Gosh. Here's a film that not only went directly to video, but horror of horrors, it was directly to Blockbuster.
And yet it is precisely in the center of one of the six nodes of film perfection. Its that place where cinematic qualities recede and theatrical drama of the Chekov variety is delivered: should in conflict; souls in pain; souls striving toward some sort of tentative peace, knowing that each balance is forged personally.
Now that Mangella has died, taken from us early, I appreciate him. He made a commercial excrescence in "Cold Mountain," but there are elements of his other films that show a delicate soul behind the noise. Here he is himself, directing something he has conceived, and brought into the world.
Its a marvel of tension. He has two mothers, each struggling alone with "special" children. Two children who are addicted to gymnastic life beyond what is healthy and reasonable. Tow enterprises to clean the city, one using trees, the other sensitive policing.
Two themes of ethnic cleansing.
In other words, two haunting worlds that swirl around our focus, the one who draws, creates models, makes photos on a MacBook. This character is played by Jude Law. He's not who I would have chosen to play this man who manages four balancing acts, all connected to each other. I just don't think he is an interesting enough soul to speak to us about these sorts of things. He's basically a child himself in these matters.
It almost doesn't matter, because Mangella fills in the void with cinematic ambiguities. There are deleted scenes on this DVD that should, really absolutely have been in the final cut. Why they were not baffles me. Would it lessen the commercial value of the thing? One involves a coworker, a women apparently worth exploring, who Law's character considers. That he backs off makes his subsequent leap all the more forceful.
The two women here are played by real actresses. By this I mean that they not only know how to show us what their souls contain, but they have souls worth visiting when (temporarily) so shaped.
Binoche may be our most real woman, here moving between a woman and all women. Shes a blessing/ I feel blessed to have known her this way, and blessed that Mingella made the introduction and engagement such.
I think you should see this. Its his real legacy.
Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.
