MANDERLAY's Disturbing Point of View

The lesson of this post is - sometimes giving in to marketing is a good thing. Netflix kept telling me that I would like MANDERLAY (2005) based on Netflix's presumption of the kind of films I order (popping up its image on my sign-in page) & it was right. (It's a bit spooky to think that a software system has pegged my film watching tastes so accurately.)

Anyway . . . on to MANDERLAY . . . which stars Bryce Dallas Howard & Danny Glover.

A stunningly fascinating film. I could talk about this film ENDLESSLY & with gusto . . . but I'll try to be "post-like" & brief.

Conceived & directed by Lars Von Trier of Denmark, MANDERLAY offers a chilling view of Reconstruction-era race relations in the US. The success of this film's thematic dissecting of its topic, which it places under a blindingly searing microscopic light, lies in the fact that it is being examined by a non-American. In other words - the clarity of thought of this film, with its desentimentalizing of an emotional topic, is due to its detachment. It is a film that does not approach its topic with the point of view of - "What have WE done wrong?" but rather "What have THEY done wrong?"

Aiding this sense of thematic detachment is the stylistic detachment of the film. It both is and isn't realistic, simultaneously. The entire film was shot on a huge sound stage - a great big empty space and this cavernous space is consciously part of the film. It is somewhat reminiscent of BBC productions of plays that I use as teaching tools in my classes - not actual stage productions but not standard film-faire either - a work of art that is somewhat liminally placed between the two art forms as we traditionally understand them, claiming a wholly new artistic space.

There are many disquieting scenes in MANDERLAY, but the scene which I found to be the most personally disturbing was the one sex scene - a scene which harshly conjures ghosts of lynchings past - lynchings justified by unfounded hysterical reasoning grounded in the sanctity of white femaleness. The visual image created by this scene is countered by a detached, somewhat amused narrating voice. I can not help by wonder if Von Triers was fully cognizant of the bloody, gendered ground upon which he was treading at this moment.

In the end, the unfolding of MANDERLAY's tale persistently nudges its audience up an ever-increasingly slippery moral slope towards a shockingly reasonable conclusion.

As for this film from the feminist critical perspective - the lead character of Grace (Howard) is a true pleasure to behold. She is a fascinatingly complex female character.

I am now off to clutter up my netflix queue with more films by Lars Von Trier.

Coward's EASY VIRTUE on the Screen

This is a rare post about a film that is actually in movie theatres right now!

EASY VIRTUE, directed by Stephan Elliott, is a charming film. It isn't a great film but it is an awful lot of fun. I smiled & smirked through the whole thing. Thoroughly enjoyable. Based on a 1925 play by Noel Coward - EASY VIRTUE is a biting satire of the British upper classes during the flapper age - Coward's favorite class & era for target practice.

The very strong ensemble cast of EASY VIRTUE is headed by Kristin Scott Thomas, Jessica Biel, & Colin Firth (Noel Coward is tailor-made for Firth's now trademark dry, sardonic manner). The loopiness of the plot and its characters is reminiscent of COLD COMFORT FARM - another gem of a film peopled by engagingly eccentric British characters in bizarre situations - though of the lower classes. The upper crust of EASY VIRTUE find themselves entangled in such mangled plot twists as the secret burying of a dog that has been sat upon, the discovering of sex in the hay of a barn, and a motorcycle participating in a fox hunt. Under Elliott's direction, all of this inane insanity moves along at a brisk place towards its somewhat provocative conclusion.

In the end - the British upper classes do not survive Coward's skewering very well at all. Assisted by screenwriters Elliott & Sheridan Jobbins, Coward makes his point with venomous relish - that the upper classes are quite simply too full of themselves to be worth bothering with.

AND - on a feminist critical note - I was interested to notice how irritating I did NOT find the usual gendered role playing (comedies tend to relish such stereotypes) such as upper class girls/women raised to be dutiful, virtuous wives while boys/men are allowed to sew their wild oats first etc etc etc. In fact, EASY VIRTUE actually offers some refreshingly enlightened commentary on the gendered role playing of this era. How very nice indeed. The film's conclusion pointedly turns gender stereotyping upside down. Terrific!

