Editor's Note: For the fifth consecutive year, Dawn and The Husband will be spending a few nights attending the Toronto International Film Festival, known to the locals as TIFF. While they can now proudly call themselves seasoned veterans at this madness, CoVid-19 has altered how films will be screened this year. While TIFF is offering in-person and drive-in experiences all over the downtown core, neither one of them is yet ready to sit in a theatre with other potential Delta vectors, even though every patron is masked and vaxxed. The roster, while not nearly as robust as in previous years, still offers some wonderful choices so they have increased their number of films to view to six. Because they are old and, as previously stated congregating in a movie theatre is anathema in this still raging pandemic time, all films will be screened from the comfort of their living room complete with popcorn, a few homemade treats, and lights appropriately dimmed. The only phone calls that will be answered during the viewing of these world premieres are from Molly or Talia because grandchildren rule. TIFF still serves as a tremendous distraction from the world's ills and allows for some much-needed escapism during these tumultuous times. The next several posts will focus exclusively on TIFF and will offer very quick bullet point reviews for the movies seen. You've all been warned.
It isn't unusual for TIFF to collide with the Yamim Noraim. They both happen at the same time of year, so overlap is often an inevitability. When we looked at the calendar and the schedule of movies, we knew that Wednesday and Thursday were going to be problematic movie-viewing days. You know, Yom Kippur and all. But, we also really wanted to unwind after the big Jew day with a film. We specifically looked for something that wouldn't overly tax our intellect and that appeared from its description, an easy watch. We thought we found it in The Good House.
Based on the 2013 novel by Ann Leary, The Good House stars a wonderfully acerbic Sigourney Weaver as Hildy, a functioning alcoholic real estate agent in small-town New England, who is trying to keep her life from spiralling wildly out of control. Directors Maya Forbes and Wallace Wolodarsky use the cinematic breaking of the fourth wall to allow Hildy to narrate her own story to the audience. At times, her lack of self-awareness is cloying and frustrating. But in the hands of a skillful actor like Weaver, it actually works well. The town is populated with an assortment of very one-dimensional characters that seem to have little to do other than act as a foil to Hildy's poorer instincts. Much of the stellar supporting cast is wasted as they weave in and out of Hildy's life and I was missing a deeper dive into how these people might enrich Hildy's life and story.
The one exception is the always phenomenal and screen-eating Kevin Kline who plays Hildy's longtime neighbour and obvious wannabe paramour. Kline is outstanding as always but the story is so wildly broken that he can't save the script from its inconsistencies. Kline and Weaver have obvious chemistry. In their third onscreen pairing, they keep the film from descending into total chaos. Good acting can often save a mediocre film and in this case, it certainly does.
I wanted to love The Good House. I simply didn't. I loved the idea of seeing an older woman run through the entire gamut of life's turmoils play out in a movie. Weaver's Hildy is stressed, messed, and dressed. She longs for sex and company and comfort. Older women in movies are often one-dimensional mothers and grandmothers. Hildy is both of those but so much more. Unfortunately, the film falls flat and never seems to understand how to bring the story full circle.
Dawn and The Husband give The Good House two disappointed NOPES.
At least we didn't have to tax our brains too much after a day of Zoom davening.
No comments:
Post a Comment