Word: evelyn
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...You’ve said a lot about how the movie is about being happy in your own life, whatever it is, and ultimately Evelyn Ryan didn’t change anything tangible about her life. So I wonder what you would say to those people who argue that a movie like this is encouraging other women who are in difficult situations to stay in those situations instead of trying to change them...
...That’s a great question. If Evelyn could have changed it, she would have. Now there are all kinds of alternatives, women’s centers, all kinds of resources. Evelyn didn’t have those kinds of resources. The message is change whatever you can, but if you can’t, be happy. I mean, it was tragic that women were stuck in the house. And growing up in the feminist era, I learned to feel terribly sorry for housewives. And here was this woman who lived in the middle of nowhere...
Based on the best-selling memoir by Terry Ryan, “Prize Winner” recounts the story of Ryan’s mother, Evelyn (Julianne Moore), who raised and financially supported 10 children by winning commercial song-writing contests, as her alcoholic husband, Kelly (Woody Harrelson) drank away his wages. While the feat in itself is inspiring, it is difficult to feel inspired by a story full of characters who represent actual individuals, but come off as implausible devices...
Despite Moore’s impressive versatility as an actress (she exudes maternal competence here as confidently as she exudes sexuality in “Boogie Nights”), her Evelyn is, as her husband points out, “just too damn happy.” The shock she displays upon winning a bicycle is almost as affected as the unfazed façade she puts on for her kids when Kelly tears into one of his asinine drunken outbursts. Thus, by the time Evelyn finally breaks down towards the film’s end, it is hard...
...While Evelyn may be too one-dimensional, this is more than can be said of the children characters. The way in which screenwriter and director Jane Anderson constantly positions the faceless (and mostly nameless) flock around and generally below Evelyn succeeds at reinforcing their adoration of her, but fails to give any sense of a sorely lacking intimacy between them. And though she squeezes in a few incongruous moments of one-on-one, mother-child interaction, they cannot be appreciated when the children themselves are awkwardly underdeveloped. Terry, or “Tuff” as they call...