TheFanReport
Joined Dec 2004
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Reviews2
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Set in the 30's, The Grass Harp is a story about an orphan boy who is sent to live with his eccentric aunts. The story follows the plight of social "outcasts" with humor and insight.
On the surface this story is about love and our connections to others - both living and dead. Yet underneath run themes of social injustice, racial inequality, religion, morals and the struggles of social conformity vs. individual expression - but the film never preaches. It just reveals.
Director Charles Matthau accomplished the near-impossible task of adapting Truman Capote's classic book into a beautiful rendered film. Wisely, he approached this multi-layered story with a light touch, allowing the material and talent to shine. Matthau skillfully captures a myriad of complex relationships and emotions, allowing the characters to live and breathe without placing judgment on who they are.
The boy's coming-of-age story is entertaining, humorous and poignant. As the film unfolds, Collin encounters a diverse group of characters, from which he gains valuable insights about life. Now an adult he looks back (as the narrator) reflecting on this formative time.
Each character is uniquely distinct and true-to-life. The entire all-star cast is at the top of their game.
This is the best performance of Piper Laurie's career. She is delicate and mesmerizing as the fragile Dolly Talbo. Her scenes with Spacey and Matthau will break your heart.
For those of you who have only seen Walter Matthau in grumpy curmudgeon roles, you are in for a treat!
Matthau is wonderful as a Judge Cool, a Southern gentleman struggling to find meaning in his retirement years. As Piper Laurie's love interest he is tender and charming yet dignified. A man of integrity and honor, Judge Cool is the only "accepted" towns person with compassion for the outcasts.
As a collective, the ensemble cast captures the social pecking order with uncanny accuracy.
Jon Don Baker is great as the Sheriff, Nell Carter is a hoot as the eccentric housekeeper and Sissy Spacek is an amazing blend of steely resolve masking her conflicted feelings of vulnerability and insecurity.
Roddy McDowell is the delightfully sarcastic barber. Jack Lemmon and Mary Steenbergen are great fun as cons on the run. Mary as a traveling cowgirl evangelist out to save souls - never mind that she is a single- mother of fourteen kids all by different fathers! She pulls it off with comic charm and sad poignancy. Lemmon is a "chemical engineer" (read quack potions salesman) with a scheme to get his hands on Dolly's herbal potion. Even though both Lemmon and Steenbergen are devious cons looking to score, they too are well-developed characters and oh-so-human in their desperate schemes to survive the Great Depression.
There is also one of the most delightful casts of furry creatures ever assembled: a host of cats, dogs, fish, and a scene-stealing Rooster named Ralph. It looked to me like Ralph was huffing around wishing he had more lines. I'd be all for him getting his own sequel.
On the surface this story is about love and our connections to others - both living and dead. Yet underneath run themes of social injustice, racial inequality, religion, morals and the struggles of social conformity vs. individual expression - but the film never preaches. It just reveals.
Director Charles Matthau accomplished the near-impossible task of adapting Truman Capote's classic book into a beautiful rendered film. Wisely, he approached this multi-layered story with a light touch, allowing the material and talent to shine. Matthau skillfully captures a myriad of complex relationships and emotions, allowing the characters to live and breathe without placing judgment on who they are.
The boy's coming-of-age story is entertaining, humorous and poignant. As the film unfolds, Collin encounters a diverse group of characters, from which he gains valuable insights about life. Now an adult he looks back (as the narrator) reflecting on this formative time.
Each character is uniquely distinct and true-to-life. The entire all-star cast is at the top of their game.
This is the best performance of Piper Laurie's career. She is delicate and mesmerizing as the fragile Dolly Talbo. Her scenes with Spacey and Matthau will break your heart.
For those of you who have only seen Walter Matthau in grumpy curmudgeon roles, you are in for a treat!
Matthau is wonderful as a Judge Cool, a Southern gentleman struggling to find meaning in his retirement years. As Piper Laurie's love interest he is tender and charming yet dignified. A man of integrity and honor, Judge Cool is the only "accepted" towns person with compassion for the outcasts.
As a collective, the ensemble cast captures the social pecking order with uncanny accuracy.
Jon Don Baker is great as the Sheriff, Nell Carter is a hoot as the eccentric housekeeper and Sissy Spacek is an amazing blend of steely resolve masking her conflicted feelings of vulnerability and insecurity.
Roddy McDowell is the delightfully sarcastic barber. Jack Lemmon and Mary Steenbergen are great fun as cons on the run. Mary as a traveling cowgirl evangelist out to save souls - never mind that she is a single- mother of fourteen kids all by different fathers! She pulls it off with comic charm and sad poignancy. Lemmon is a "chemical engineer" (read quack potions salesman) with a scheme to get his hands on Dolly's herbal potion. Even though both Lemmon and Steenbergen are devious cons looking to score, they too are well-developed characters and oh-so-human in their desperate schemes to survive the Great Depression.
