The Girl in the Park (2007)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

David Auburn

Writer:

David Auburn (writer)

Release Date:

12 September 2008 (Germany)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Enduringly traumatized by the disappearance of her 3-year-old daughter 15 years ago, Julia Sandburg...

Plot Keywords:

Park | Playground

Cast

Sigourney Weaver	...	Julia Sandburg
Kate Bosworth	...	Louise
Alessandro Nivola	...	Chris
Keri Russell	...	Celeste
David Rasche	...	Doug
Elias Koteas	...	Raymond
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Felipe Bonilla	...	Bartender
Alex Burns	...	Guy
Curtiss Cook	...	Actor
Samantha Gallo	...	Girl riding spring animal in park
Mark Gerrard	...	Doctor (as Michael Gerrard)
Maury Ginsberg	...	Marcus Broyard
Joanna Gleason	...	Sarah Graczyk
Seiko Higuma	...	Euro Trash
Jeffrey Joseph	...	Bobby
Patricia Kalember	...	Amanda
Jeremy Kareken	...	Bartender
Stephen Kunken	...	Lee Hall
Ian McWethy	...	Dean
Flaco Navaja	...	Contractor
Elizabeth Newman	...	Colleague
Michael Lee Patterson	...	David Graczyk
Katharine Powell	...	Waitress
Tijuana Ricks	...	Narissa
Rich Rothbell	...	Justice of the Peace
Jack Rovello	...	Young Chris
Kristen Ruhlin	...	The girl mistaken for Louise
Brendan Sexton III	...	Stuart
Bill Sorice	...	Bartender
Andrew Stewart-Jones	...	Louise's Date
Daisy Tahan	...	Maggie
Sarah Megan Thomas	...	Hairdresser
Elisabeth Waterston	...	Alice
Stacey Yen	...	Woman

Also Known As:

Girl in the Park (UK)

MPAA:

Rated R for language.

Runtime:

Canada:109 min (Toronto International Film Festival)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Canada:14A | USA:R | Mexico:B | Australia:M | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Furst Films

Goofs:

Continuity: When Julia's co-worker brings her a coffee to try out from his new coffee machine, he places it on her desk. The shot changes to him a few seconds later. When back to her, the coffee cup is turned 180 degrees - the handle is on the other side, the computer mouse is moved, and a stack of papers near her planner is moved. She did not move all of these things in those few seconds because she is holding some papers that she was reading when he walked into her office.

A pretty competent drama

Some people suppose that since I am an aficionado of cinema,I also gotta be a fan of theatre,but it is not like that.I do not hate the theatre and I appreciate all the effort coming from the scenic art,but for some reasons,all the plays I went to see did not leave me very satisfied,because I felt on them that the playwrights think that the the most important characteristic of theatre will be enough for compensating the various fails from their plays.The characteristic I am obviously talking about is the presence of actors live.There is an undeniable energy which flows between interpreters and spectators,which makes the drama more immediate and the emotions more intense.What I want to say is that although the presence of the actors on live may make the experience more cathartic,many playwrights use that as an excuse for presenting weak and predictable stories.

The movie The Girl in the Park is based on a play,and maybe because of that I did not expect too much from it,because without the presence of the actors on live,I thought we would only have a weak story.Fortunately,that did not happen and I finished liking this movie pretty much.This movie represents the first work as a director from playwright David Auburn,who wrote the original play.He had already been involved on cinema,adapting one of his plays to the film Proof and writing the screenplay from The Lake House.And,most recently,he has had a pretty solid debut as a director with The Girl in the Park,at the same time he also made a good work as a screenwriter on it.

The Girl in the Park brought me a satisfactory and very interesting experience.The best element from it is definitely the excellent performance from Sigourney Weaver.She perfectly depicts the emotional evolution from her character,and she is absolutely involved on it.Kate Bosworth,Alessandro Nivola and Keri Russell also bring competent performances,although they feel a bit darkened by Weaver.And,although he is on a small role,the great David Rasche brings a detailed and solid performance.

The movie keeps a good tone and the story is always interesting.The fails I found on this movie are the following : for one side,some moments from the screenplay could have had more elaboration; and for the other side,the ending feels a bit abrupt.

There have been various cases of playwrights who make very competent works on cinema on the directing and screen writing fields.Movies like Doubt,Yes and Titus are examples of that.The Girl in the Park is a new addition to that list,and in sight of it,I am definitely interested in watching more movies written and directed by Auburn.I recommend this movie,because I found it to be an entertaining and pretty interesting drama.