Alright, you eager Summer movie blockbuster fans, cool your jets. There will be plenty of fast cars, fist fights, and superheroes headed your way in the next couple of months. For now, we can settle down for a bit of culture, a deep dive into high art. Oh, but don’t be fooled by the title, this isn’t a literal translation of the centuries-old Bizet opera. Nor is it the 50’s revamp that starred the much-missed Harry Belafonte. True, there’s a song or two, but the main mode of communication, aside from the dialogue, is dance. No tutus are seen, as it’s a gritty tale of murder of desire along the much-in-the-news Southern border involving a vet named Aidan on the US side, and on the other side, a sultry young beauty on the run named Carmen.
And the opening scenes are set on her side, near...
And the opening scenes are set on her side, near...
- 5/12/2023
- by Jim Batts
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
As written by the legendary French composer Georges Bizet, the 19th-century opera “Carmen” has a classic femme fatale at its heart: a fiery, free-spirited and seductive woman headed for her inevitable demise through the downfall of a former lover. So take it with a grain of salt upon hearing the title “Carmen,” in this case a beautiful, dreamlike and defiantly experimental film directed by Benjamin Millepied.
Yes, the tragedy, beauty, love, and passion that define Bizet’s exquisite late Romantic-era masterpiece are all in here in Millepied’s directorial debut. But Millepied’s runaway Carmen, as imagined by writers Loïc Barrere, Alexander Dinelaris and Lisa Loomer, is not so much a doomed temptress archetype as a freedom-hungry firebrand in search of her voice and identity.
In that regard, it would be unfair to claim that Millepied’s “Carmen” is an adaptation of Bizet’s timeless story. In fact, the director...
Yes, the tragedy, beauty, love, and passion that define Bizet’s exquisite late Romantic-era masterpiece are all in here in Millepied’s directorial debut. But Millepied’s runaway Carmen, as imagined by writers Loïc Barrere, Alexander Dinelaris and Lisa Loomer, is not so much a doomed temptress archetype as a freedom-hungry firebrand in search of her voice and identity.
In that regard, it would be unfair to claim that Millepied’s “Carmen” is an adaptation of Bizet’s timeless story. In fact, the director...
- 4/21/2023
- by Tomris Laffly
- The Wrap
Opera lovers flock to performances in order to be thrilled, aroused, overjoyed, moved to tears. Ditto disciples of dance, musical-theater fanatics, and — the worst, most masochistic, and unrepentant art-rush addicts of them all — moviegoers. Georges Bizet’s Carmen shocked audiences when it premiered in 1875 in Paris; eventually, his story of a Spanish soldier and a Roma traveler would become a staple of repertory companies and one of the best-known operas of all time. (Hum the opening notes of this, and at least one person will break into their best Beverly Sills impression.
- 4/19/2023
- by David Fear
- Rollingstone.com
Paul Mescal is in fighting shape to bring the brawn to dark opera “Carmen.”
The Oscar nominee stars alongside “Scream VI” breakout Melissa Barrera in the modern update to the beloved opera. Helmed by Benjamin Millepied of “Black Swan” choreography fame, the film debuted at 2022 TIFF.
“The Revenant” scribe Alexander Dinelaris, “Girl, Interrupted” writer Lisa Loomer, and Loïc Barrere collaborated on the script. Barrera plays the title character, with Elsa Pataky and Rossy de Palma also starring. Emmy-winning composer Nicholas Britell (“Succession”) pens the score.
Per the official synopsis, “Carmen” follows a young and fiercely independent woman who is forced to flee her home in the Mexican desert following the brutal murder of her mother, another strong and mysterious woman. Carmen (Barrera) survives a terrifying and dangerous illegal border crossing into the US, only to be confronted by a lawless volunteer border guard who cold-bloodedly murders two other immigrants in her group.
The Oscar nominee stars alongside “Scream VI” breakout Melissa Barrera in the modern update to the beloved opera. Helmed by Benjamin Millepied of “Black Swan” choreography fame, the film debuted at 2022 TIFF.
“The Revenant” scribe Alexander Dinelaris, “Girl, Interrupted” writer Lisa Loomer, and Loïc Barrere collaborated on the script. Barrera plays the title character, with Elsa Pataky and Rossy de Palma also starring. Emmy-winning composer Nicholas Britell (“Succession”) pens the score.