Gorris' Savvy MRS. DALLOWAY

Directed by Marleen Gorris, MRS. DALLOWAY (1997 - written by Eileen Atkins) is a gentle, yet firmly opinionated, film. Based on a novel by Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway tells the story of a woman caught up in gendered societal constraints in British society from the Victorian/Edwardian era through the era following WWI. I have never read Woolf's novel so I can not speak to the similarities or dissimilarities between the film & the novel. So - to address the narrative of the film itself - it is set in the present in the era following WWI. We meet Mrs. D as she is preparing to host a dinner party for London's rich, famous & powerful. Her husband is a politician. Throughout her day of preparations the narrative shifts back in time to her earlier days - before her marriage - allowing us to see the gendered self-fulfilling prophesy that her life's story as a wife becomes. I'm deliberately not referring to these narrative shifts as "flash backs." Gorris does not purposefully suggest that the shifts of narrative are a direct reflection of present-time moments of reflection by Mrs. D. A very interesting choice. It serves to keep Mrs. D at arms length from the audience - we are never allowed to know for certain whether we are actually privy to her heart's mind. As a result - we must consider her social environment in order to engage & understand her as a character.

Mrs. Dalloway is a decidedly feminist story, though it chooses to address the oppression of early 20th century British women gently. It's an easy going, reflective film. The film does not bang its feminist drum loudly. In fact - it astutely realizes that it does not need to. Early 20th century high British society - realistically portrayed - does a very nice job of condemning itself with respect to its attitudes towards women. It doesn't need any help.

Gorris' gentle direction is supported by a very strong cast - with a touchingly quiet performance by Vanessa Redgrave as Mrs. D.

ETERNITY & A DAY

Eternity & A Day (1998) is an intriguing Greek film that is more sentimental of mind than heart. Though its subject matter – a dying man, a poet coming to terms with lost opportunities with loved ones – is touching, the film does not allow its audience to peer too closely into the hearts of its characters. Instead – the camera keeps its distance – forcing we the audience to listen to & ponder the ideas expressed. By the end of the film I realized that I could not pick the film’s two main characters out of police line up to save my life. No kidding. Their faces were always at a distance – precious few close-ups – and their faces were often filmed from the side, at oblique angles. Having said all of this – the film is visually rich. While keeping his characters at a distance, the director (Theodoros Angelopoulos) does fully embrace the scenery through which his characters pass – thematically drawing the landscape of north western Greece into the film’s narrative.

The main plot – a man tying up lose ends before checking himself into a hospital to die – is largely narrated by a voice-over of the man’s dead wife – a wife with whom, he now regretfully realizes, he never fully emotionally engaged. However – for me personally – the subplot of the film is the most arresting. During the course of his last day before going to the hospital, the man meets a street urchin – an 8 year old Albanian boy living by his wits on the streets. With little success, the man tries to help the boy out of his destitute & vulnerable situation. The level of social criticism that this subplot rises to (aspires to?) is incredibly interesting in light of the poignant, intimately personal nature of the main plot. Having myself traveled more than once through this part of Greece I can attest to the continuing & deep-seeded prejudice of many Greeks towards their impoverished northern neighbors – a prejudice rooted in WWII & post WWII politics – a part of European history little known to Americans. The Albanian boy’s plight in Eternity & A Day is incredibly troubling with its implications of international child-smuggling & a Greek society unwilling to compassionately deal with Albanian child-refugees in its midst.

As I said – for personal reasons this subplot eclipsed the main plot in my mind.

All in all, a compassionate film – one in which two competing plot lines vie for attention whilst thematically striving to comment upon each other. Ultimately, I’m not entirely sure they do so successfully – but Eternity & A Day is a thoughtful, philosophical film well worth engaging.

[A quick note about the style of the film – it is a wonderful example of the genre of Magical Realism.]

Milani Explores the Human Spirit: TWO WOMEN

On the surface, Tahmineh Milani's TWO WOMEN (1999) appears to be a story about two women & their different fates depending on the men they ultimately marry. A story that thus allows us to see how precarious the lives of Iranian women are - their destinies controlled my their marital fates. In other words - a film rife with biting social criticism.

This is all certainly part of Milani's tale. Absolutely. However - overlaying this plot structure is a study of character & how an oppressive society can can almost completely obliterate the human spirit.

