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...It's called
Far From Heaven,
but it's about as close to heavenly as movies
get.
...How?
...By
intriguing, absorbing, and ultimately moving
us as it takes us on what we think is a visit
to our real and movie past...
...And
then making us realize that we're actually looking
into a mirror that's right here and right now.
...Far
From Heaven is a supercharged domestic
drama set in Hartford, Connecticut in 1957.
...Julianne
Moore and Dennis Quaid play a married couple
with kids, a nuclear family seemingly blessed
with role-model perfection.
...But
he's struggling with his sexual identity, and
she will soon find herself drawn to the intimacy
and honesty offered by an African-American gardener--played
nicely by Dennis Haysbert--a union that unleashes
a whirlwind of gossip, insensitivity, prejudice,
and cruelty.
...What director
Todd Haynes has used as his inspiration are
the heated fifties melodramas of Douglas Sirk
(Written on the Wind,
Imitation of Life,
All That Heaven Allows),
but reinvented them by making tastefully explicit
the sexual and racial desires, fears, hypocrisies,
and taboos that could only be hinted at on-screen
then.
...And his film
is so entrancing, so poignant, so awe-inpiringly
correct in its look, its language, its rhythm,
and its resonance, you feel as if you're being
hypnotized and then transported back in time
to relearn the lesson that the more things change...
...Nor does it
hurt that Julianne Moore and Dennis Quaid so
disappear into their roles--think Oscar nomination
locks-- that their celebrity personas simply
vanish just a few minutes in.
...We'll revisit
all 4 stars
out of 4 for Todd Haynes' masterful, mesmerizing
middle-class melodrama about repressed desires
and life-shattering denials.
...Far
From Heaven
is one hell of a great movie.
_____________________________________________
JULIANNE
MOORE
...Julianne Moore's
excellence here shouldn't surprise anyone who's
been following her career.
She was nominated for an Oscar as Best Supporting
Actress for her affecting contribution to Boogie
Nights (1997)...
...Received a Best
Actress Oscar nomination for her vivid portrayal
in The End of the Affair
(1999)...
And effectively replaced Oscar winner Jodie
Foster in the Silence
of the Lambs sequel, Hannibal
(2000).
DENNIS QUAID
...Dennis Quaid's
strong recent work represents a gratifying second
act in his career:
...He was electrifying
as rocker Jerry Lee Lewis in Great
Balls of Fire! (1989)...
...Splendid a decade
later in the touching father-son fantasy thriller,
Frequency
(2000)...
...And both commanding
and outstanding as the lead in the based-on-real-life
baseball drama, The
Rookie (2002).
TODD HAYNES
...As for Todd
Haynes, he's warmed up for this triumph by directing:
...Poison
(1991), a controversial trilogy of tales of
obsession...
...Safe
(1995), an idiosyncratic drama about modern-day
alienation, starring one Julianne Moore...
...And Velvet
Goldmine (1998), a glittery look
back at the 70's glam-rock scene.
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