Per the official synopsis, “Carmen” follows a young and fiercely independent woman who is forced to flee her home in the Mexican desert following the brutal murder of her mother, another strong and mysterious woman. Carmen (Barrera) survives a terrifying and dangerous illegal border crossing into the US, only to be confronted by a lawless volunteer border guard who cold-bloodedly murders two other immigrants in her group.
- 2/22/2023
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Located somewhere between a classic opera, a modern dance piece, and a deadly fever dream — between the timeless beauty of ancient myth and the modern nightmare of America’s current immigration policies — Benjamin Millepied’s “Carmen” is stretched across a few too many borders to ever feel like it’s standing on solid ground. And yet, (Nicolas Britell) for the kind of aggressively unclassifiable movie that would never exist if not for these two artists reaching beyond their disciplines to create it themselves.
Loosely inspired by Georges Bizet’s 1875 opera of the same name — so loosely, in fact, that Millepied thinks of his film as less of a re-telling or adaptation than he does a version of Bizet’s tragedy from a parallel universe — this “Carmen” moves the action from the southern tip of Spain to the northern cusp of Mexico, pares the source material’s busy story down to the brink of abstraction,...
Loosely inspired by Georges Bizet’s 1875 opera of the same name — so loosely, in fact, that Millepied thinks of his film as less of a re-telling or adaptation than he does a version of Bizet’s tragedy from a parallel universe — this “Carmen” moves the action from the southern tip of Spain to the northern cusp of Mexico, pares the source material’s busy story down to the brink of abstraction,...
- 9/11/2022
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Laura Esquivel’s 1989 novel Like Water For Chocolate, adapted for the screen in 1993, is now headed to the stage: A musical version to be directed by Tony Award winner Michael Mayer with original music by the Grammy Award-winning Latin group La Santa Cecilia is in development, producers announced today.
La Santa Cecilia will write the lyrics along with Pulitzer Prize winner Quiara Alegría Hudes, with a book by Lisa Loomer, according to producers Tom Hulce and Ira Pittleman.
A section of the never-before-heard music will by performed tonight by La Santa Cecilia as part of the digital concert event ¡Viva Broadway! Hear Our Voices at BroadwayCares.org.
“In times of waiting many wonderful things happen,” Esquivel said in a statement. “Dreams take shape and become voices, harmonies, dance. The musical Like Water for Chocolate waited until a group of extraordinary dreamers came together: La Santa Cecilia and Quiara Alegría Hudes,...
La Santa Cecilia will write the lyrics along with Pulitzer Prize winner Quiara Alegría Hudes, with a book by Lisa Loomer, according to producers Tom Hulce and Ira Pittleman.
A section of the never-before-heard music will by performed tonight by La Santa Cecilia as part of the digital concert event ¡Viva Broadway! Hear Our Voices at BroadwayCares.org.
“In times of waiting many wonderful things happen,” Esquivel said in a statement. “Dreams take shape and become voices, harmonies, dance. The musical Like Water for Chocolate waited until a group of extraordinary dreamers came together: La Santa Cecilia and Quiara Alegría Hudes,...
- 10/1/2020
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Like Water for Chocolate (Cómo Agua Para Chocolate), Laura Esquivel’s sensual 1989 novel, was a phenomenon in fiction, with its romantic story set in Mexico during the early 20th century that combined magical realism and cooking recipes. It was later adapted into a popular 1992 Spanish-language movie, nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and became the highest-grossing foreign-language film ever released in the United States at the time. Now it seems it’s finally time to get the musical theater treatment.
The new work will be...
The new work will be...
- 10/1/2020
- by Jerry Portwood
- Rollingstone.com
Exclusive: New plays and musicals by Pulitzer Prize winners Beth Henley (Crimes of the Heart) and Tom Kitt (Next To Normal) are among the works-in-progress set for this summer’s 35th edition of the prestigious Powerhouse Season of Vassar and New York Stage and Film.
Presented annually at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, Powerhouse has given starts to an impressive roster of work, including Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton and Stephen Karam’s The Humans. Powerhouse also presented first-look productions of two finalists for the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Sarah DeLappe’s The Wolves and Taylor Mac’s A 24-Decade History of Popular Music. A sampling of other current or recent Broadway and Off Broadway shows that can trace roots to the festival are Anaïs Mitchell’s Hadestown; the Lynn Nottage/Duncan Sheik/Susan Birkenhead musical The Secret Life of Bees; the Duncan Sheik/Steven Sater/Jessie Nelson musical Alice...
