"The southerner " is easily the best movie Renoir made in America ,the only movie which equals his French masterpieces of the thirties.
A chronicle of a family who stands together,facing adversity with a courage which never fails .A poet with a camera ,the director films the cotton fields and the river banks as lovingly as he did once in "Une Partie De Campagne"(1936)
Except for the first sequence ,which he treats with admIrable restraint ,Renoir's mastery of his art compels respect and admiration: when the situation is taking a tragic turn, he defuses it : the son's spring illness is paralleled by an unexpected rat race in a bar about a five- dollar bill; the neighbor's intended murder and the miraculous draught of fishes; the final disaster in the flooded fields and the desire to carry on :they'll do it again ,come what may!The strength of the blood ties can overcome everything .Even the grumpy grandma (a memorable perforlance by Beulah bondi) has faith.
A chronicle of a family who stands together,facing adversity with a courage which never fails .A poet with a camera ,the director films the cotton fields and the river banks as lovingly as he did once in "Une Partie De Campagne"(1936)
Except for the first sequence ,which he treats with admIrable restraint ,Renoir's mastery of his art compels respect and admiration: when the situation is taking a tragic turn, he defuses it : the son's spring illness is paralleled by an unexpected rat race in a bar about a five- dollar bill; the neighbor's intended murder and the miraculous draught of fishes; the final disaster in the flooded fields and the desire to carry on :they'll do it again ,come what may!The strength of the blood ties can overcome everything .Even the grumpy grandma (a memorable perforlance by Beulah bondi) has faith.