REVIEW: Genova (2009)
Apr. 23rd, 2009 07:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
feather_ghyllFilm Review: Genova (rated 15)
Directed/Written By: Michael Winterbottom
Starring: Perla Haney-Jardine (Mary); Willa Holland (Kelly); Colin Firth (Joe); Catherine Keener (Barbara); Hope Davis (Marianne)
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0791303/
It occurred to me that it might be worth mentioning this film here, as it arguably has a girl protagonist (although it's equally arguable that it's about the whole family, and it's certainly not a children's film) and tells a story of a family that travels together and grieves and perhaps heals. The film opens in winter with sisters Mary and Kelly playing a game of guessing the colour of the vehicle passing their car as their mother, Marianne, drives them. The youngest girl, Mary, who's losing, takes the game a step too far, causing a car crash which kills her mother. The bulk of the film takes place a few months later, when the girls' lecturer father, Joe, decides to accept a job in Genova for a year, to get out of the Chicago apartment in which they live and to help the family.
Mary relives the accident in her nightmares, over and over, screaming heart-rendingly for her mother. Her father goes to her every time, saying it's all right. It isn't. Older sister Kelly won't share a room with Mary, partly because of the disturbances in the night, partly because her response to what's happened is to become an uber-teenager, hanging out with older students that her father teaches, smoking, pushing at curfews and keeping her secrets. The protective older sister we see at the start of their time in Genova fades and a rift grows between her and Mary, leaving Mary to wander the threatening streets of Genova, while their father teaches. But she's not quite alone.
Though it's at heart an intimate portrait of a grieving family, with Winterbottom getting the camera in very close to follow the characters as they go about the city, there's a supernatural element, as Mary not only senses her mother's presence, but sees her and talks to her. To Mary she's a protector, and there to forgive her for her part in the accident (while perpetually reminding her of what sh'es lost and perhaps stopping her from moving on). Joe, her father, is worried by this phenomenon, which he discovers when he sees the (good) pictures that Mary's drawn, in which her mother always appears. The film culminates in an incident where Mary sort-of causes another traffic accident, after both Kelly and Joe have decided to be selfish (something that she has been doing for most of the summer, while Joe yields to his desire to spend an afternoon with an attractive young student) and Mary is left to follow her ghost.
There's a coda, at the end of the summer, when both girls start to attend the school that Kelly once vehemently didn't want to go to. Kelly's holding tight to Mary on her way in, whereas for passages of the summer, in her adolescent resentment, she only let Mary follow her at a distance, when she was meant to be looking after her and shepherding her. Joe waves them goodbye and then walks away. Alone.
It's a weird thing to say, but the film does feel slight. There's an epiphany, as seen in the way the family, who did start going their own separate ways in the heat and strains of a foreign city and in their grief, hold on to each other after finally finding Mary at the end. Actually, getting lost is a repeating motif in the narrow, labyrinthine alleyways and once, during a seaside excursion, Mary storms off after talking about the accident with family friend Barbara, she is lost for hours. But it isn't a Hollywood drama, Joe (played by Colin Firth) is mostly repressed and wound up. He doesn't have a big emotional speech. This makes it more naturalistic, and Genova looks gorgeous mostly. The sisters' relationship - the pre-teen and the teenage sister - is believable, and both girls are as sharp as tacks. They're a loving family, forever changed because of a few moments' thoughtlessness, and…the supernatural element and the sporadic neglect of Mary adds tension, but not to the life in peril pitch. As a review I read pointed out, personal experience will make this resonate more strongly for some audience members. I haven't experienced that sort of shocking loss or heard the raw emotion in Mary's cries (good acting from the young leads and Keener, Davis and Firth* are as good as you'd expect). If this were a children's story, Kelly, Joe (and Barbara's) experiences would be more mediated, and the ghost story would be a more definite thing, I expect.
