just a bread crumb trail to the box office but a superhighway.  But that wasn't the problem. It was the way each crumb, no matter how inconsequential, was treated as if it was a seven course meal. Entire movies don't get the kind of attention each little blip from this movie gets.

But then this trailer arrived and it's either so brilliantly cut together that they've finally brainwashed me, or I've just now opened my heart to The Hunger Games or, possibly both. 

YES...

While I've never really thought of Gary Ross (Pleasantville, Seabiscuit) as an inspired visual stylist that might be mere forgetfulness since he doesn't direct features too often. There are quite a few shots I love in the trailer. I mean look at the palette, focal precision, and direct but subdued emotion of those tense crowd scene. Jennifer Lawrence, so strong in Winter's Bone and so sympathetic in Like Crazy looks to continue making good on her promise.  

If the story beats are as economically and fluidly expressed in the movie as in the trailer we're in for a treat. What great buildup and release. Too few trailers understand that the set-up is what's crucial, not the whole package. If you give us the whole movie, what's left to see in the theater? This feels as exciting as any "ready. set. go..." ever did  and I bet we're not even seeing anything beyond the 45 minute mark. 

NO...

I haven't read the source material (I know I know) so I can't be sure what is being metaphored up for us -- if it's reality television, shouldn't they all be volunteers out for fame and fortune and thus willing to exploit themselves? Personal potential pet peeve: I hate when theatricality obviously equates with evil -- and all the excessively theatrical people in this trailer appear to be the villains -- since theatricality is so fun and never hurts anybody. If this is one of those movies were physical aptitude is glorious and noble (even if used in the service of killing people) while entertaining showmanship is a sign of evil, I'm gonna be annoyed!

This is just on my mind because people worship sports and winner-takes-all competition to a scary extent and that seems to be a-ok with everyone, no metaphoric condemnation required. Just the other day I was watching the news and a crowd was literally rioting, turning over cars because Coach Paterno was fired. Never mind the sexual molestation scandal at Penn State that wasn't properly handled under his watch that prompted it... SPORTS ROUTINE INTERRUPTED? CUE: MASS CHAOS. Sports being naturally more important than the well being of children.

MAYBE SO...

The subject matter -- 24 people enter the games, only 1 can survive by killing the others, I take it ? -- has the potential to be totally icky in lots of hypocritical "are you not entertained?!?" Gladiator ways and also, if we meet 24 people are they going to divvy them up and make them easily good or evil so that it will be easy to "enjoy" as mainstream movies tend to be. Or is it actually a nuanced portrait of desperate people in which case... isn't it going to leave one feeling sick afterwards that the hero has to murder other potential heroes? The topic just seems so... ewww.

But the trailer works in that ready set... don't you wanna see what happens... go!.

So I'm now a yes. Are you a yes, no or maybe so? But more importantly... were you one of these things before the trailer arrived?