In a year where pretty much every movie had to be gargantuan to even be considered for serious Oscar consideration ("To Kill a Mockingbird," you're excused), "David and Lisa" snuck up behind to grab nominations for husband and wife team Frank Perry and Eleanor Perry, for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, respectively.
"David and Lisa" feels like a bridge between movie eras. Mental illness had been explored plenty of times before, but always in a Big Hollywood Studio kind of way. This film feels more raw and exposed in its treatment of the subject matter, a harbinger of the REALLY raw stuff people like John Cassavetes would start putting on the screen in a handful of years. Unlike Cassavetes movies, this movie feels obligated to make us feel good about our protagonists' futures by the end of the film, but it can be forgiven that I think. Its starkness was probably strong enough stuff for audiences at the time without a more realistic resolution.
Keir Dullea (of "2001" fame) and Janet Margolin do fine work as the youngsters who help each other break out of their muddled heads.
Grade: A-
"David and Lisa" feels like a bridge between movie eras. Mental illness had been explored plenty of times before, but always in a Big Hollywood Studio kind of way. This film feels more raw and exposed in its treatment of the subject matter, a harbinger of the REALLY raw stuff people like John Cassavetes would start putting on the screen in a handful of years. Unlike Cassavetes movies, this movie feels obligated to make us feel good about our protagonists' futures by the end of the film, but it can be forgiven that I think. Its starkness was probably strong enough stuff for audiences at the time without a more realistic resolution.
Keir Dullea (of "2001" fame) and Janet Margolin do fine work as the youngsters who help each other break out of their muddled heads.
Grade: A-