Reel Critics

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Reel Critics column features movie critiques written

by community members serving on our panel.

Ending detracts from fine ‘Girl, Interrupted’

Many times when I’m at the movies watching the coming attractions, I

whisper to whomever I’m with that I do or do not want to see the movie

being advertised.

So last month when I saw the clip of “Girl, Interrupted,” I whispered to

my husband that I thought I’d like to see it. Then when Angelina Jolie

won the Golden Globe award for her performance, I knew I wanted to see

it. My expectations were high, and I’m pleased to say the film met or

exceeded them.

“Girl, Interrupted” is based on Susanna Kaysen’s novel of her time spent

in a mental institution during the late ‘60s. We first meet Susanna --

played by Winona Ryder -- as she floats through the end of school. It

turns out she is the only graduating senior that isn’t college-bound. Her

plans for the future are vague.

Sometime during this period, she decides to take a bottle of aspirin and

a bottle of vodka as a panacea for all that ails her. The outcome of this

is that her parents and a therapist push Susanna to commit herself to

Claymore, a psychiatric facility.

Upon entering, Susanna meets some of her fellow residents. There’s

Georgina (Clea Duvall), a girl desperately trying to live with Dorothy in

Oz. She is Susanna’s roommate. Also on the floor is Polly (Elisabeth

Moss), who’s set herself on fire, Daisy (Brittany Murphy), a binge eater,

and finally Lisa (Angelina Jolie), the wild child of the ward.

The film really starts here, as the relationship between Lisa and Susanna

blossoms into a dynamic friendship. Lisa with her kinetic, out-there

personality cuts right to the “truth” of things. However, her “truth”

knows no boundaries and leaves her prone to violence. Her piercing

insights about people and lack of social graces lead her to be diagnosed

as a sociopath.

Susanna, on the other hand, is diagnosed with borderline personality

disorder and is best able to express herself in her journals. Here she is

eloquent and insightful. It is to the outside world that she is unable or

unwilling to articulate her own melancholy.

It was a pleasure to watch these talented actresses ply their trade. Both

Ryder and Jolie give terrific performances. Other fine performances in

limited roles are Whoopi Goldberg as Valerie the head nurse, Vanessa

Redgrave as Dr. Wick and Jeffrey Tambor as Dr. Potts.

If the film does drop the ball, it’s at the end. A more cliche

“Hollywood” ending couldn’t be done, and after watching such fine acting,

this left me very disappointed.

However, with that exception, I thought “Girl, Interrupted” did offer a

brief glimpse of an acutely personal experience of a young woman’s

truth.HEIDI BRESSLER, 36, is a hairstylist and Costa Mesa resident.

Allen does it again in ‘Sweet & Lowdown’

Emmet Ray is “the second-best guitarist in the world,” a jazz giant of

such musically intuitive gifts that he literally creates “heavenly jazz”

when he plays. However, when the music stops, he is a helpless person

when it comes to any relationships that do not include his passion for

his art.

Ray is the centerpiece of Woody Allen’s new film, “Sweet & Lowdown.” Ray

is, of course, a fictional character but is so convincingly played by

Sean Penn as written by Allen that we seem to believe he is a part of

jazz history that music-lovers seem to have overlooked.

Ray even tries to emulate what the “better” European musicians are

wearing by having a perverse little mustache and wardrobe.

Ray is a lonely man who doesn’t even know what it means to be lonely. At

one point, he’s told that his feelings are so buried that he does not

even know how to find them; Ray’s response: “You say that like it’s a bad

thing.”

One day on the Atlantic City boardwalk, Ray meets a mute woman, Hattie (a

great Samantha Morton), who should be the love of his life. Ray is so

caught up in himself that he does not realize she is not saying anything.

Morton plays Hattie like the great silent screen stars of the early film

era by relying purely on facial expressions. Her inability to speak only

heightens her appreciation and love for Ray even though his attempts and

conversation are inept and crude.

Ray is too unstable to understand what love he has in his grasp, so of

course he falls for a society bimbo named Blanche (Uma Thurman), who does

not care for him but only for where his talent may take her.

“Sweet & Lowdown” is structured like a docudrama, and we hear not only

Allen’s voice explaining Ray’s life but also the words of jazz experts

like Nat Hentoff commenting on certain aspects of Ray’s career.

Looming over the entire story is Ray’s awe of Django Reinhardt, the Gypsy

jazz guitarist who ruled over Paris during the first half of this

century. Like Jerry Garcia, Reinhardt lost parts of his fingers as a

child and played the guitar as no one has.

When Ray finally encounters Reinhardt, it provides a great comedic scene.

Much has been made of Allen’s writing of screen protagonists who embody

and reflect his own life. Ray has many Allenesque qualities, such as his

love for jazz and quite possibly even attracting worshipful women. But if

you want to see a documentary on Allen’s life, rent “Wild Man’s Blues.”

Enjoy “Sweet & Lowdown” for what it is: another brilliant chapter not

only in the illuminous career of Sean Penn but also of Woody Allen.ROB

OROZCO, 30, is an attorney who lives in Newport Beach with his wife and

two cats.