FEEL FREE TO SKIM THIS IT'S GOING TO BE VERY LONG
Acting: Heather Matarrazzo is very good with the subtle moments, but not the big emotional moments. For example, when begging her boyfriend to not leave, or when begging her teacher for a re-test, her voice gets too whiny and thin for me to be convinced by her. Subtle moments and big emotional moments are equally difficult, and every actress should know how to do both, but in this film Matarrazzo is only capable of handling subtle moments. Luckily, this role requires mostly only subtle moments, and she therefore gives a very contained, intelligent, and strong performance. Her performance is somewhat repetitive---there are many scenes in which she just plays the same emotion over again, and that emotion is: " Hey, I'm being mistreated, but no one is paying any attention." But she does have other emotions besides that---for example, her crush on her boyfriend and her crush on the high-school star of her brother's band. Overall, I would say that, despite the flaws of her performance, she still gives a good performance. She mostly doesn't have much to express herself with but her facial expression, and for that I admire her performance. The rest of the acting isn't very good. The person who play's Dawn's mother acts more like a cartoon than an actual person--though perhaps that's what the director was trying for. The person who plays Dawn's boyfriend is OK, I guess, but there are a lot of moments when he didn't convince me. The boy who plays Dawn's homosexual friend gives a very good performance, but unfortunately he isn't given much screen time. He and Matarrazzo give the best performances in the film, however. The script: My criticism of the script is that it chops the film up into separate scenes instead of connecting them. It also doesn't really tell us that much about Dawn, leaving us to fill in the blanks ourselves. These two things combined gives the film a somewhat stark, spare feel. Stark and spare is appropriate for a film like "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, and Spring" not appropriate for a film about the richly intricate worries, fears, and secrets of your typical 11-year-old geek. I also don't like that Dawn's mother didn't notice when Dawn ran away to New York for a few days: that was just over-dramatic. But I've gotta give the script points for perceptiveness. It also never dips into clichés or tries to smooth over Dawn's geekiness to make the film less embarrassing. And overall, though it is flawed, I'd say that the script, like the film, is pulled up to being very good by it's perceptiveness. Costume design: Very, very good. Captures Dawn's geekiness, Dawn's sweetness, Dawn's emotional honesty, and Dawn's attempt to be cool.
Cinematography: Nothing special. Adding this all up, I'd say it was a good film not without flaws.
Acting: Heather Matarrazzo is very good with the subtle moments, but not the big emotional moments. For example, when begging her boyfriend to not leave, or when begging her teacher for a re-test, her voice gets too whiny and thin for me to be convinced by her. Subtle moments and big emotional moments are equally difficult, and every actress should know how to do both, but in this film Matarrazzo is only capable of handling subtle moments. Luckily, this role requires mostly only subtle moments, and she therefore gives a very contained, intelligent, and strong performance. Her performance is somewhat repetitive---there are many scenes in which she just plays the same emotion over again, and that emotion is: " Hey, I'm being mistreated, but no one is paying any attention." But she does have other emotions besides that---for example, her crush on her boyfriend and her crush on the high-school star of her brother's band. Overall, I would say that, despite the flaws of her performance, she still gives a good performance. She mostly doesn't have much to express herself with but her facial expression, and for that I admire her performance. The rest of the acting isn't very good. The person who play's Dawn's mother acts more like a cartoon than an actual person--though perhaps that's what the director was trying for. The person who plays Dawn's boyfriend is OK, I guess, but there are a lot of moments when he didn't convince me. The boy who plays Dawn's homosexual friend gives a very good performance, but unfortunately he isn't given much screen time. He and Matarrazzo give the best performances in the film, however. The script: My criticism of the script is that it chops the film up into separate scenes instead of connecting them. It also doesn't really tell us that much about Dawn, leaving us to fill in the blanks ourselves. These two things combined gives the film a somewhat stark, spare feel. Stark and spare is appropriate for a film like "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, and Spring" not appropriate for a film about the richly intricate worries, fears, and secrets of your typical 11-year-old geek. I also don't like that Dawn's mother didn't notice when Dawn ran away to New York for a few days: that was just over-dramatic. But I've gotta give the script points for perceptiveness. It also never dips into clichés or tries to smooth over Dawn's geekiness to make the film less embarrassing. And overall, though it is flawed, I'd say that the script, like the film, is pulled up to being very good by it's perceptiveness. Costume design: Very, very good. Captures Dawn's geekiness, Dawn's sweetness, Dawn's emotional honesty, and Dawn's attempt to be cool.
Cinematography: Nothing special. Adding this all up, I'd say it was a good film not without flaws.