Updated: 28 June 1997

SECRETS & LIES

This is one of the surprising Independents that snubbed the major studios at the last Academy Awards. And rightly so. No strict moneygrubbing-induced formula here. That enough people actually went and saw this film to result in its garnering the nominations that it did surprises me. Pleasantly.

It is a hard movie to categorize. I had read, prior to watching the film, about the director's "methods." That is, he usually has the actors engage in prolonged periods of improvisation and--from this--constructs a story and a script. Certainly original. And it explains why the actors all seemed to be so buried in their roles. That was very nice. The transformations of each were wholly believable as a result.

A complaint would be that the ending is a bit too tidy for a movie that, up until the reunion, is refreshingly honest and intriguing in the way it views its characters. Other than that, all of the actors do a great job, seeming to have each fleshed out their characters with a thoroughness that is unusual in movies, nowadays. The exception, perhaps, being Roxanne [the daughter] and her beau, who are both a bit flat.

One wonderful example of genuineness is in the relationship between the brother and his wife. There is a scene in which he arrives home to find her in a fit of witchiness. In most films, this would be the status quo, and our perspective--sympathy for the poor devil--would be established to whatever ends the film-maker intended. In this movie, we are soon given to know that this episode is brought on by a specific condition, and that the husband and wife are far from indifferent towards each other. In other words, she was only in a bad mood, not a permanent state of being, and therefore a three-dimensional character becomes possible. And is, in fact, realized. We are given a series of clues--pregnancy, implied then confirmed miscarriage, recovery, et cetera, that all lead very neatly to one of the films revelations at the end.

What this is, then, is a very nicely written story, with varying levels of dialogue and story. Hmm. It seems my admiration for the film is increasing as I review it. I like that--a film that gets better the more you think about it. I think I'll up it to five stars. Or at least four and 3/4. The best scenes are those between Hortence, the adopted daughter, and her birth mother, played by Barbara Blethens, who won the Oscar for her role. She is outstanding. But Hortence/Elizabeth is the one who shined for me. I thought she was simply phenomenal.

Rent this film. Be prepared for a movie that takes plenty of time to establish itself, then sit back and let it impress you.