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Girl, Interrupted (DVD)
by cha97mw
Girl, Interrupted is a 1999 film which is based upon the true story of Susannah Kaysen, a young girl who ends up committing herself voluntarily into the Claymoore hospital after an alleged suicide attempt because her parents don't know how to handle her.
Kaysen is played by Winona Ryder, a very talented actress who perfectly ... plays the role of the confused Susannah. Winona has a childlike innocence in her waif like appearance that conveys well to the role. Her doe eyes portray the vulnerability of this character who doesn't know what to do with herself when other people have expectations of her.
We start the story at the point just after the suicide attempt. Susannah is talking to some sort of psychiatrist in her home, and he persuades her to go to Claymoore for help. We see the tone and style of the film straightaway, with confusing flashbacks between present day and events that are prominent in Susannah's memories, and this shows perfectly how Susannah's mind is all over the place and not thinking clearly. She seems unable to distinguish between her memories and reality so you are unsure of how much of what she is thinking is true or just in her mind.
Very quickly, we end up at Claymoore where it is clear that although Susanne has not got the problems of some of the other long term residents, she does have some problems. The cast to this film contains some well known names. Anjelina Jolie plays another resident, Lisa Rowe. Initially I was dismissive of this character as Jolie is all to good at playing slightly weird psychotic characters, but as you get to know Lisa and see a relationship develop between her and Susannah, there is more there than first meets the eye. The relationship dynamic is interesting to watch, and Jolie does work hard at this character who has moments of lucidness and also a very unpredictable nature. Lisa is an important part of Susannah's recovery process.
Whoopi Goldberg plays Valerie Owens, a tough no nonsense nurse responsible for the care of the girls in the unit. She is seen as hard by the residents, but she really does want what is best for the girls in her care, an she is another person who has a pivotal role in Susannah's recovery process.
Brittany Murphy is another big name in the cast, playing a girl called Daisy who initially you think of as having a small role within the film, but when Lisa and Susannah escape and go to visit her, something happens which has the biggest influence of all on Susannah's recovery, and it is something she will always remember.
Susannah is committed for an 18 month period. Initially she does not react well to the programme, failing to grasp the idea that any of the residents have a major problem and becoming friends with a group of them. It's only when Lisa's condition really deteriorates to the point where she doesn't know who Susannah is any more and Susannah sees the devastation that can be caused through her destructive behaviour that something changes within her and she starts to accept the help that she needs to return to normal life in society.
The film as a whole is a very emotional piece. There are lighter moments within it, but there are some very dark moments looking at mental health and how it affects people's lives. It is something that requires a bit of patience and concentration and it might not be to everyone's taste as there are some pretty graphic scenes within which makes it fully deserving of its 15 certificate. I question whether some 15 year olds are even mature enough to cope with the themes included. It is not a film I would want to watch with a group of as a family.
The soundtrack and costumes really made it feel like the late 1960s when this was set. There are tunes like 'Downtown' and 'The End of the World' which are instantly recognisable to me and really add to the mood of the piece when they are playing.
I found this difficult to watch due to the themes and how difficult it was to piece together due to the jumping around within Susannah's memories. After watching once, I am not convinced that I would want to watch this again either due to the depth of it. However, I want to rate this highly due to the strong acting, even though I do feel Ryder and Jolie in particular are obvious choices for the type of character. It doesn't mean their portrayal is any less realistic or moving, even though predictable.
It will probably appeal more to women than men, and it deserves a watch when you have the time and mental energy to commit to it. A moving film, which will stick with me for a while.
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Fire In The Sky (DVD)
by GentleGenius
RELEASED: 1993, Cert. 15
RUNNING TIME: Approx. 109 mins
DIRECTOR: Robert Lieberman
PRODUCERS: Tod Black & Joe Wizan
SCREENPLAY: Tracy Torme
MUSIC: Mark Isham
MAIN CAST:-
D B Sweeney as Travis
Robert Patrick as Mike
Craig Sheffer as ... Allan
Peter Berg as David
Henry Thomas as Greg
Bradley Gregg as Bobby
Noble Willingham as Blake
James Garner as Frank
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FILM ONLY REVIEW
Based on Travis Walton's book entitled The Walton Experience, Fire In The Sky tells the story of a group of lumberjacks, led by Mike, who have been commissioned to clear some forest in the White Mountains of Arizona.
