THIS COMMENT CONTAINS SPOILERS, GIVEAWAYS AND REVELATIONS. Or something.
Okay, to my mind what holds this movie together is the chemistry between Susan (Alberta Watson) and Ray (Jeremy Davies). Almost everything else is superfluous and a great deal of the last half hour could have wound up on the cutting-room floor.
Tom, the controlling, philandering dad, could have been fleshed out more. As it is, we see a driven, conniving, dishonest man - with no idea of what made him that way, or why Susan stayed with him. There is a scene rather late in the film where he opens up, but it's wedged between about six other speed-the-plot scenes, and loses almost all its meaning. His character works best not as a real person, but as another one of the many pressures that act against Ray all summer long. You can see Ray's fear, resentment and anger build through the entire film. Jeremy Davies' performance is agile and moving.
I did not need even one appearance of Ray's stoner friends; they don't advance the plot or even give any comic relief. We're supposed to understand that Ray is only there because he's friends with Nicky (played by guitarist Matthew Puckett), but the other three jokers take up so much cinematic room that there's no way to tell what Nicky and Ray meant to each other.
Likewise, when Ray jumps off the cliff, we're supposed to understand that he's making a desperate bid for freedom, and that his old life is over (rebirth / baptism / etc). But not half an hour ago he was trying to kill his mother. Too much information.
Toni Peck is the little girl from down the lane who's had a crush on Ray without ever meeting him. She is a precocious thing who has read more about life than she's actually experienced. The early scenes with her and Ray could have had more bite - what he says to her in the pagoda is not really enough for her to go home in a snit. And if she can't take that kind of verbal treatment, how in the world does she manage to stand up to Hurricane Susan later on? I don't feel that Toni's character was really thought through (and her father should have been excised from the movie). She was not really a person, but a study in contrast. Ray is awkward, graceless and fumbling when he's with Toni, but with Susan he's the consummate lover - relaxed, confident, passionate, healing.
Jeremy Davies does not quite pull off every trick in Ray's book. Too often he is a limp dishrag - not at all vibrant or interested in interacting with the world. Makes sense for his character but is very boring to watch. He is at his best when he's with Susan - there are long loving closeups of his face as he massages his mother's feet, calves, thighs... those are some of the few times in the entire film Ray looks really involved. The phrase "smoldering lust" comes to mind.
Alberta Watson was phenomenal. Her character is the only one who really does anything. She behaves inappropriately with her son and suffers the consequences. Tom is a cipher, and Ray's biggest problem is that he is acted upon. Everything he does is a reaction. Even the climactic leap at the end.
Morphine's score is sardonic, rueful and knowing - very well suited to this movie. And the cinematography isn't stunning by any means, but the camera is so voyeuristic when Ray and Susan are in the bedroom - those extreme closeups, coupled with panning shots that don't cut away even when you're flinching and squirming and wanting to leave the room. Those are the scenes I go back to - they are erotic, but for all the wrong reasons. Even as you're drawn in, you really wish you could look away.
Kick a few plot twists (will Ray won't Ray ever get to Washington?) and extra characters (Aunt Helen) to the curb, and this movie would have been tight as a snare drum, extremely compelling cinema. As it stands, it's a darkly flawed diamond. 6.5/10.
Okay, to my mind what holds this movie together is the chemistry between Susan (Alberta Watson) and Ray (Jeremy Davies). Almost everything else is superfluous and a great deal of the last half hour could have wound up on the cutting-room floor.
Tom, the controlling, philandering dad, could have been fleshed out more. As it is, we see a driven, conniving, dishonest man - with no idea of what made him that way, or why Susan stayed with him. There is a scene rather late in the film where he opens up, but it's wedged between about six other speed-the-plot scenes, and loses almost all its meaning. His character works best not as a real person, but as another one of the many pressures that act against Ray all summer long. You can see Ray's fear, resentment and anger build through the entire film. Jeremy Davies' performance is agile and moving.
I did not need even one appearance of Ray's stoner friends; they don't advance the plot or even give any comic relief. We're supposed to understand that Ray is only there because he's friends with Nicky (played by guitarist Matthew Puckett), but the other three jokers take up so much cinematic room that there's no way to tell what Nicky and Ray meant to each other.
Likewise, when Ray jumps off the cliff, we're supposed to understand that he's making a desperate bid for freedom, and that his old life is over (rebirth / baptism / etc). But not half an hour ago he was trying to kill his mother. Too much information.
Toni Peck is the little girl from down the lane who's had a crush on Ray without ever meeting him. She is a precocious thing who has read more about life than she's actually experienced. The early scenes with her and Ray could have had more bite - what he says to her in the pagoda is not really enough for her to go home in a snit. And if she can't take that kind of verbal treatment, how in the world does she manage to stand up to Hurricane Susan later on? I don't feel that Toni's character was really thought through (and her father should have been excised from the movie). She was not really a person, but a study in contrast. Ray is awkward, graceless and fumbling when he's with Toni, but with Susan he's the consummate lover - relaxed, confident, passionate, healing.
Jeremy Davies does not quite pull off every trick in Ray's book. Too often he is a limp dishrag - not at all vibrant or interested in interacting with the world. Makes sense for his character but is very boring to watch. He is at his best when he's with Susan - there are long loving closeups of his face as he massages his mother's feet, calves, thighs... those are some of the few times in the entire film Ray looks really involved. The phrase "smoldering lust" comes to mind.
Alberta Watson was phenomenal. Her character is the only one who really does anything. She behaves inappropriately with her son and suffers the consequences. Tom is a cipher, and Ray's biggest problem is that he is acted upon. Everything he does is a reaction. Even the climactic leap at the end.
Morphine's score is sardonic, rueful and knowing - very well suited to this movie. And the cinematography isn't stunning by any means, but the camera is so voyeuristic when Ray and Susan are in the bedroom - those extreme closeups, coupled with panning shots that don't cut away even when you're flinching and squirming and wanting to leave the room. Those are the scenes I go back to - they are erotic, but for all the wrong reasons. Even as you're drawn in, you really wish you could look away.
Kick a few plot twists (will Ray won't Ray ever get to Washington?) and extra characters (Aunt Helen) to the curb, and this movie would have been tight as a snare drum, extremely compelling cinema. As it stands, it's a darkly flawed diamond. 6.5/10.