Presented annually at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, Powerhouse has given starts to an impressive roster of work, including Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton and Stephen Karam’s The Humans. Powerhouse also presented first-look productions of two finalists for the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Sarah DeLappe’s The Wolves and Taylor Mac’s A 24-Decade History of Popular Music. A sampling of other current or recent Broadway and Off Broadway shows that can trace roots to the festival are Anaïs Mitchell’s Hadestown; the Lynn Nottage/Duncan Sheik/Susan Birkenhead musical The Secret Life of Bees; the Duncan Sheik/Steven Sater/Jessie Nelson musical Alice...
- 4/22/2019
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
A musical version of The Outsiders, based on both S.E. Hinton’s groundbreaking 1967 Ya novel and Francis Ford Coppola’s 1983 film version that introduced a generation of young actors who would dominate the screen for years to come, will make its world premiere next year at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre.
Though there currently are no plans for the musical beyond Chicago, the production’s creative team has significant ties to New York and Hollywood. The musical’s book is written by Adam Rapp, whose plays have been staged at, among other venues, New York Theatre Workshop and Rattlestick Theatre, and his film and TV credits include The L Word, In Treatment and The Looming Tower.
The production’s director, Liesl Tommy, directed Eclipsed starring Lupita Nyong’o both Off- and on Broadway in 2015-16. Tommy’s upcoming film projects include the movie adaptation of Trevor Noah’s Born a Crime...
Though there currently are no plans for the musical beyond Chicago, the production’s creative team has significant ties to New York and Hollywood. The musical’s book is written by Adam Rapp, whose plays have been staged at, among other venues, New York Theatre Workshop and Rattlestick Theatre, and his film and TV credits include The L Word, In Treatment and The Looming Tower.
The production’s director, Liesl Tommy, directed Eclipsed starring Lupita Nyong’o both Off- and on Broadway in 2015-16. Tommy’s upcoming film projects include the movie adaptation of Trevor Noah’s Born a Crime...
- 3/28/2019
- by Greg Evans
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Actress Lynn Whitfield has signed on to co-star in the Netflix comedy Nappily Ever After, joining Sanaa Lathan and Ernie Hudson in the film based on Trisha R. Thomas’ book of the same name. Haifaa Al-Mansour is directing the pic from an original script by Tina Chism with rewrites from Lisa Loomer, Adam Brooks and Gina Prince-Bythewood. It follows Violet Jones (Lathan), whose a seemingly flawless life is interrupted after an accident at the hair dresser leads to…...
- 8/21/2017
- Deadline
Sanaa Lathan has been tapped to star in the Netflix original film Nappily Ever After, with Wadjda helm Haifaa Al-Mansour attached to direct. Ernie Hudson also has been cast of the pic, which is based on the book by Trisha R. Thomas. Tina Chism drafted the script with rewrites from Lisa Loomer, Adam Brooks and most recently filmmaker Gina Prince-Bythewood. Nappily Ever After centers on Violet Jones (Lathan), who has a seemingly flawless life until an accident at the hair…...
- 8/15/2017
- Deadline
Popular 2004 Televisa telenovela Rubí is getting an English-language adaptation via Fox. The network has put in development an hourlong series based on the telenovela. Written by Lisa Loomer, it centers on a beautiful but poor woman who will do anything to make her dream a reality and become rich – she will even give up the greatest love of her life. 20th Century Fox TV and Televisa are producing the project, executive produced by Loomer and Michael Garcia. The telenovela was a monster ratings hit when aired in the Us on Univision from September 2004 to March 2005, with its two-hour finale drawing nearly 8 million viewers. The single-camera Slaty Fork, from writer Dave Holstein (Weeds) and 20th TV, is ensemble comedy that follows the relationship between a young female cop and her dad, the former police chief, as well as other local police and volunteer firefighters in an offbeat resort town. FishBowl Worldwide Media’s Vin Di Bona,...
