Plot Summary
After the death of a man with AIDS proves to be a possible assisted suicide, the District Attorney is sent in to investigate. With interviews from family and friends, the DA is putting together the pieces on this case and the events that led up to the decision for this man to take his own life.
My Review
Overall it was a very well-acted and emotional movie - not a dry eye in the theatre by the end. The stand out performances in my mind were Olympia Dukakis and Sarah Polley, who play mother and daughter. Parker's performance was good, but at times felt a little bland, especially after you would see her character progress forward in the story, but then other times just appear stagnant. But i don't necessarily think that was to her fault. The character that she plays was very conflicted trying to investigate this apparent assisted suicide, while also trying to understand it, and i think it was probably more the directing that left parts of the performance to be stale. My issue with the movie was all mostly about the cinematography. I think the visionaries of the movie realized they had a very poignant and touching story and tried to make it appear so on the screen, but I think they tried too hard and at times it appeared too "art for arts sake" with MANY different camera angles and movements used inconsistantly throughout the film. At one point we see a close-up of Parker's eyes while she's talking, another scene has the camera moving very slowly over a man's face while he's being asked questions, and there were so many irregular and sloppy camera angles used that it really almost distracted from the movie. The other problem with the movie was the sound. While it was generally decent, at times in the beginning you could barely hear little comments being made because they were drowned out by the sound of the surroundings - something that could have been easily correcting after the movie was made, but unfortunately wasn't. What i did like about the appearance of the film was it's use of color. The film is shown out of sequence, but if you were to put it in chronological order you would see that the earliest point in time uses very vibrant colors such as oranges and yellows. But as time goes on towards the event it becomes more somber and muted, with time shown after the event being shades of blue. Pictures of the actual event are shown in the most vibrant colors we see throughout the whole movie - a very symbolic reference of what is taking place. The film was very warmly received at the screening I saw and will most likely be so wherever it's shown. I think the story and emotion of the film does outweigh the overly-done artistic appearance. Images
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Release Date: 2003
Festivals: Sundance, Toronto, San Diego Directed by: Thom Fitzgerald
Written by: Thom Fitzgerald
Starring: Parker Posey, Don McKellar, Olympia Dukakis, Sarah Polley, Brent Carver, Jane Leeves.
Parker's Character: Nicole (Nick)
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