Lazy Boy
06-06-2002, 12:55 PM
Everything Put Together (2000)
Director: Marc Forster
Cast: Radha Mitchell, Justin Louis, Megan Mulally, Catherine Lloyd Burns
Everything Put Together, one of the most underlooked gems of 2000, takes the style of Polanski's REPULSION and ROSEMARY'S BABY, and incorporates them into something unexpectedly poignant. How is it unexpected? First, the trailer for this film made it seem like a psychological horror flick in the vein of the previous films I mentioned. It surprised me when I found out its nothing at all like a horror film, but more like a moving drama about loss and the ncessary elements needed to deal with that loss.
Angie (Mitchell) and her husband (Louis) are a happy couple living a quaint suburban life. They have friends and Angie herself is expecting to give birth some time in the near future. However, a tragedy happens, and this puts her at odds with both her husband and her friends, who stay away from her based on pity, but we really see they are of the fair-weather variety. Angie, as a result of what happened, slowly comes apart at the seams, losing touch with reality and everything and everyone around her. The viewer is taken on a poignant journey, right up until the very end, which is both cathartic and frighteningly satirical.
Director Marc Forster helmed this film before directing the terrible MONSTER'S BALL. What went wrong? Here, he has a close and intimate bond with his lead actress (played strongly by Mitchell), which he failed to do with Halle Berry in MB, and touches on many themes through visual metaphors (my favorite early shot being one wheel missing from the baby's crib). Forster shot the script on digital video, which will remind most viewers of the Dogma style of filmmaking: natural lighting and a handheld camera that would make even the most normal person seasick and queasy.
However, there are some flaws, as Forster delivers many twist and jump shocks, and he places his lead actress through so many harrowing scenes. He's too much of a visual trickster in those scenes, giving them an eerie, horrific quality that is later washed away by the soulful ending. No matter. The Swiss director has helmed a positively heart-wrenching, warm and twisted tale. Highly recommended.
Director: Marc Forster
Cast: Radha Mitchell, Justin Louis, Megan Mulally, Catherine Lloyd Burns
Everything Put Together, one of the most underlooked gems of 2000, takes the style of Polanski's REPULSION and ROSEMARY'S BABY, and incorporates them into something unexpectedly poignant. How is it unexpected? First, the trailer for this film made it seem like a psychological horror flick in the vein of the previous films I mentioned. It surprised me when I found out its nothing at all like a horror film, but more like a moving drama about loss and the ncessary elements needed to deal with that loss.
Angie (Mitchell) and her husband (Louis) are a happy couple living a quaint suburban life. They have friends and Angie herself is expecting to give birth some time in the near future. However, a tragedy happens, and this puts her at odds with both her husband and her friends, who stay away from her based on pity, but we really see they are of the fair-weather variety. Angie, as a result of what happened, slowly comes apart at the seams, losing touch with reality and everything and everyone around her. The viewer is taken on a poignant journey, right up until the very end, which is both cathartic and frighteningly satirical.
Director Marc Forster helmed this film before directing the terrible MONSTER'S BALL. What went wrong? Here, he has a close and intimate bond with his lead actress (played strongly by Mitchell), which he failed to do with Halle Berry in MB, and touches on many themes through visual metaphors (my favorite early shot being one wheel missing from the baby's crib). Forster shot the script on digital video, which will remind most viewers of the Dogma style of filmmaking: natural lighting and a handheld camera that would make even the most normal person seasick and queasy.
However, there are some flaws, as Forster delivers many twist and jump shocks, and he places his lead actress through so many harrowing scenes. He's too much of a visual trickster in those scenes, giving them an eerie, horrific quality that is later washed away by the soulful ending. No matter. The Swiss director has helmed a positively heart-wrenching, warm and twisted tale. Highly recommended.