- 11/29/2012
- by NELLIE ANDREEVA
- Deadline TV
American Theater Company proudly announces Season 25, which includes the Chicago Premiere of Yeast Nation (the triumph of life) by Mark Hollmann and Greg Kotis, directed by Artistic Director Pj Paparelli; the Chicago Premiere of Lisa Loomer's Distracted, also directed by Pj Paparelli; and the World Premiere of Welcome to Arroyo's, written by Kristoffer Diaz and directed by Jaime Castañeda. Back for the holiday season is It's a Wonderful Life: The Radio Play, directed by Jason Gerace.
- 5/20/2009
- BroadwayWorld.com
Roundabout Theatre Company's (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director) limited engagement of Distracted will play its final performance on Sunday, May 17th at 2:00 Pm. Distracted, written by Lisa Loomer and directed by Mark Brokaw, features Peter Benson (Dr. Broder, Dr. Karnes, Dr. Jinks), Shana Dowdeswell (Natalie), Lisa Emery (Vera), Natalie Gold (Dr. Zavala, Waitress, Carolyn), Matthew Gumley (Jesse), Rick Holmes (Dad), Mimi Lieber (Sherry), Aleta Mitchell (Mrs. Holly, Dr. Waller, Nurse), Cynthia Nixon (Mama).
- 5/17/2009
- BroadwayWorld.com
Roundabout Theatre Company's (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director) limited engagement of Distracted will play its final performance on Sunday, May 17th at 2:00 Pm. Distracted, written by Lisa Loomer and directed by Mark Brokaw, features Peter Benson (Dr. Broder, Dr. Karnes, Dr. Jinks), Shana Dowdeswell (Natalie), Lisa Emery (Vera), Natalie Gold (Dr. Zavala, Waitress, Carolyn), Matthew Gumley (Jesse), Rick Holmes (Dad), Mimi Lieber (Sherry), Aleta Mitchell (Mrs. Holly, Dr. Waller, Nurse), Cynthia Nixon (Mama).
- 5/12/2009
- BroadwayWorld.com
Cynthia Nixon & Josh Stamberg were live on NPR's "Talk of the Nation" news talk program this week. Click here to listen as they discuss their roles in the play as well as Add, with host Neal Conan. Roundabout Theatre Company presents Distracted, written by Lisa Loomer, directed by Mark Brokaw and featuring Peter Benson, Shana Dowdeswell, Lisa Emery, Natalie Gold, Matthew Gumley, Mimi Lieber, Aleta Mitchell, Cynthia Nixon and Josh Stamberg.
- 3/20/2009
- BroadwayWorld.com
Cynthia Nixon, currently featured in Roundabout Theatre Company's Distracted was on Fox 5's "Good Day NY" this morning. Click here to watch her sit down interview with Fox's Anne Craig: here Roundabout Theatre Company presents Distracted, written by Lisa Loomer, directed by Mark Brokaw and featuring Peter Benson, Shana Dowdeswell, Lisa Emery, Natalie Gold, Matthew Gumley, Mimi Lieber, Aleta Mitchell, Cynthia Nixon and Josh Stamberg.
- 3/13/2009
- BroadwayWorld.com
On Sunday, March 8 at 5:00 p.m., Lisa Loomer (Distracted) and Christopher Shinn (Hedda Gabler) will be featured on American Theatre Wing's "Working in the Theatre" playwright panel alongside Gina Gionfriddo (Becky Shaw), Stephen Adly Guirgis (Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train), & Tina Howe (Chasing Manet). The program, moderated by American Theatre Wing Executive Director Howard Sherman, will air on Cuny TV beginning Sunday, March 8, 2009 (with additional airings March 13, 14 and 15 - check local listings). It will be also be available for viewing and for download as a podcast at www.americantheatrewing.org beginning March 11, 2009.
- 3/8/2009
- BroadwayWorld.com
On Sunday, March 8 at 5:00 p.m., Lisa Loomer (Distracted) and Christopher Shinn (Hedda Gabler) will be featured on American Theatre Wing's "Working in the Theatre" playwright panel alongside Gina Gionfriddo (Becky Shaw), Stephen Adly Guirgis (Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train), & Tina Howe (Chasing Manet). The program, moderated by American Theatre Wing Executive Director Howard Sherman, will air on Cuny TV beginning Sunday, March 8, 2009 (with additional airings March 13, 14 and 15 - check local listings). It will be also be available for viewing and for download as a podcast at www.americantheatrewing.org beginning March 11, 2009.
