 Sunshine State (2002) Sayles thoughtfully raises a lot of issues about race, class, consumerism, and the ability of the individual to thrive in an increasingly inhumane corporate landscape. One of the most intriguing aspects of the film is the passionate and convincing depiction of a type of modern veiled slavery in which powerful white elites get previously oppressed minorities to do their dirty work in order to remain in the mainstream, and how those who reject their given roles end up being at best marginalized. So yeah, it's that kind of film, which is, for a certain viewer, total nirvana. Look elsewhere if you desire car crashes, stomping monsters, or pointless pole-dancing scenes. Unfortunately, so little changes, the character arcs so miniscule, that however realistic it may have been, this reviewer found it a bit lacking in the story department. In fact, the film is so low-key, it hardly feels like a movie at all, but more of a glimpse at some real people's lives. Being a real person, I tend to like my movies with at least minimal escapism, like a well-placed fantasy sequence, or even some fancy camera tricks to spice things up. You can show me a film of a two-hour monologue about some lady's menstrual cycle, and as long as there's a swooping crane move or a couple of extreme close-ups of someone's eyeball, I'm reasonably satisfied. Otherwise, park your story in the local community theater, sandwiched between performances of the junior high orchestra and the continuing education tap class, because it don't belong in the multiplex. At the very least, one can count on good to excellent performances in a Sayles movie, if nothing else. Angela Bassett, Edie Falco, and Timothy Hutton are in top form as slight variations on the "my life sucks so bad I'm just a shell" character we all know and love. But the real kudos go to the old-timers in the film – actors you've probably never heard of but may recognize – each of whom gets at least one juicy, if writerly, monologue. Personally, I could have done with more old people babbling about the good old days and how things have changed for the worse, and less middle-aged people mooning about how miserably hollow their lives are. Generally, old people tend to tell it like it is, and use more abusive language to do so, which is a lot more entertaining than boring youngsters who use carefully-selected PC terms like "rape artist" and "I got Gypsy-Americaned." It's not a bad film, just not very engaging. I do hope that Sayles makes an effort to incorporate an actual plot into his next movie, as he did with the unusual and vaguely haunting Limbo (but preferably with a little less of the contrived histrionics of his most well-known project, Lone Star). Actually, it would be quite cool if he got back to doing what he does best, writing movies like Alligator and Piranha and Buddy Hackett's Space Avengers.
Review by Crimedog |