Word: lianna
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Lianna Wed.-Thurs...
DIRECTOR WRITER John Sayles seems to like his movies heavy on soundtrack, light on plot. In his recent Lianna, a young mother of two decides for no apparent reason to take up homosexuality while a Joni Mitchellesque voice sings about love and other relevant topics in the background. Lianna does a lot of mournful staring out of windows, the crooning puts us--sort of--in the mood, and nothing much else happens...
John Sayles is ambling toward Holly wood legitimacy. Author of award-winning short stories, screenwriter of such intelligent exploitation movies as The Lady in Red and Alligator, gifted writer-director of the no-budget Return of the Secaucus 7 and the low-budget Lianna, Sayles has traded up. His new film is being released by Paramount Pictures, was shot with a union crew, and is the first Sayles movie he has not edited on the kitchen table of his home in Hoboken, N.J. But Baby, It's You is not the traditional calling-card film of an ambitious young...
Although many of its characters are gay, Lianna fails to deal with lesbianism as an issue. The suddenness and irreversability of Lianna's decision make the fact that she is a lesbian almost incidental to the story. In contrast to other recent movies about homosexuals, for example Making Love, homosexuality is not central to the theme. Lianna would unfold no differently if its characters were heterosexual. Rather, it focuses on liberation and the price Lianna has to pay to be free...
Interminable scenes of Lianna alone in her bare apartment are highlighted by the strains of sentimental love-songs. Director Sayles heightens the effect by shooting from above, making the character seem trapped and helpless. Neither insightful nor original, the work is fundamentally boring. Sayles heightens this effect too, one hopes unintentionally, by avoiding any striking or colorful shots. Like the eating of the peas, Lianna is not open to reason, and its content, ultimately, is no big deal...