Briefly, the woman (Marila Zare'i) who marries a kind man who does not mind that she pursue her career leads a happy life. Her friend (Niki Karimi), however, is forced by her father into a loveless marriage with a raging, controlling, self-riteous husband. Significantly - she is forced into this marriage because of her daring to be stalked by a sadistic man - her fault, of course. Her father shows her no sympathy. He casts her off on a cruel husband in order to be rid of the shame she is bringing upon the family by being stalked. Sigh. Somewhat to his credit - he feels badly later but STILL refuses to help her out of her awful marriage.

This woman will bear two children by her cruel husband.

So far - the story of two marital fates. Now for Milani's character study.

When the film begins - the two women are at university together in the 1970s - until the Islamic revolution shuts it down. While at school, the woman destined for a career & happiness is a so-so student. Not terribly interested in her studies. Her friend - the woman destined for an oppressive existence - is extremely bright & industrious AND extremely ambitious.

Years down the road - when the tales of their separate marriages play out - we encounter the former woman as happy & ambitious - perhaps because she is encouraged & supported by her mate? The latter woman is now, however, a shattered shell of her former self. She cowers into her black attire which graces her from head to toe. When in the presence of her old friend, she hardly dares look her in the eye but rather deferentially keeps her eyes towards the ground. A habit, an attitude cultivated by years in an oppressive marriage. And her outlook? She calls her old friend after many years because her husband - the unkind husband - is sick & she needs help getting him medical care. She is entirely focused on her husband. her children. No thought of herself. The epitome of the self-sacrificing wife/mother. There is barely a glimmer or a hint of the woman she once was in her face - her body language remaining a mystery concealed in swaths of black. Her old friend is crushed, saddened, horrified at the woman her university pal has become.

Both times that I have watched this film - this is what has stuck with me - the painful loss of a human spirit. A precious human spirit. Four times victimized - by a patriarchal society, by a stalker, by a father, by a husband. Throughout it all she fought back, trying to cling onto her sense of self. But, Milani seems to be asking, how much can a human spirit take until it is broken? Crushed. All in the cause of being dutifully female in a male centered world.

Milani's female characters in her films can tug at one's heart-strings as she strives to make her audience feel the awfulness of her women's predicaments. But TWO WOMEN, her carefully laid out psychological character study, to me, is her most successful in this regard.

Paper Grading Season - Alas

It's that time of year again - slacker blogging & film watching. It's end of the semester paper grading season!

Oh my.

I shall return.

Anna

Tallulah, Tallulah, & Tallulah (LIFEBOAT)

Tallulah Bankhead is one of the most fascinatingly infamous actresses of stage & screen. The stories about the woman are the stuff of legend - some even true! On stage she is best remembered for her numerous performances in various productions of Noel Coward's Private Lives. On screen she is best remembered for her performance in Alfred Hitchcock's LIFEBOAT of 1944.

Tallulah plays the typical tough dame of films of the era. Smoking cigarettes, periodically checking her lipstick, casting condescending glances at whomever dares to enter her personal space, & simultaneously intimidating whilst alluring any manly-man who dares to stray into her sphere of consciousness. And yes, her character is & does all of these things all the while stranded on a lifeboat in a vast ocean, courtesy of a Nazi U-boat which sunk her ship. Joining her on said lifeboat are an eclectic assortment of characters & types. The particulars of her tough-dame in this film are that she is a merciless journalist who' s seen it all with a heart of stone & is determined to continue reporting the human misery of the war with cold detachment - until, that is, she begins to experience a bit too much of the misery of war up close as it seeps into her personal space.

Her crusty exterior finally caves in - right on cue - by the end of the film when she & her manly-man sparring partner (who has managed to spend much a the film bare-chested) finally give in to the "what the hell we may all drown tomorrow" mentality & fall into each others arms. Yes - a bit cliche-ish now - but it is right on formula for films with tough dames in the 1940's. However - after her trist - she is right back to her gutsy, brassy self. Gotta love the tough dames of this era!

Hitchcock's film is a gem. Overwrought situation. Overwrought characters. Overwrought performances. A hint of the sinister in the air. Quite simply - GREAT STUFF!

And Tallulah does the tough dame bit in this film as well as any screen actress of the era.

Lone Scherfig's ITALIAN FOR BEGINNERS

Danish film Italian For Beginners (2000) is an unpretentious film by an unpretentious director – Lone Scherfig. Also written by Scherfig, her film presents us with an ordinary group of folk – lonely folk – many of whom stumble across each other at an Italian language class. And – by the end of the film – they are less lonely – pairing up with their romantic interests & even long lost sisters.

