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Written by Jeff Strickler,MCT
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Monday, 25 June 2007 |
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 ___
EVENING
3 stars
Starring: Vanessa Redgrave, Natasha Richardson, Toni Collette, Claire Danes, Mamie Gummer, Patrick Wilson
Directed by: Lajos Koltai
Rated PG-13 for hematic elements, sexual situations, profanity and an auto accident.
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There are chick flicks, and then there are CHICK FLICKS!!! "Evening," an adaptation of author Susan Minot's romantic weeper, clearly is one of the latter.
Boasting an ensemble of Hollywood's best actresses, this drama is unabashedly sentimental but still effective. It streamlines the book's narrative but never overlooks a chance to tug on the viewer's heartstrings. Savvy theater managers will stock Kleenex in the concession stand.
Ann (Vanessa Redgrave) is dying. Her two adult daughters - reduced from the book's five kids via three marriages, an extra layer of soap operatic entanglement that the filmmakers wisely jettison - have come home to await the inevitable.
As she's waking from a nap, Ann groggily mumbles something about Harris, a name that Constance (Redgrave's real-life daughter Natasha Richardson) and Nina (Toni Collette) have never heard before. They become determined to find out who he is.
We learn his identity quickly, but it takes the daughters most of the movie to piece together the evidence that Harris was their mother's first true love. The narrative jumps back to the early 1950s when a college-age Ann (now played by Claire Danes, "Shopgirl") goes to the wedding of her best friend, Lila (Mamie Gummer, "The Hoax"), and meets the charming Harris (Patrick Wilson, "Little Children").
Ann is taken with Harris immediately, but he keeps her at a distance. For starters, he's older than she is; he's already finished medical school and has gone into private practice. Besides, his best friend, Buddy (British actor Hugh Dancy), makes it embarrassingly clear that he's smitten with Ann and wants to marry her, even though his mother (Glenn Close) isn't exactly giddy about the idea.
The narrative jumps back and forth between then and now, with Constance and Nina trying to nail down the story about Harris. It's not easy. Director Lajos Koltai blends Ann's memories with bits of wishful thinking and the dreamy illusions that are a byproduct of her pain medications. Sometimes, even the audience isn't sure what's what.
Koltai, a longtime cinematographer who is directing only his second feature film (and first outside his native Hungary), gives each member of the deep cast a chance to shine. There's no way to do that without making the plot episodic, but the roles are all well-played.
He also adds a nifty casting touch when the modern-day Lila shows up to visit Ann. We're taken aback by how much the older Lila looks like her younger self. Then again, she should, we quickly remind ourselves. She's played by Meryl Streep, who is Gummer's mother.
Eventually, it all comes down to love: young love, old love between friends and the boundless love between a mother and her daughters. Viewers in a sentimental mood are going to love it. | Only registered users can write comments.
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