- 3/7/2009
- BroadwayWorld.com
Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director) is pleased to announce a second one-week extension of the New York premiere production of Distracted, by Lisa Loomer, directed by Mark Brokaw. Distracted opened last night, March 4th, and has been extended again to Sunday, May 17th, 2009 at the Laura Pels Theatre at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre (111 West 46th Street).
- 3/5/2009
- BroadwayWorld.com
"I've never played the part of someone so frantic before," says Cynthia Nixon of why she was drawn to the character Mama in Lisa Loomer's Distracted, now playing Off-Broadway in a Roundabout Theatre Company production. "And parts I've done on stage recently are dramas. It was nice to get back to doing a comedy. It's a comedy with teeth."Distracted is at once satire and, for many overextended families, grim reality. Nixon plays the mother of a child who suffers from attention deficit disorder. He's a source of endless concern for his parents, who shuttle him from doctor to psychologist to educator to holistic healer in search of answers. Throughout the play, actors break the fourth wall to comment on the action.The multiple-award-winning Nixon, who played steadfast attorney Miranda Hobbes on Sex and the City and in last summer's hit film version, has been a working actor since childhood,...
- 3/5/2009
- by Simi Horwitz
- backstage.com
Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director) is pleased to announce a one-week extension of the New York premiere production of Distracted, by Lisa Loomer, directed by Mark Brokaw. Distracted will officially open on Wednesday, March 4th and has been extended to Sunday, May 10th, 2009 at the Laura Pels Theatre at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre (111 West 46th Street).
- 2/13/2009
- BroadwayWorld.com
Roundabout Theatre Company's (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director) New York premiere production of Distracted begins previews tomorrow Saturday, February 7th at 2:00 Pm. Distracted is written by Lisa Loomer, directed by Scott Ellis and features Peter Benson, Shana Dowdeswell, Lisa Emery, Natalie Gold, Matthew Gumley, Mimi Lieber, Aleta Mitchell, Cynthia Nixon, and Josh Stamberg. Distracted will open officially on Wednesday, March 4th at the Laura Pels Theatre at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre (111 West 46th Street). This is a limited engagement through May 3rd, 2009.
- 2/6/2009
- BroadwayWorld.com
Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director) will present the upcoming New York premiere of Distracted, by Lisa Loomer, directed by Mark Brokaw. Distracted will begin previews on Saturday, February 7th and open officially on Wednesday, March 4th, 2009 at the Laura Pels Theatre in the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre (111 West 46th Street). The Distracted cast met the press and BroadwayWorld was there. The cast will feature Peter Benson (Dr. Broder, Dr. Karnes, Dr. Jinks), Shana Dowdeswell (Natalie), Lisa Emery (Vera), Natalie Gold (Dr. Zavala, Waitress, Carolyn), Matthew Gumley (Jesse), Mimi Lieber (Sherry), Aleta Mitchell (Mrs. Holly, Dr. Waller, Nurse), Cynthia Nixon (Mama), Josh Stamberg (Dad).
- 1/16/2009
- BroadwayWorld.com
Scribe Lisa Loomer has boarded the Halle Berry starrer Nappily Ever After for Universal and studio-based Marc Platt. Loomer will rewrite the script, to be directed by Patricia Cardoso. The story, based on Trisha Thomas' novel, follows a black woman's journey to self-discovery. On an impulse, the main character -- an advertising exec tired of fussing with her long and processed straight hair -- shaves it off and kicks out her commitment-phobic boyfriend. Discovering a newfound freedom, she is unprepared for how friends and co-workers react to her new hairdo and subsequent new life. Tina Chism also penned a draft of the screenplay. Berry and Platt are producing along with Berry's manager, Vincent Cirrincione, and Angela DeJoseph. At the studio, the project is being overseen by vice chairman of worldwide production Scott Stuber along with Donna Langley and Amy Kane. At Marc Platt Prods., Nappily is being shepherded by Abby Wolf-Weiss and Nicole Brown. Loomer, who penned the play Living Out, is repped by ICM.