During the course of much of the film’s telling of its individual & interlocked stories, the film deliberately avoids over sentimentalizing or sensationalizing either its situations (some of which are quite serious) or its characters. In many respects, this film is a calmly presented study of human interactions & longing at their most basic, most ordinary level. The dialogue is sparse, sometimes awkward, as characters struggle to communicate. They are all thoroughly likeable people. By the end of the film – when they all impulsively troupe off to Venice – the resolutions of the various romantic possibilities are largely predictable. But, in the end, this is meant to be a feel good sort of film so predictable is just fine – if perhaps a bit sentimentalized in the final scenes.

The other interesting – very curious - thing of note about this film is the style of its camera work. At first I found it a bit hard to get used to its seemingly amateurish “home-video” camera work & picture quality. But eventually the style began to blend with the unpretentious, simple nature of the film’s story & its characters - everything ultimately working together as an artistic whole.

As for a feminist perspective on this film – Scherfig’s Italian For Beginners is joyfully free of heavy-handed gender stereotyping. It isn’t “hyper gender conscious” in anyway. How nice! The characters are just people

Easy-going, fun, uncomplicated, & simple.

[To explain the picture on the poster - the woman is a hairdresser & she is washing a client's hair. As she does so, they mutually develop a sudden attraction for each other - they reconnect later at the Italian language class . . .]

Theatre Conference Writing

Please excuse my absence, dear blog & readers. I've been working on a theatre paper for presentation at a conference later this week. I shall return to film-blog-dom next week.

Anna

An Unsettling GUINEVERE

Written & directed by Audrey Wells, GUINEVERE (1999) is a daring film. It is a film whose plot & characters are grounded in insidious, gendered clichés. What I found a bit tricky to sort out is – why?

The film is about a young, naive college graduate (Sarah Polley) who falls for an older, struggling artist. She is of a privileged white background. Rebelling against her wealthy, self-absorbed family (& esp. her sexy, sex-starved, mid-life-crises-ing mother) that fails to understand her, she moves in with the poor, struggling, misunderstood artist – a photographer (Stephen Rea). This older man drips suave understanding for her plight. He is so cultured. So earthy. So artsy. So intellectual. He makes her feel so special. He is paternalistic in a romantic way. He is also a fellow suffer – after all – he’s an artist. He needs her. His poor artistic soul has been drained by his art. She brings him inspiration. He is going to help make her an artist too – in his own image. She is his star pupil. His youthful muse. His dubs her his "Guinevere" (her real name is Harper). ETC. And – he is about 30 years older than she.

Enough clichés? Wow. There are actually more. HOWEVER - I do think that the film maker is in fact trying to make a purposeful statement about the clichés of her film’s content. The film’s clicheness is SO heavy handed it almost HAS TO BE deliberate.

In support of this interpretation is the film’s opening sequence. A montage of photos appear in sequence as the credits “roll.” Black & white photos of a woman’s naked body (Harper's taken by the older artist) – the poses more coyly chaste than erotic. A woman’s voice speaks,

"He was the worst man I ever met – or maybe the best – I’m not sure. If you’re supposed to learn from your mistakes then he was the best mistake I ever made."

This seems to imply that this is the story of a woman’s journey toward breaking free from a clichéd existence. Without these openings lines I suspect that I would have found this film very hard to take without fidgeting & getting annoyed. But I didn’t. These lines alerted me to the possible framing point of view of the film.

It is a risky endeavor to undertake – to try & comment on stereotypes/clichés by overtly using them. One runs the risk of accidentally validating them. Ultimately, I think, Wells falls into a trap of her own making because, by the end of the film, the man is rendered so pathetic as a cliché that he is almost redeemed – not just forgiven – but redeemed. At the end of the film, years later, he is dying. All of his youthful "Guineveres" (for we learn there were several in fact) gather at his bedside - accepting him as he is with no anger about the past. And – most troubling – they all pose naked in a group photo for him – a gift to the dying predator.

At this point, I confess, the film lost me. Sympathy for a dying person is all well & good. Sure. But that’s not what this film seemed to be about - this man’s narcissistic preying upon impressionable young women. And because he’s dying this is OK?

