Lush and elegant with beautiful performances, the jazzy period melodrama Sylvie’s Love plays many notes exceptionally well. It’s a shame its plotting and pacing doesn’t keep up with its star power. The always-excellent Tessa Thompson stars as Sylvie, a young woman that works in her family’s Harlem record shop in the late 1950s. She’s there to watch TV mostly, keeping up appearances as her mother is the head of a local charm school and they cannot afford an employee. Enter Robert (Nnamdi Asomugha), an aspiring musician who comes to ask for a job. Much to Sylvie’s surprise he’s hired on the spot–perhaps Sylvie’s dad can just tell.
Sylvie’s hand in marriage has been long promised to Lacy (Alano Miller), a professional who comes from a wealthy and powerful family that has seemingly transcended racial barriers and found themselves in some...
Sylvie’s hand in marriage has been long promised to Lacy (Alano Miller), a professional who comes from a wealthy and powerful family that has seemingly transcended racial barriers and found themselves in some...
- 2/1/2020
- by John Fink
- The Film Stage
Tom Dicillo's satire about the pitfalls of low budget filmmaking is less farce than it is a loving valentine to the difficult task of getting something relevant on film. Steve Buscemi is the frustrated director, Catherine Keener the insecure actress, and Peter Dinklage the little person not pleased that he's been hired to play a phantom in a dream sequence. Hilariously clever, the show also has a big heart. Living in Oblivion Blu-ray + DVD Shout! Factory 1995 / Color & B&W / 1:85 widescreen / 92 min. / Street Date November 17, 2015 / $29.99 Starring Steve Buscemi, Catherine Keener, Dermot Mulroney, Danielle von Zerneck, James LeGros, Rica Martens. Cinematography Frank Prinzi Production Designer Stephanie Carroll, Thérèse DePrez Art Direction Janine Michelle, Scott Pask Film Editor Dana Congdon, Camilla Toniolo Original Music Jim Farmer Produced by Hilary Gilford, Michael Griffiths, Robert M. Sertner, Marcus Viscidi, Frank von Zerneck Written and Directed by Tom Dicillo
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
A charming,...
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
A charming,...
- 11/10/2015
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
PARK CITY, Utah -- A 10-year-old girl's attempt to dig herself out of the rut of her small-town life is the uplifting and bittersweet subject matter of "Digging to China", Timothy Hutton's directorial debut, which received an ecstatic welcome in its world premiere during the weekend at the Sundance Film Festival.
For those of you who recall the young heroine's plucky resolve in "Fly Away Home", this tale of one young girl's repeated attempts to reach beyond the dimensions of her unchallenging school and dimwitted home life should strike similar chords of sympathy and admiration.
In this '60s-set saga, Evan Rachel Wood stars as Harriet, a rambunctious and inquisitive girl who lives with her alcoholic mother (Cathy Moriarty) and man-crazy older sister Mary Stuart Masterson). They run a tiny tourist motel outside a small burg and, after school, there's not much in the way of stimulation for the precocious Harriet. She takes interest, however, in a mentally disabled young man, Ricky (Kevin Bacon) who, along with his mother, comes to stay at the motel. It's Ricky's last week alone with his mother, who has terminal cancer, before he must be institutionalized. Harriet takes him under her wing, and the two tend to connect in a completely intuitive, child-like way. Not surprisingly, the adults are wary about where this may lead.
Freckled with the openness of child-like searching, "Digging to China" is a stirring story of how two friends, Harriet and Ricky, come to enjoy and understand a world that seems structured against them. Their transcendent, dreamy projects, like digging a hole in the ground to reach China, are expressions of their need to escape from their own humdrum, constricted existences; in a sense, both are greatly limited, Ricky by his mental and emotional disability and Harriet by the mere fact that she is a kid and restricted by the small thinking of her elders.
Although the narrative sometimes slackens to a somewhat cutesy dimension, mainly in some neo-"Rain Man"-ish scenes, Hutton has maintained a remarkable balance in his story telling. The film never resorts to saccharine heart-tuggings and Hutton is always true to the fact that the child-like dreams and energies are in direct conflict with a harsher, stronger world. Most wonderfully, he imbues the strong story with a coating of this child-like naivete and energy that, by itself, overcomes the awful adult aspects of everyday existence.
It's young Even Rachel Wood's grainy and heady performance that keeps "China" clearly on the story map. She brings both a confidence as well as a serene, kid-ish clamor to her portrayal that takes you into the best, hidden reaches of your own child-like wonderment. Bacon's studied performance as the disabled Ricky is commendable, while Masterson is well-cast as Harriet's primary adult supervisor. Moriarty is credible as Harriet's blowzy, somewhat batty, mother.