Variety reports that Paramount Pictures has paid mid-six figures to option the feature film rights to the Jacquelyn Mitchard novel A Theory of Relativity. Luis Mandoki (Trapped) will direct, with a script by playwright-screenwriter Lisa Loomer. The domestic drama concerns the custody of a 5-year-old girl when a tragic accident happens to her parents and centers on the journey of the victim's brother, who becomes a man by becoming a father.
- 9/3/2002
- IMDbPro News
"Girl, Interrupted" is the film version of Susanna Kaysen's memoir of her two-year stay at a private institution in Massachusetts. It is respectful to its source material and contains several vivid (and a few shopworn) performances. But the episodic film never engages the viewer at a gut level. Stars Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie should bring in a considerable female audience, both young and old, but the film isn't likely to become a breakout hit.
"Girl, Interrupted" joins a clutch of Hollywood films including "I Never Promised You a Rose Garden," "I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can" and "The Bell Jar" that deal with the recovery of women who suffer breakdowns owing to stress, emotional trauma or drugs. The challenge these films face is treating visually and dramatically what is an intensely cerebral process.
While the breakdown of human mental faculties does represent something of a mystery, clues and solutions seldom emerge in ways that make for fine drama. There are few smoking guns or moments of epiphany. Rather, recovery is a slow process that, in a sense, takes place off-camera.
In 1967, at the height of the counterculture and massive youth rebellion in the United States, 17-year-old Susanna (Ryder) is packed off to a mental institute by her parents for exhibiting personality traits that today would seem almost normal.
She is diagnosed as suffering from a "borderline personality disorder," psychobabble for who knows what. But Susanna herself goes along with the incarceration. Her explanation: "I'm sad and I see things".
There's no doubting the problems suffered by her fellow inmates. Lisa (Jolie) is a seductive and cunning sociopath in and out of the hospital for seven years. Susanna's roommate Georgina (Clea Duvall) is a pathological liar; Polly (Elisabeth Moss), a burn victim who never recovered from the psychological damage; and Daisy (Brittany Murphy), a "daddy's girl" fixated on chicken and laxatives.
The interaction of these characters among themselves and with two psychiatrists -- Jeffrey Tambor and Vanessa Redgrave -- and a wise nurse (Whoopi Goldberg) forms the backbone of the screenplay by director James Mangold, Lisa Loomer and Anna Hamilton Phelan.
"Girl, Interrupted" appears to have two agendas. One is to blame/explain the heroine's mental problems. Much of the blame falls on her rigid middle-class parents and her upbringing. But the film also wants to explain her confusions over goals and values on emotional immaturity and the 1960s Zeitgeist. None of which is particularly compelling or satisfying.
The movie's other agenda concerns a critique of mental institutions themselves. While much has undoubtedly changed since the '60s, many of the charges leveled against such institutions here still apply, particularly the overmedication of patients and the complete control an aloof staff has over an individual when its personnel can determine when a patient is "well enough" to re-enter society.
Jolie is handed a scene-stealing role as the mischievous bad girl who can astutely quote Dorothy Parker one moment, then treat a fellow human being with malevolent cruelty the next. She gets to be flashy, sexy and easily the most interesting and complex person in the film.
Ryder, who exec produces, has taken on the more difficult role as a vulnerable and confused teen who must take baby steps back to normalcy. She does so nicely though, evoking both sympathy and pity.
Redgrave scores in a fairly minor role where her mature warmth comes as a welcome relief in the often cold institution. But what on earth tempted Goldberg to play a motherly nurse again? She can play these roles in her sleep and at times appears to be doing exactly that.
Direction by Mangold ("Cop Land", "Heavy") is steady if unremarkable. Technical credits are good enough that one hails any exterior scene: for the viewer, too, feels imprisoned inside this sad and overwrought world.
GIRL, INTERRUPTED
Sony Pictures Entertainment
Red Wagon Prods. and Konrad Pictures
Producers: Doug Wick, Cathy Konrad
Director: James Mangold
Writers: James Mangold, Lisa Loomer, Anna Hamilton Phelan
Based on the book by: Susanna Kaysen
Executive producers: Carole Bodie, Winona Ryder
Director of photography: Jack Green
Production designer: Richard Hoover
Music: Mychael Danna
Co-producer: Georgia Kacandes
Costume designer: Arianna Phillips
Editor: Kevin Tent
Color/stereo
Cast:
Susanna: Winona Ryder
Lisa: Angelina Jolie
Georgina: Clea Duvall
Daisy: Brittany Murphy
Polly: Elisabeth Moss
Tobias: Jared Leto
Dr. Wick: Vanessa Redgrave
Dr. Potts: Jeffrey Tambor
Nurse Valerie: Whoopi Goldberg
Running time -- 125 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
"Girl, Interrupted" joins a clutch of Hollywood films including "I Never Promised You a Rose Garden," "I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can" and "The Bell Jar" that deal with the recovery of women who suffer breakdowns owing to stress, emotional trauma or drugs. The challenge these films face is treating visually and dramatically what is an intensely cerebral process.