I've kept this analysis brief - but there is much more that could be said about elements of this film from the feminist perspective. A daring, risky film – I’ll give it that. But in the end, I think, it slipped on the slippery slope it was traversing from the beginning. I hope the film was not intended to be a romantic love story because it is disturbingly incestuous as if portraying a father/daughter love affair. That is not to say that there is anything wrong with May-December romances. Not at all. But May-December romances - like any true romances - need to be pursued between equal partners. The two in this film were not in the least bit equal. All the PATERNAL power was in the hands of a man. He treated her like his child. He nurtured her as a child. He relished her child-likeness. She gravitated towards him as a father-figure.

Tricky.

A final note - Jean Smart is extremely effective as the young woman's mother. Her role is a terrible stereotype of a "rich b****" (can't bring myself to type that word) & overly-sexualized woman in mid-life crisis, but Smart performs the role so well that she almost manages to make it seem more genuine than stereotyped.

A Wicked "Morality" Tale: Kieslowski's WHITE

Hell hath no fury like A MAN scorned!

WHITE (1994) (directed by Krzysztof Kieslowski) is a wickedly clever film. Absolutely WICKED!

Ever so briefly - this film tells the tale of a Polish hairdresser (Zbigniew Zamachowski) who is divorced by his French wife (Julie Delpy) on the grounds that he is incapable of consummating their marriage. She wants sex & he isn't delivering. So she hauls him into divorce court, cuts off his funds, takes all of their property (which the film implies was hers to begin with), & threatens to call the police if he comes near her again.

In other words - she is finished with him, or so it would seem.

He, in turn, ends up on the streets. No money, no passport. Through a bizarre set of circumstances involving a suicidal bridge player, he manages to get himself smuggled back to Poland. Once home he begins to plot an EXTREMELY elaborate scheme of revenge against his former wife. And he succeeds. Does he ever! Ultimately, he will lure her into a sadistic, vengeful web which he has woven just for her in Poland, where he will finally be able to have sex with her (bringing her to a screaming orgasm) after which he will leave her to the mercy of the Polish police (I will not give away on what fabricated charge - the ending has to be experienced to be fully appreciated & believed!).

And yes the ENDING! I had to hit the rewind button a few times to re-watch the film's final 20 seconds. I had to make sure I got it right. That I understood. What she meant. What he meant. What it ALL meant. When I realized the full implications of the ending I gasped - seriously, I did - I smiled & suppressed a guilty chuckle - appalled that I was admiringly amused by what his revenge had wrought.

WHITE is a coyly conceived & well directed film with a very well-crafted screenplay. In the midst of its revenge theme it also conjures up some philosophical considerations on the living of life, the poetics of death, & the fine line between passionate love & hate. In an ironic sort of way, despite its morally suspect ending, WHITE is a twisted morality tale, with lessons learned, forgiveness & redemption sought.

From the feminist perspective it is a curious film. The female character who is the reason for the film's bizarre tale is not a fully realized character. But - that's precisely Kieslowski's intent. Part of the intriguing aspect of watching & engaging this film is the fact that we do not know much about the woman & therefore are placed in the position of having to "judge" her through her angry ex-husband's eyes. The point of this is not to be sexist, but rather to put we the viewer in the awkward position of being morally suspect ourselves if we take any delight in the man's twisted revenge. I myself can attest (as indicated above) to the effectiveness of this narrative approach. So - from the feminist perspective - I did not find the woman's mere "plot device" status to be annoying but rather engaging. I also very much appreciated the gender switch of certain plot motifs - a MAN scorned NOT a WOMAN scorned. A WOMAN prioritizing sex while a MAN prioritizes romance. All making for a richly engaging film from the fem perspective.

Also very interesting to note is the film's lack of actual sex. No kidding. Though the film derives humor from the woman's desire for screaming orgasms - there is next to no actual sex portrayed on the screen. The final successful coupling of the two (before the screaming bit) is downright CHASTE. Next to no skin, etc. Lasts about 10 seconds largely in darkness. Very clever, actually, as this reinforces the idea that the man's motives are about feelings of passion not actual sex.

When all is said & done - I REALLY like this film.

[WHITE is part 2 of Kieslowski's trilogy THREE COLOURS. I've watched part 1 - BLUE - but haven't written about it yet - it has no bearing on appreciating WHITE.]

WILBUR WANTS TO KILL HIMSELF - Really

"IT'S NICE WHEN PEOPLE CAN GET TOGETHER WHEN THEY DON'T HAVE ANYONE ELSE"

One of the last lines of dialogue in this film, it speaks volumes as to what this gentle, quiet, darkly humorous film is ultimately all about.

