'night, Mother (C- or 2/4 stars)
'night, Mother, directed by Tom Moore & adapted by Marsha Norman from her own Pulitzer Prize-winning stage play, is an overwrought melodrama from 1986 that is an example of one of those stage successes that simply doesn't translate to the big screen; however good the intentions & credible the talent is in front of & behind the camera. The setting is a farm home in the Deep South, where Sissy Spacek co-stars as Jessie Cates, the unemployed, middle-aged, epileptic, dispirited mom of an estranged, beastly, addicted son, who lives with her long-suffering, dependent mother, Thelma (Anne Bancroft).
One fateful evening, Jessie calmly informs her mother that, due to her self-loathing & depression ... she plans to commit suicide hat night by way of her deceased father's gun. She makes this startling revelations while nonchalantly organizing household items, packing belongings to be donated for charity {knowing she no longer needs any of it}, & preparing to do her mother's nails. Many juiced-up arguments ensue en route to a sobering, disturbing climax.
This extremely talky melodrama unfolds as mother & daughter try loudly to resolve their lifetime of despairing misunderstandings & differences; Thelma talks up a storm trying to avert Jessie's suicide and opt for life. There is something inherently gripping about watching this unfold ... on paper. But in actuality, it is just too overblown & downbeat, for me. It's also a 96 min, slog because we, the viewers, know what's going on well before Thelma knows what's up. Sure, the performances are good; when you have Sissy Spacek & Anne Bancroft at the helm, you're sure to experience expert thespian work.
But Tom Moore's direction {he helmed the stage play, too} is way too on the nose, making it seem like the actresses are simply reciting lines of dialogue with gusto, rather than inhabiting the characters. Furthermore, said direction fails to open things up; creating a claustrophobic feel due to the static household setting. night, Mother is a depressing watch, and won't be most viewers' idea of cinema entertainment. If you want to see better recent examples of the actresses work, catch Bancroft Oscar-nominated performance in 1985's Agnes of God, or Spacek's Oscar-nominated performance in the exceedingly superior Crimes of the Heart {co-starring the great Jessica Lange & Diane Keaton}, which also came out in 1986.
This whole production is just too stagey, stogy & emotionally bleak for me to recommend; outside of curiosity in seeing Bancroft & Spacek's work. So yeah -- this movie is a prime example of how some Broadway successes are difficult to translate to the screen.
One fateful evening, Jessie calmly informs her mother that, due to her self-loathing & depression ... she plans to commit suicide hat night by way of her deceased father's gun. She makes this startling revelations while nonchalantly organizing household items, packing belongings to be donated for charity {knowing she no longer needs any of it}, & preparing to do her mother's nails. Many juiced-up arguments ensue en route to a sobering, disturbing climax.
This extremely talky melodrama unfolds as mother & daughter try loudly to resolve their lifetime of despairing misunderstandings & differences; Thelma talks up a storm trying to avert Jessie's suicide and opt for life. There is something inherently gripping about watching this unfold ... on paper. But in actuality, it is just too overblown & downbeat, for me. It's also a 96 min, slog because we, the viewers, know what's going on well before Thelma knows what's up. Sure, the performances are good; when you have Sissy Spacek & Anne Bancroft at the helm, you're sure to experience expert thespian work.
But Tom Moore's direction {he helmed the stage play, too} is way too on the nose, making it seem like the actresses are simply reciting lines of dialogue with gusto, rather than inhabiting the characters. Furthermore, said direction fails to open things up; creating a claustrophobic feel due to the static household setting. night, Mother is a depressing watch, and won't be most viewers' idea of cinema entertainment. If you want to see better recent examples of the actresses work, catch Bancroft Oscar-nominated performance in 1985's Agnes of God, or Spacek's Oscar-nominated performance in the exceedingly superior Crimes of the Heart {co-starring the great Jessica Lange & Diane Keaton}, which also came out in 1986.
This whole production is just too stagey, stogy & emotionally bleak for me to recommend; outside of curiosity in seeing Bancroft & Spacek's work. So yeah -- this movie is a prime example of how some Broadway successes are difficult to translate to the screen.