While the breakdown of human mental faculties does represent something of a mystery, clues and solutions seldom emerge in ways that make for fine drama. There are few smoking guns or moments of epiphany. Rather, recovery is a slow process that, in a sense, takes place off-camera.
In 1967, at the height of the counterculture and massive youth rebellion in the United States, 17-year-old Susanna (Ryder) is packed off to a mental institute by her parents for exhibiting personality traits that today would seem almost normal.
She is diagnosed as suffering from a "borderline personality disorder," psychobabble for who knows what. But Susanna herself goes along with the incarceration. Her explanation: "I'm sad and I see things".
There's no doubting the problems suffered by her fellow inmates. Lisa (Jolie) is a seductive and cunning sociopath in and out of the hospital for seven years. Susanna's roommate Georgina (Clea Duvall) is a pathological liar; Polly (Elisabeth Moss), a burn victim who never recovered from the psychological damage; and Daisy (Brittany Murphy), a "daddy's girl" fixated on chicken and laxatives.
The interaction of these characters among themselves and with two psychiatrists -- Jeffrey Tambor and Vanessa Redgrave -- and a wise nurse (Whoopi Goldberg) forms the backbone of the screenplay by director James Mangold, Lisa Loomer and Anna Hamilton Phelan.
"Girl, Interrupted" appears to have two agendas. One is to blame/explain the heroine's mental problems. Much of the blame falls on her rigid middle-class parents and her upbringing. But the film also wants to explain her confusions over goals and values on emotional immaturity and the 1960s Zeitgeist. None of which is particularly compelling or satisfying.
The movie's other agenda concerns a critique of mental institutions themselves. While much has undoubtedly changed since the '60s, many of the charges leveled against such institutions here still apply, particularly the overmedication of patients and the complete control an aloof staff has over an individual when its personnel can determine when a patient is "well enough" to re-enter society.
Jolie is handed a scene-stealing role as the mischievous bad girl who can astutely quote Dorothy Parker one moment, then treat a fellow human being with malevolent cruelty the next. She gets to be flashy, sexy and easily the most interesting and complex person in the film.
Ryder, who exec produces, has taken on the more difficult role as a vulnerable and confused teen who must take baby steps back to normalcy. She does so nicely though, evoking both sympathy and pity.
Redgrave scores in a fairly minor role where her mature warmth comes as a welcome relief in the often cold institution. But what on earth tempted Goldberg to play a motherly nurse again? She can play these roles in her sleep and at times appears to be doing exactly that.
Direction by Mangold ("Cop Land", "Heavy") is steady if unremarkable. Technical credits are good enough that one hails any exterior scene: for the viewer, too, feels imprisoned inside this sad and overwrought world.
GIRL, INTERRUPTED
Sony Pictures Entertainment
Red Wagon Prods. and Konrad Pictures
Producers: Doug Wick, Cathy Konrad
Director: James Mangold
Writers: James Mangold, Lisa Loomer, Anna Hamilton Phelan
Based on the book by: Susanna Kaysen
Executive producers: Carole Bodie, Winona Ryder
Director of photography: Jack Green
Production designer: Richard Hoover
Music: Mychael Danna
Co-producer: Georgia Kacandes
Costume designer: Arianna Phillips
Editor: Kevin Tent
Color/stereo
Cast:
Susanna: Winona Ryder
Lisa: Angelina Jolie
Georgina: Clea Duvall
Daisy: Brittany Murphy
Polly: Elisabeth Moss
Tobias: Jared Leto
Dr. Wick: Vanessa Redgrave
Dr. Potts: Jeffrey Tambor
Nurse Valerie: Whoopi Goldberg
Running time -- 125 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 12/10/1999
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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