dimension04 Reviews

Brokeback Mountain (2005)

This film is a lot more than a movie. It's a deep look at human vulnerability.

[9/10 · 15 April 2006]

Caution: my review here alludes to a key plot element that newbies to the movie would no doubt rather not know.

In reading all about Brokeback Mountain on IMDb, I am stunned to learn about the short-story origin of this movie. It appeared in The New Yorker magazine in 1997, and as in the film, a main character lives in Wyoming and is eventually brutally killed by gay-bashers.

It's rather disturbing that this story was published one year before Matthew Shepard in Wyoming was in reality brutally killed by gay-bashers. I am so hoping Annie Proulx's work had nothing to do with that terrible coincidence a year later. I wouldn't think that such types would ever read a New Yorker story to begin with, but maybe it got around and some brutes there took offense and decided to "make a statement" -- or make it come true.

Adding to the troubling nature of this, Annie lives or lived near the spot where Matthew was murdered, and she was even screened for jury duty for the trial. Needless to say, she was not selected!

For me, this adds a dimension of reality to the movie about the crazy fear and hatred some people project onto gays. I'm a straight female, but I just can't understand the rage that gay-bashers feel -- and I think some ancient Bible quotes are just an excuse for it, not a source of it. The sorrow and tragedy and vast loneliness in this movie, accurately depicted, takes viewers to a deeper level on this whole issue and starkly raises the question: What are the anti-gays really afraid of?

Dolores Claiborne (1995)

This movie is a deeply insightful portrayal of the dynamics of VICTIMIZATION and the overcoming of it.

[10/10 · 22 February 2006]

Besides a good story and fantastic filmography, this production reveals how victims become further victimized by being so deeply misunderstood.

How is it that when victims react to their abuse, THEY are the ones who are reviled?? This movie is a perfect portrait of this outrageously common injustice -- and how, in this case, a victim's strength of character prevailed and exonerated her on all fronts.

I had the impression from trailers long ago that this was a typical Stephen King horror flick -- okay, maybe it was Kathy Bates smashing a window with an ax??

That was very misleading. She IS angry at what some yahoos have done to her house, but the oh-so-brief ax scene is not gratuitous violence, as you will see.

This moving, instructive film ought to be shown in every mental health center throughout the land!

Hoosiers (1986)

A superb time-capsule of mid-century, mid-western Americana.

[9/10 · 7 March 2005]

This movie is authentic nostalgia for anyone who grew up in the mid-west in the 50's and 60's. It's what life looked like when I myself "came down to this planet" in the late 1940's and experienced my teens in the 60's.

The old school with high ceilings and gleaming wooden floors, the gyms with the gold-toned wall-tiles, even the hospital scene with the nurse in her starched white uniform -- all evoke a peculiar beauty that you no longer find today.

There is even a scene where a young teen girl yells "NO!" to an unjust referee call, and her pointy glasses and pony tail look so much like me back then, it feels like a glimpse into a parallel dimension.

I'd say this is a must-see experience for people my age -- although all ages can thoroughly enjoy the basketball action.

I'm glad for the social progress since then. But there is a "peculiar beauty" from those times that is starkly missing today.

A Thousand Acres (1997)

This movie takes you deep into an all-too-common family tragedy.

[10/10 · 4 February 2005]

This movie is excellent in how it portrays the reality of sexual abuse. The daughters perfectly express their conflicting emotions of affection and betrayal. The on-location scenery is absorbingly authentic, and the soundtrack is unobtrusive yet moving. This film is a graduate-level course in a reality that's too little recognized in American society. Personally, I'm freaked out by the names of the characters -- Lange's character is Ginny Cook Smith -- my name is Connie Cook Smith, and my mom is Genny Cook. The youngest daughter is Caroline Cook, which is my sister's name, and the father is Larry Cook, my cousin's name.But sex abuse was not in our immediate family.