Satimessa

I wanted to like this movie. But I didn't. That about sums it up. The movie follows a plot, and beats it to death by showing us several hundred shots of Tom Wilkinson and Sissy Spacek in grievance. It's not that these two wonderful actors (although I liked Wilkinson, and not so much Spacek) don't have reason to be upset, but I wish I hadn't been forced to watch several hundred fragmented scenes that were all only about fifteen seconds long. After a certain number of shots of sad faces, I was not sorry for them anymore and became upset that the plot wasn't going anywhere. Then it did, spinning in a direction and ending in a climax that seemed totally unmotivated and unreal. (Note: When Matt Fowler comes into the bedroom the final time, I totally predicted Ruth's line to the word... because I had been thinking, "I would be so mad if she said this..." and then she did. Crazy.) There were maybe three really exciting scenes, one in which the wonderful but under-utilized Marisa Tomei (whose accent may or may not have been a bit unsettled... are you British or southern?) got to act really hard. The rest of the movie was virtually silent, with a lot of shots of wheat-colored New England. Besides being dull to look at and hear, it was dull to watch. With the exception of Wilkinson, whose acting was amazing but character suffered, the cast (for which I had had such high hopes -- hello! Sissy Spacek!) was weak. I'm glad I saw it, but I didn't like it. Too bad, I guess. Rent it if you want, you should always make your own judgments about movies... this could possibly be your favorite movie. Don't let me stop you. :)