There is also one of the most delightful casts of furry creatures ever assembled: a host of cats, dogs, fish, and a scene-stealing Rooster named Ralph. It looked to me like Ralph was huffing around wishing he had more lines. I'd be all for him getting his own sequel.
I have loved all the Coen brother movies but, unfortunately, this one was a let down. It kills me to write this but here is my analysis of what went wrong...
The Actors & Production Team did not Share the Same Vision....
...and it shows on screen. The tone of the scenes and characters are wildly uneven. The movie feels like it was pasted together from other movies of unrelated genres and time periods.
The odd combinations of mixed era costumes and set interiors are visually distracting. It takes awhile to figure out what time period the story is supposed to be set in. When introduced to Tom Hank's character it appears the movie will be set in the 1920's but then you meet his landlady, and she is an artifact of the 1950's. Then, suddenly, you are jerked to a casino scene that feels like outtakes from an Ice Cube "Friday" movie. The only cohesive element is that all the characters are underdeveloped stereotypes.
Typically the Coens write quirky characters that are meant to be played full tilt boogie but here lack of a developed script leaves the actors running amok. Although the actors try to compensate their overwrought performances just amplify the offensiveness of the humorless material.
Hanks' performance as Professor Dorr might have been fun in a short SNL sketch but his over-the-top delivery is hard to take for longer than five minutes. His mugging and affectations are blown even more out of proportion when viewed in the theater (or on a big screen). It is quite like watching the antics of a precocious kid who annoys everyone but his love-blind parents. While Hanks may have amused the Coen brothers, it isn't working on scene.
The story might have looked funny on paper but by the time it reached the big screen Tom Hanks had taken the Coen Brother's hostage. Hanks character interpretation looks like it evolved in a bubble, cut off from his fellow actors and unrelated to the stylistic tone of the surrounding production. The effect is jarring and frustrating to watch. The Step'in Fetchit and Mammy era shtick is painfully unfunny. The casino scenes lack the usual Coen whimsy. Visually it feels like you accidentally clicked over to another movie.
If you are looking for the usual Coen Brothers whimsy you may wish to skip this one and save yourself the disappointment.
I can recommend this movie ONLY to people that enjoy dogging on movies that missed the mark. In that sense it is a good candidate for the at-home game of "Mystery Science Theater 3000." Invite over a few friends and swap smartass comments about movie while you view it.
The Actors & Production Team did not Share the Same Vision....
...and it shows on screen. The tone of the scenes and characters are wildly uneven. The movie feels like it was pasted together from other movies of unrelated genres and time periods.
The odd combinations of mixed era costumes and set interiors are visually distracting. It takes awhile to figure out what time period the story is supposed to be set in. When introduced to Tom Hank's character it appears the movie will be set in the 1920's but then you meet his landlady, and she is an artifact of the 1950's. Then, suddenly, you are jerked to a casino scene that feels like outtakes from an Ice Cube "Friday" movie. The only cohesive element is that all the characters are underdeveloped stereotypes.
Typically the Coens write quirky characters that are meant to be played full tilt boogie but here lack of a developed script leaves the actors running amok. Although the actors try to compensate their overwrought performances just amplify the offensiveness of the humorless material.
Hanks' performance as Professor Dorr might have been fun in a short SNL sketch but his over-the-top delivery is hard to take for longer than five minutes. His mugging and affectations are blown even more out of proportion when viewed in the theater (or on a big screen). It is quite like watching the antics of a precocious kid who annoys everyone but his love-blind parents. While Hanks may have amused the Coen brothers, it isn't working on scene.
The story might have looked funny on paper but by the time it reached the big screen Tom Hanks had taken the Coen Brother's hostage. Hanks character interpretation looks like it evolved in a bubble, cut off from his fellow actors and unrelated to the stylistic tone of the surrounding production. The effect is jarring and frustrating to watch. The Step'in Fetchit and Mammy era shtick is painfully unfunny. The casino scenes lack the usual Coen whimsy. Visually it feels like you accidentally clicked over to another movie.
If you are looking for the usual Coen Brothers whimsy you may wish to skip this one and save yourself the disappointment.
I can recommend this movie ONLY to people that enjoy dogging on movies that missed the mark. In that sense it is a good candidate for the at-home game of "Mystery Science Theater 3000." Invite over a few friends and swap smartass comments about movie while you view it.