Driving home from work one evening, the men see a strange red light emanating from the trees, and stop to have a look. Amazed, they see what appears to be a UFO and very curious, Travis gets out of the truck - against the wishes of the others - to investigate further. He is then pinned to the spot by a bright, laser-bean type light, and appears to fall down dead. Mike tries to go to help his friend, but the others want him to re-join them in the truck. When he turns back to the spot where Travis was struck down, Mike finds he has vanished.
Mike then re-joins the group, and they travel back to town, very morose, and stop off in a bar where the police are called. They awkwardly tell their story to the local sheriff about how Travis vanished, but are not believed.
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During the opening credits, a notice is displayed that Fire In The Sky is based on a true story, which allegedly happened on 5th November 1975.
The first thing which struck me about this film, even though I got into the storyline straight away, was that I really didn't like the characters very much. Even those who were friends with one another, seemed to behave with an edge of hostility that I found rather uncomfortable to watch. However, the group of men did act out the scene with police once they returned to town after Travis vanished rather well, each one being shocked and stunned. Otherwise, the acting by the whole cast I found to be no more than average....certainly by no means bad, but nothing exceptional.
I found the part where the contact with the police was going on to be on the slow-moving side, but once that part was over, I managed to settle well back into the plot once more.
Due to this being a film with an extra-terrestrial theme, special effects were used, and I found them to be a mixture of good and not quite so good. Also, close to the beginning when the men first stopped off to see what the red light in the trees could be, I had a bit of deja vous - albeit very briefly - from a scene in Close Encounters Of The Third Kind. However, that is only a small snippet and the remainder of the film travels down a completely different path.
Much of the storyline focuses on the police believing that one or more of the men had murdered Travis, yet were unable to arrest any of them due to no evidence and no obvious motive. Such sounds as if it could be quite boring and impossible to stretch it into a large part of the film, but it works quite well.
My attention was held, as I had no idea where the storyline would travel to, but I would have liked to see the tension levels raised higher than what they actually are. I'd say that I was interested, rather than enthralled.
There is a part of Fire In The Sky where for a while I wondered what the hell was going on and how on earth did the story suddenly jump into the collection of scenes that it did, but afterwards my questions were answered, and I could then see why this part was presented in the way that it was.
Overall, Fire In The Sky is a very sombre film, with dark, avant-garde music that suits it very well, even if it does get a little too loud at times during the part I mentioned in my last paragraph above. I can't be sure as to how closely it sticks to the book, as I haven't read it, but the film is quite convincing in that if such did really happen, that's probably exactly how it would have done. The script is good, even if the acting isn't right at the top of the tree, and it appears that a lot of thought by the direction/production team was put into creating a meaningful film, regardless of whether the story is 100% true or not.
Fire In The Sky is a film which would probably appeal to lovers of sci-fi, but it is very down to earth, mostly concentrating on the group of men continually asserting their innocence....even agreeing to take a lie-detector test. I do want to say more about the section of the film which shook me off course for a few moments, but to do so would count as a spoiler.
Even though I really didn't like the characters, I recommend this film, as it is a thoughtful handling of a situation which most of us wouldn't expect to find ourselves in, and if anybody told us they'd been through something similar, we wouldn't believe them. Films with a sci-fi flavour aren't usually my cup of tea and I wouldn't say this is entertaining as such, but it certainly is interesting and it managed to hold my undivided attention from start to finish.
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At the time of writing, Fire In The Sky can be purchased from Amazon as follows:-
New: from £2.23 to £39.99
Used: from £2.23 to £8.24
Some items on Amazon are available for free delivery within the UK, but where this doesn't apply, a £1.26 charge should be added to the above figures.
Thanks for reading!
~~ Also published on Ciao under my CelticSoulSister user name ~~
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