Friday June 8, 2007 SGN.org |
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Volume 35 Issue 23 |
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Sunday, Sep 07, 2008
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Evening explores dreams, history, hopes and the wisdom of living |
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| Evening explores dreams, history, hopes and the wisdom of living | ||
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Seattle gala premiere at SIFF on June 16th at the Neptune Theater
by E. Joyce Glasgow - SGN A&E Writer Evening Focus Features Starring Vanessa Redgrave, Claire Danes, Mamie Gummer, Hugh Dancy, Natasha Richardson, Toni Collette, Patrick Wilson, Meryl Streep, Eileen Atkins and Glenn Close. Director Lajos Koltai Screenplay by Susan Minot and Michael Cunningham, based on the book by Susan Minot SIFF June 16th, opens nationally on June 29th Evening is about dreaming; dreaming awake in the evening of life a time of hopefulness and youth, where the future is a clean slate and anything is possible. It is also about self-doubt. Were the right paths taken? Were there mistakes in choosing how to proceed? Should one feel regret at the path not chosen or thankful for what our destiny has brought us? These are the universal questions that are swirling around in Ann Lord's (Vanessa Redgrave) head as she lays ill and dying, in the twilight of her years, lovingly attended to by her two adult daughters, (Natasha Richardson and Toni Colette), and her nurse (Eileen Atkins). Ann Lord goes back in time in her visions to a spectacularly beautiful sky and sea, the sun glistening and sparkling on the water next to a rocky promontory with a lovely, large, old white house on it, fifty years in the past. It was here that she felt that she encountered the only man she ever truly loved. It's almost like she has to purge this memory and the regret she feels in order to liberate herself and move on to whatever the next level of existence is after death. Starting with the beautiful and surreal opening scene, we are prepared for the other-worldly place that Ann is in, between life and death. The film follows the young Ann (Claire Danes), a bohemian, artistic, recent college graduate and aspiring singer, in the 1950's, as she attends a wedding as maid of honor for her best friend from school, Lila Wittenborn (Mamie Gummer). The wedding is being prepared at Lila's wealthy family's palatial, Edward Hopper-esque summer "cottage" in Newport, Rhode Island, which proudly sits on the dramatic edge of the Atlantic Ocean. Ann appears to be even closer to Lila's sensitive, impetuous and troubled younger brother, Buddy (Hugh Dancy). It is at this occasion, at this stunning and romantic locale, that she meets the handsome Harris (Patrick Wilson). As an old woman, as the film cuts back and forth from the present to the past, Ann calls out the name "Harris" and her daughters begin to learn a secret that they never knew. Who is this "Harris"? What is their mother's secret? They want to learn more, to understand their mother's history and unknown parts of her life that will also help illuminate their own lives before their mother passes. This film is bittersweet, with expressions of life's twists of fate that are out of our control and that can change everything in a heartbeat, dashing expectations in the waves crashing against those Newport rocks. Director, Lajos Koltai, uses compelling close ups, intense editing and absolutely gorgeous, atmospheric cinematography and a lush, moving, reflective and understated orchestral musical score (Jan A. P. Kaczmarek, played by the Polish Symphony Orchestra) to draw the audience intimately and hypnotically into Ann's life and experiences, both past and present, to get "inside her skin", as Koltai commented in an interview, and by witnessing her story, we are put in touch with our own stories and the remembering we will all come to terms with, as we look back at our lives in the end. The story is very immediate, especially for those adult children of elderly parents, as they come to terms with the mortality of their mothers and fathers and as that mortality is a mirror to their own. For those who have read Susan Minot's book, the screenplay by Minot and Pulitzer Prize winning author Michael Cunningham (The Hours) is very different. For example, the character of Buddy, minor in the book, has been developed into one of the major characters in the film. Many of the characters present in the book do not appear in the film. Evening is a beautiful, feminine and haunting film and very female in its focus as most of the characters are bright and intelligent women. There are mysteries that remain unsolved and there are passing elements of what I consider magical realism. The costumes, sets, lighting and props are meticulous in their detail. The vibrancy of the colors and thoughtful compositions of scenes are fascinating and engrossing. It is also quite interesting that real life mothers and daughters are performing in the film. Natasha Richardson, Vanessa Redgrave's daughter, plays her daughter in the film and Mamie Gummer, who is Meryl Streep's daughter, plays young Lila, while her mother plays older Lila. This cast is remarkable in its collection of great actors of stage and screen. This is a perfect film to be included in this year's Seattle International Film Festival, where it will have its Seattle gala premiere on June 16th at the Neptune Theater, attended by director, Lajos Koltai (and possibly others). It will be released nationally on June 29th. I think astute film going Seattle audiences will really enjoy Evening and appreciate its highly refined production values as well as its star studded cast and I predict that it will be a good contender for Oscar nominations in a number of categories, including best actress (Vanessa Redgrave), best supporting actor (Hugh Dancy), best direction, cinematography, screenplay and editing. For more information about Evening visit, www.focusfeatures.com. |
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copyright Seattle Gay News - DigitalTeamWorks 2007