Technical contributions under Hutton's fine hand are wonderfully wrought, particularly cinematographer Jorgen Persson's richly shaded scopings, which clue us to the vibrant inner world of this remarkable little girl.
DIGGING TO CHINA
Moonstone Entertainment
In association with
Davis Entertainment Classics
& the Ministry of Film
An Alan Mruvka/Marilyn Vance/
John Davis/J.Todd Harris production
A Film by Timothy Hutton
Producers: Marilyn Vance,
Alan Mruvka, John Dais, J. Todd Harris
Director: Timothy Hutton
Screenwriter: Karen Janszen
Executive producers: Etchie Stroh, David T. Friendly
Director of photgraphy: Jorgen Persson
Production designer: Robert De Vico
Music: Cynthia Millar
Music producer/conductor: Elmer Bernstein
Music supervisors: Michelle Kuznetsky, Mary Ramos
Editor: Dana Congdon
Costume designer: Mary Zophres
Color/stereo
Harriet Frankovitz: Evan Rachel Wood
Ricky: Kevin Bacon
Gwen: Mary Stuart Masterson
Mrs. Frankovitz: Cathy Moriarty
Running time -- 100 minutes...
For those of you who recall the young heroine's plucky resolve in "Fly Away Home", this tale of one young girl's repeated attempts to reach beyond the dimensions of her unchallenging school and dimwitted home life should strike similar chords of sympathy and admiration.
In this '60s-set saga, Evan Rachel Wood stars as Harriet, a rambunctious and inquisitive girl who lives with her alcoholic mother (Cathy Moriarty) and man-crazy older sister Mary Stuart Masterson). They run a tiny tourist motel outside a small burg and, after school, there's not much in the way of stimulation for the precocious Harriet. She takes interest, however, in a mentally disabled young man, Ricky (Kevin Bacon) who, along with his mother, comes to stay at the motel. It's Ricky's last week alone with his mother, who has terminal cancer, before he must be institutionalized. Harriet takes him under her wing, and the two tend to connect in a completely intuitive, child-like way. Not surprisingly, the adults are wary about where this may lead.
Freckled with the openness of child-like searching, "Digging to China" is a stirring story of how two friends, Harriet and Ricky, come to enjoy and understand a world that seems structured against them. Their transcendent, dreamy projects, like digging a hole in the ground to reach China, are expressions of their need to escape from their own humdrum, constricted existences; in a sense, both are greatly limited, Ricky by his mental and emotional disability and Harriet by the mere fact that she is a kid and restricted by the small thinking of her elders.
Although the narrative sometimes slackens to a somewhat cutesy dimension, mainly in some neo-"Rain Man"-ish scenes, Hutton has maintained a remarkable balance in his story telling. The film never resorts to saccharine heart-tuggings and Hutton is always true to the fact that the child-like dreams and energies are in direct conflict with a harsher, stronger world. Most wonderfully, he imbues the strong story with a coating of this child-like naivete and energy that, by itself, overcomes the awful adult aspects of everyday existence.
It's young Even Rachel Wood's grainy and heady performance that keeps "China" clearly on the story map. She brings both a confidence as well as a serene, kid-ish clamor to her portrayal that takes you into the best, hidden reaches of your own child-like wonderment. Bacon's studied performance as the disabled Ricky is commendable, while Masterson is well-cast as Harriet's primary adult supervisor. Moriarty is credible as Harriet's blowzy, somewhat batty, mother.
Technical contributions under Hutton's fine hand are wonderfully wrought, particularly cinematographer Jorgen Persson's richly shaded scopings, which clue us to the vibrant inner world of this remarkable little girl.
DIGGING TO CHINA
Moonstone Entertainment
In association with
Davis Entertainment Classics
& the Ministry of Film
An Alan Mruvka/Marilyn Vance/
John Davis/J.Todd Harris production
A Film by Timothy Hutton
Producers: Marilyn Vance,
Alan Mruvka, John Dais, J. Todd Harris
Director: Timothy Hutton
Screenwriter: Karen Janszen
Executive producers: Etchie Stroh, David T. Friendly
Director of photgraphy: Jorgen Persson
Production designer: Robert De Vico
Music: Cynthia Millar
Music producer/conductor: Elmer Bernstein
Music supervisors: Michelle Kuznetsky, Mary Ramos
Editor: Dana Congdon
Costume designer: Mary Zophres
Color/stereo
Harriet Frankovitz: Evan Rachel Wood
Ricky: Kevin Bacon
Gwen: Mary Stuart Masterson
Mrs. Frankovitz: Cathy Moriarty
Running time -- 100 minutes...
- 1/26/1997
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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