Think of Me

This is a beautiful film. Thoughtful, poignant, honest, raw and real. We need more films like this. I will admit, I only watched it because I am a fan of Lauren Ambrose because of her work in "Six Feet Under" but once I started it, the film itself completely took me by surprise. Ambrose is once again a wonderful actor with her subtle yet real performance. It is amazing she doesn't work more but then it's nice she isn't over-exposed. But that said, the script, direction, music and camera work reeled me into this world and I found myself truly mesmerized. As someone who does not enjoy the sequels and remakes saturating the film world today, watching something like this reminded me of why I love film. Bravo, to all involved. This is a work of art (which is probably why no one has heard of it.) Ah... someday, I hope, that will change. With films like this, perhaps it will be sooner than later.

A most depressing saga which examines the minutiae in the bleak life of a sad and pathetic woman who abuses not only herself but especially her young child. It's difficult to fathom whether or not the film might be attempting to romanticize in some sort of bizarre manner such a degrading existence as it offers no resolution but rather leaves the viewer wondering, as the film concludes, whether or not these two lives will continue to spiral down their seeming path toward self-destruction. And while the cast puts in creditable performances, they fail to overshadow the grim situation portrayed nor are able to engender any real compassion for the characters by holding out any possibility for some sort of positive resolution.

Watching this slow-moving, quietly painful film, I had two things at the back of my mine. One was my own mother's struggles as an educated but not very practical single mother decades ago and the other was a recent news item about a judge who took a Guatemalan immigrant's child away from her on the grounds that she had "abandoned" the child by... being arrested as an illegal immigrant. In other words, watching this woman struggle to take care of her daughter while making a series of bad decisions all along the way was also watching the real story of innumerable women, some like her, some not so much, who find it almost impossible to do the one thing they most want to do: take care of their children. It is painful to watch, not least because some of the women in this situation will make all manner of damaging decisions out of desperation and the film just shows some of the issues that can prompt that desperation: not getting child support, trying to work two jobs, unexpected expenses which are catastrophic on a tight income, etc. It is easy to get impatient with this character in a number of cases, but it is also clear that, in her own sloppy and ill-prepared way, she is trying; trying and often being thwarted. There is one central developing dilemma which gives the story something of a spine, but really overall we're left with the sense that, rather than being this woman's main story, it is one episode out of many in what will always be a life of uncertainty and limited choices. The film is shot in a gloomy, unadorned way with no background music or other overt cinematographic touches and so it is overall an unsparing experience. Echoing after it is the awareness that some women will triumph in similar situations, others will end up overwhelmed and making all manner of bad decisions - if a choice made when boxed into a corner can be called a decision.

Okay, we get it. She smokes!! There's no need to show her sucking deeply on a cigarette every two minutes. It kinda gets tedious after a while, but whatever. Not a deal breaker. Tight budget? Fine! Let's eat out all the time and hire cars to take us to the end of the block. Huh? Our lead is covincing for the most part, but then she lapses into some ridiculous and irrational break from character that derails the momentum. But she's clearly a tremendous talent and a very beautiful woman. A few supporting cast members ring exceptionally abusrd. But her desperation comes across as genuine. People simply do not impost themselves to virtual strangers in ths manner. Not giving specifics to avoid spoilers so hope you understand. The daughter? Kind of an ungracious snot most of the time and not what you'd call an endearing child. And like so many movies, the makers of this movie never miss an opportunity to slip in the obligatory black characters. Again, not a deal breaker but it happened enough that I noticed. This movie somehow seemed twice as long as it actually was. Our lead actress eventually reveals herself to just be an awful person. Awful! She does these horrible things that aren't necessary in the least. With a half hour to go I'd had enough. The storyline unravels from here on out, unfortunately. Too much to endure but I slogged through to the pathetic conclusion. Far too many closeup shots of people eating. That's absolutely disgusting. We know people eat. Everyone eats. We don't need to see it and we definitely don't need to hear it.

About Sunny (2011)

A slice of life realistic story about a young mother and her daughter living on the edge of subsistence in Nevada. Lauren Ambrose (who was Claire in "Six Feet Under") is terrific, not overplaying a slightly hardened but still sympathetic character. The story is mostly about how things go a little bit wrong, not through stupidity (as in some movies like this where the leading female makes huge mistakes) but through some smaller misjudgments.

The daughter is terrific, too, and so we see a tension and tolerance in her relationship to her mom, who clearly loves her but is always a bit short on patience. The one real twist, which is a bit forced into the plot, is a relative of a co-worker who has some designs on the girl. This, too, is played with some subtlety, though the idea is just unlikely and sudden enough to force you to go along with it. It's not inevitable.

Even so this other plot is a small part of what really happens, with the growing feelings you have for the main two people. It's clearly a low budget indie film, and is produced by Ambrose, so you can see some smart attempts at moving her career forward. And she pulls it off with a heart wrenching, cinema-verite story that is maybe just a hair to close to the truth for many people to make it comfortable. How easy it is to watch more terrible tragedies (from "Goodfellas" to "Pulp Fiction") and how hard to see what might be true (here and in "Julia" which makes for a weird, imperfect parallel).

Surprisingly solid.