David M. Brown's Blog, page 47

Film Review: Venom

Review: Venom Jim Gillespie’s horror begins with an old woman digging in the middle of the night. She uncovers a case which she frantically puts in the back of her car before driving away. It’s very much a case of wrong place and wrong time with what follows. Eden (Agnes Bruckner) is cycling home when her(...)
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Film Review: The Hunters

Review: The Hunters  Chris Briant’s horror thriller has a somewhat misleading trailer and synopsis. It centres around the abandoned Fort Goben where a mixture of locals tend to hang out. Amongst the frequent visitors are a group of hunting friends with one of them, Ronny (Steve Waddington) somewhat chilled by the surroundings, hearing strange noises and(...)
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Film Review: Network

Review: Network Sidney Lumet’s Oscar-winning drama uncovers the dark side of a television network that is ruthless in its pursuit of higher ratings and considers the well-being of its staff to be secondary. Max Schumacher (William Holden), division president of UBS Evening News, has to inform his best friend and long-time news anchor, Howard Beale(...)
Film Review: Network | Thank you for reading Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dave



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Film Review: Vertigo

Review: Vertigo Regarded by many as Hitchcock’s finest film and often competing with Citizen Kane for the tag of the greatest film ever made, Vertigo is a dark and chilling psychological thriller. It begins with John “Scottie” Ferguson (James Stewart) in the midst of a rooftop chase with another police officer and a wily criminal. When Scottie is left(...)
Film Review: Vertigo | Thank you for reading Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dave



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Film Review: Hypothermia

Review: Hypothermia Hypothermia is a modern day version of The Creature from the Black Lagoon in many ways, only the warm climate of the Amazon has been swapped for a frozen lake in Maine. Ray Pelletier (Michael Rooker) is on vacation with his wife Helen (Blanche Baker), their son David (Ben Forster) and David’s girlfriend, Gina (Amy Chang).(...)
Film Review: Hypothermia | Thank you for reading Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dave



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Tweedlers’ Jukebox Song of the Week: Alone

Heart – Alone Released in 1987, Heart’s version of Alone topped the charts in the US and smashed into the UK top 10 as well. Beginning as a gentle ballad before launching into heavy rock, much of the song’s prowess comes from a stunning vocal performance by Ann Wilson, with her sister Nancy providing memorable support on(...)
Tweedlers’ Jukebox Song of the Week: Alone | Thank you for reading Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dave



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Film Review: Last Tango in Paris

Review: Last Tango in Paris Bernardo Bertolucci’s romance drama caused a lot of controversy when it was first released but it is considered something of a masterpiece today. It tells the story of Paul (Marlon Brando) who is wandering the streets of Paris at the outset in tears. His wife has committed suicide and Paul(...)
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Guest Post: The Writer, or Life as a Petri Dish – Deborah Valentine

The Writer, or Life as a Petri Dish The Free Online Dictionary defines a petri dish as ‘a shallow circular dish with a loose-fitting cover, used to culture bacteria or other microorganisms’. Named after German bacteriologist Julius Petri, this dish (in fact, a dirty discarded one) was where Alexander Fleming made the great discovery of(...)
Guest Post: The Writer, or Life as a Petri Dish – Deborah Valentine | Thank you for reading Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dave



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Film Review: Puppet Master II

Review: Puppet Master II Following on from the first film released in 1989, Puppet Master II revisits the Bodega Bay Inn, a remote hotel situated along a coastline. The deadly puppets that caused mayhem in the first film are back and at the outset they manage to revive their master, Andre Toulon (Steve Welles). Some(...)
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Film Review: Sophie’s Choice

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About Sophie's Choice (1982)[image error]A WWII concentration-camp survivor moves to Brooklyn and meets an unusual young man who gives her life a lift. Streep won the Best Actress Oscar.

Starring: Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, Peter MacNicol, Rita Karin, Stephen D. Newman

Directed by: Alan K Pakula

Runtime: 150 minutes

Studio: Lions Gate

 

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Review: Sophie’s Choice

Alan K Pakula’s Oscar-winning adaptation of William Styron’s novel is set in 1947 and tells the story of an American writer Stingo (Peter MacNicol) who moves into a house in Brooklyn where the rooms are rented out to different tenants. Stingo meets and becomes close friends with a couple upstairs – Sophie Zawistowski (Meryl Streep) and Nathan Landau (Kevin Kline). While Stingo works on his novel he shares in the ups and downs of Sophie and Nathan’s relationship and in Sophie he slowly learns about her origins in Poland, of her imprisonment in a concentration camp and of a terrible choice that she had to make.

Stingo is fairly quiet at the start and keeps to himself. His first knowledge of Sophie and Nathan is hearing them having sex in the room above his. Next thing Nathan is storming out of the house in a fit of rage where he exchanges some less than flattering words with Stingo. When Nathan returns and makes up with Sophie, he apologises to Stingo and the trio become close friends. Nathan is obsessed with the Holocaust and the injustice of the Nazis that escaped the trials at Nuremberg. He is both loving and hostile with Sophie, reminding her of her good fortune in surviving the war while many of her people including her parents and husband all died. Over time Stingo learns many difficult truths about Sophie and in a series of flashbacks we witness her as a young woman in awe of her father and later as a prisoner of the Nazis. Only at the very end of the film do we learn of the choice Sophie had to make.

Sophie’s Choice is rightly hailed as a well-acted drama with Meryl Streep’s Oscar-winning performance considered one of the finest ever committed to film. The critics don’t lie. Streep is superb as Sophie who initially appears glamorous and at ease with her life in America but beneath that smile are painful memories eating away at her. The depictions of Sophie in Auschwitz may not be violent, but seeing her emaciated and with shortened hair is more than enough to emphasise one of the darkest periods in world history there will ever be. Kline and MacNichol provide solid support in their respective leads but the performance of Streep is the dominant factor here and it doesn’t disappoint. At 150 minutes the film may seem overlong to many people and perhaps it could have been condensed a little but at no point did I feel bored by the difficult events portrayed. If you do watch Sophie’s Choice be prepared for the emotional ending that hits hard and for the famous scene that Streep did in one take because she couldn’t bring herself to film it more than once.

Sophie’s Choice is a powerful drama spearheaded by what is perhaps Meryl Streep’s finest performance to date. Three great leads and a storyline that very carefully unravels Sophie’s past is well-paced and delivers an emotional hammer blow in those final reels. There is more to Sophie’s Choice than one peformance alone of course but it’s hard to look beyond the character of Sophie as the undoubted highlight here.

Verdict: 4/5

(Film source: reviewer’s own copy)

Film Review: Sophie’s Choice | Thank you for reading Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dave