Written by Lone Scherfig & Anders Thomas Jensen, directed by Scherfig, WILBUR WANTS TO KILL HIMSELF (2002) is a gem of a film. Set in Glasgow, it tells the tale of a troubled man named Wilbur who is bound & determined to kill himself despite attempts by family members & members of the medical profession to prevent him from doing so. This may sound like a pretty heavy subject for a film - & I guess it is - but WWTKH is actually a light-hearted film. It has it serious moments - yes - but it is a film that refuses to give up hope on the Wilbur's of the world. It is also a film that respects the Wilbur's of the world. It does not judge them. It does not pry into the painfully private recesses of their troubled souls & minds. No. It lets them be as they are. It accepts them as they are. Human beings who have hit a rough patch in life & need to find their own way out of it.

The characters of WWTKH give Wilbur space. They are his safety net but ultimately he must fight his own demons - whatever they might be. Significantly, this film never entirely makes clear what these demons are because that is not the point of the film. What is the point of the film is that while the existence of Wilbur's lonely troubles manifest themselves obviously for all to see every time he tries to commit suicide, the actual fact of the matter is that everyone in Wilbur's world is also lost & searching. Every single one of them. Family members & medical professionals alike. The wonderful ironic humor of the film is how NORMAL Wilbur actually seems compared to everyone else. In other words, everyone in the film is fighting their own personal demons. They are all searching for something or a someone.

And perhaps that is why the characters of the film give Wilbur space & do not try to aggressively get into his head. Do they perhaps intuitively see a fellow lost soul? The cast of characters that make up Wilbur's world are a delightfully eccentric bunch of folks - the self absorbed, almost-100%-organic psychologist with the hots for Wilbur; the impoverished single mother who sells dead people's books for extra money; the psychologist who wanted to be a blues musician who smokes like a chimney throughout the film; the book-selling, duck-loving brother with a genuine heart of gold - & there are more.

The tone & the pacing of Scherfig's film is gentle, easy going. She does not over sentimentalize her characters or their issues. She does not rush the pace of her film in an effort to falsely create a sense of emotionally charged suspense. She allows her tale to play itself out with quiet dignity. As a result, the ending of the film comes as no real surprise. One can almost see how all of the pieces of the puzzle of Wilbur's world will fall into place. And they do. But this is deliberate. The joy of watching this film is watching its characters work themselves out & find their own paths.

Also key to resisting any sense of the maudlin in light of the film's subject matter is the screenplay which is laced with darkly humorous, blunt/abrupt exchanges of dialogue that remind us not to get all sappy & soppy about things. For example - sending a very clear message early on in the film about the tone of the film - Wilbur is petulantly chastising his brother for stopping his latest suicide attempt. He barks at him - "It's getting more & more humiliating every time I survive!" Trust me - this is a funny line. I'm laughing right now typing it into this post! Wilbur's poor, chastised brother simply takes this rebuke in stride.

Later in the film - after a couple of more attempts when Wilbur is beginning to turn a more hopeful corner in his life - he arrives home dripping wet. He has just pulled another suicidal person out of the river. Oh the irony. His sister-in-law calmly & dead-pannly says, "Is it raining?" Wilbur says "No." With no change of expression she says, "Have you been in the river?" Wilbur matter-of-factly says, "Yeah - just one last time." A quiet, understated, dryly humorous scene in which a loved one simply accepts Wilbur & his actions for what he & they are.

And - as if all of this wasn't quirky & humorous enough - then there is all the "romantic" ear licking going on throughout the film . . . .

The performances of all of the members of this ensemble cast make this a film well worth watching. Jamie Sives as Wilbur has a wonderful way of staring at people as if to say "And they think I'm looney?" At such moments Sives' Wilbur registers a tired, wry patience with life. Adrian Rawlins as Wilbur's heart-breakingly kind brother is simply wonderful - steals the film in my opinion. Shirley Henderson, Mads Mikkelsen, Julia Davis, & Susan Vidler - all quite simply good.

And in the end - all of these lost souls learn to reach out & find a measure of peace because . . .

"IT'S NICE WHEN PEOPLE CAN GET TOGETHER WHEN THEY DON'T HAVE ANYONE ELSE"