Word: redfords
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Ordinary People tires very hard to be a great movie, and because it tries so hard it succeeds very badly. I say this feelingly. Redford is earnest, and for this he must be respected; earnestness is a quality to be prized these days. But of course earnestness can't carry a movie--talent must be added somewhere, and vision. There is little of either to be found in Ordinary People. It is not so much a movie about depressed people as a movie that is depressed itself, a movie that sits alone in its room and stares at the ceiling...
Indeed, the people of The Seagull are pretty much the same as those in Ordinary People, mutatis mutandis. Redford, though, is not Chekhov. The purpose of art of this sort is to take the ordinary and make it extraordinary--this he has failed to do. He brings little in the way of creativity or technical resources to his film, only a lot of self-conscious artiness which he takes to its furthest extremes, directorial touches which never coalesce. It all starts with the opening credits, white letters on black background, no sound: "Oh, Christ," you think--"not another American Bergman...
...becoming a cartoon; Timothy Hutton is impressive throughout, although distanced somewhat by his technique, and reminiscent in his mannerisms, of James Dean. When the actors do lapse, though, they look like they're auditioning for a Method class in the Village, and this can probably be chalked up to Redford...
...mother's characterization is the biggest problem with Sargent's screenplay, but not the only one. He and Redford try to work with symbols--the silver napkin rings, a doorbell, a lack of pets in the house, a broken plate--details that fail to accumulate, leaving a mess. It's all too obvious; just so the dialogue...
...maid (Victoria Racimo). For the rest of the film her Indian master (Stephen Macht) and Heston have at each other for possession of the lady, yet the struggle is not developed with much style. There is none of the menace and mystery that attended a similar conflict in Robert Redford's 1972 Jeremiah Johnson, which also dealt with the trappers who first explored the West. Brian Keith is at his best as Heston's raffish companion. But Heston seems emblematic of what is wrong with the film. He strives to be as free-spirited as a wanderer...