tymflyer Reviews

Miss Lettie and Me (2002 TV Movie)

Beautiful and Touching Holiday Fare

[10/10 · 12 December 2002]

You'd have to be an unreformed grinch not to be touched by this glowing story of a torn family rediscovering life and love. The story revolves around "Me", played with beautiful subtlety by 10 year old Holliston Coleman. Holliston endows the story with life, playing joy, pain, anger, and love with equal force. I don't think there is any other child actor out there who is as natural or whose face can change so subtly to reveal her thoughts within. I'll never forget the look on Holliston's face when Miss Lettie pulls out the ugly dress she wants her to wear to school -- not overdone, but her polite horror is completely transparent and really funny. Later, on the road, she's equally transparent and utterly moving as she explains the loneliness of being without a father. Holliston is on screen almost full-time for the entire 2 hours; I'm not really sure how a 10 year old pulled that off -- it must have been quite a challenge.

Mary Tyler Moore has trouble playing the mean old lady, but brings humor to what might otherwise have been a tedious role, and love-interest Burt Reynolds connects well with her. Charlie Robinson is utterly real: his "wisest of the wise men" role is convincing and gentle, and he and his mother Irma P. Hall do a great job providing the loving moral guidance to the story. The cinematography captures beautifully the sun-drenched countryside and elegant house.

All in all, this film is a much-needed re-telling of the ultimate importance of family and friends, love and commitment. I'd recommend it to all who need a shot-in-the-arm this holiday season. I hope it comes back to TV for many years to come.

The Patriot (2000)

Revenge, more than Patriotism, seems to be at the core

[5/10 · 27 July 2000]

This film was, as many have commented, beautifully executed in cinematography, score, lighting, and concept, and grandeur of scope. The scope of the scenes was incredible - master filmmaking at its best. I was never quite drawn in, though, by Mel Gibson's character. I didn't quite see the depth of emotion one might expect from the terribly traumatic events that eventually lead him to join the battle, nor from the even more horrific events that follow. I *almost* got there a couple of times, just as Gibson almost did, but never quite made it.

More importantly, though, I was distanced from being immersed in the film by the negative slant on even the most heroic of the characters. Benjamin Martin (Gibson) seemed motivated not by patriotism but by revenge, and the glimpse of the depth of his violence in killing and then continuing to rage at and maim the victim left me feeling sick (as it did him and his boys). Others were motivated by financial gain, others by power; I was sort of hard-pressed to find the character mentioned in the title: the Patriot. Maybe the title was meant to be ironic; maybe the director wanted to make the statement that our history is not as glorious as one has been led to believe (true, of course, but still...). Or maybe the goal was simply to show war so close up (like Saving Private Ryan did) that it will finally sicken and offend enough people to say "Never again". *That* part worked for me: I could barely watch many of the battle scenes, and was sort of offended after all that by the way the music swelled gloriously at the climactic final battle; I almost think that should have been done without any music...

So -- a grand film, but ultimately, for me, a film that left me a little sick.

Gladiator (2000)

A story of honor, strength, faith

[10/10 · 27 July 2000]

The element that most impressed me in this film was the underlying faith of Maximus through his many long weary years of trials. One could argue that at a certain point revenge took over as his motivation (in this case, the presentation made the viewers hope for revenge also, as a reasonable response to a Hitler-like figure). I saw revenge as the primary motivator in the Patriot, and it sickened me; in this film I see the death of a dangerous and hated leader as a goal, but not as a driving force. The driving force for Maximus, it seems to me, is to be faithful to a much larger calling. As he puts it at one point, "What we do in life echoes into eternity." It is clear that he strongly believes that he will, in the afterlife, walk with joy with his wife and family by his side, if he stays true, maintains integrity, strength, honor, and principle. In this sense I found the film to be much more uplifting than The Patriot, though in many elements the films were quite similar. Both achieved a scope of grandeur that was unbelievable, both had strong central characters who fight against all odds. But I found one film uplifting, the other depressing, and I think it had to do with the underlying motivations of the characters. Gladiator made me want to emulate Maximus; The Patriot made me hope to never become like Benjamin Martin.

Both, though, admirably showed the grit of war without romanticizing it in the least. That seems to be a trend (like Private Ryan) that I greatly appreciate.

Bless the Child (2000)

A real Nail-Biter; Holliston Coleman (the child) was terrific

[10/10 · 26 July 2000]

Bless the Child was extremely engaging. The musical score was gorgeous, the special effects creepy or luminous (depending on the scene). The story was edgy, with a slow unfolding from normal life to being ensnared in a hidden web of evil that keeps you on the edge of your seat and jumping.

What makes this film unusual was that while you feel the horror of a fly being slowly wrapped in a sticky evil web, you also get glimpses (but did you see it or not?) that a finger might be moving to bend the web and (maybe) provide an escape... It's a side that's not often shown in a thriller, and it resonated with my own experience of overt evil opposed, if at all, only through tiny faithful decisions based on glimmerings of hope.

Basinger and Smits give solid performances, Angela Bettis was absolutely perfect as an edgy, strung-out addict in way over her head. Sewell makes a great bad guy, with a thin veneer of charm barely covering a menacing black evil.

But the real surprise was Holliston Coleman, a kid who was only 6 when this film was cast and turned 7 as filming started. I didn't think you could get this kind of performance from a kid this young. Coleman is "the Child", so as you might expect she is completely central to the film. They took a huge risk centering this film on such a young child; the film would not have survived merely a good performance -- it had to be great, and Holliston Coleman delivered. The really tough part is that she's locked in her own silent world most of the film ("as if she's listening to something we can't hear") -- so she has to convey this huge range of emotions purely in her looks, her eyes, the way she carries her body. I was astonished.

Go see Bless the Child -- it's a thrill ride that also presents an interesting way of seeing the world, or the other world...