I am starting to wonder, given this and Mamma Mia! whether Firth's current criterion for agreeing to do a film is whether it's located in the Med.
Directed/Written By: Michael Winterbottom
Starring: Perla Haney-Jardine (Mary); Willa Holland (Kelly); Colin Firth (Joe); Catherine Keener (Barbara); Hope Davis (Marianne)
http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0791303/
It occurred to me that it might be worth mentioning this film here, as it arguably has a girl protagonist (although it's equally arguable that it's about the whole family, and it's certainly not a children's film) and tells a story of a family that travels together and grieves and perhaps heals. The film opens in winter with sisters Mary and Kelly playing a game of guessing the colour of the vehicle passing their car as their mother, Marianne, drives them. The youngest girl, Mary, who's losing, takes the game a step too far, causing a car crash which kills her mother. The bulk of the film takes place a few months later, when the girls' lecturer father, Joe, decides to accept a job in Genova for a year, to get out of the Chicago apartment in which they live and to help the family.
Mary relives the accident in her nightmares, over and over, screaming heart-rendingly for her mother. Her father goes to her every time, saying it's all right. It isn't. Older sister Kelly won't share a room with Mary, partly because of the disturbances in the night, partly because her response to what's happened is to become an uber-teenager, hanging out with older students that her father teaches, smoking, pushing at curfews and keeping her secrets. The protective older sister we see at the start of their time in Genova fades and a rift grows between her and Mary, leaving Mary to wander the threatening streets of Genova, while their father teaches. But she's not quite alone.
Though it's at heart an intimate portrait of a grieving family, with Winterbottom getting the camera in very close to follow the characters as they go about the city, there's a supernatural element, as Mary not only senses her mother's presence, but sees her and talks to her. To Mary she's a protector, and there to forgive her for her part in the accident (while perpetually reminding her of what sh'es lost and perhaps stopping her from moving on). Joe, her father, is worried by this phenomenon, which he discovers when he sees the (good) pictures that Mary's drawn, in which her mother always appears. The film culminates in an incident where Mary sort-of causes another traffic accident, after both Kelly and Joe have decided to be selfish (something that she has been doing for most of the summer, while Joe yields to his desire to spend an afternoon with an attractive young student) and Mary is left to follow her ghost.
There's a coda, at the end of the summer, when both girls start to attend the school that Kelly once vehemently didn't want to go to. Kelly's holding tight to Mary on her way in, whereas for passages of the summer, in her adolescent resentment, she only let Mary follow her at a distance, when she was meant to be looking after her and shepherding her. Joe waves them goodbye and then walks away. Alone.
It's a weird thing to say, but the film does feel slight. There's an epiphany, as seen in the way the family, who did start going their own separate ways in the heat and strains of a foreign city and in their grief, hold on to each other after finally finding Mary at the end. Actually, getting lost is a repeating motif in the narrow, labyrinthine alleyways and once, during a seaside excursion, Mary storms off after talking about the accident with family friend Barbara, she is lost for hours. But it isn't a Hollywood drama, Joe (played by Colin Firth) is mostly repressed and wound up. He doesn't have a big emotional speech. This makes it more naturalistic, and Genova looks gorgeous mostly. The sisters' relationship - the pre-teen and the teenage sister - is believable, and both girls are as sharp as tacks. They're a loving family, forever changed because of a few moments' thoughtlessness, and…the supernatural element and the sporadic neglect of Mary adds tension, but not to the life in peril pitch. As a review I read pointed out, personal experience will make this resonate more strongly for some audience members. I haven't experienced that sort of shocking loss or heard the raw emotion in Mary's cries (good acting from the young leads and Keener, Davis and Firth* are as good as you'd expect). If this were a children's story, Kelly, Joe (and Barbara's) experiences would be more mediated, and the ghost story would be a more definite thing, I expect.
I am starting to wonder, given this and Mamma Mia! whether Firth's current criterion for agreeing to do a film is whether it's located in the Med.
