 Gena Rowlands and Marisa Tomei 88 KByte |
Like a tune, that seems to linger
on in our head, and although annoyed, we cannot help whistling it
on and on again, - such is this film as well: it clutches to us.
The story it recounts is simple and of common life, yet the film
explores mysterious and complicated connections beneath. The
structure facilitates the projection of the situations and
problems portrayed by the film over our own problems, thus
enabling every one of the viewers to enlarge the dimension that
is most applicable to him or her. This is a film that lends
itself to a number of different interpretations, and it is almost
literally true that it gives every one a different experience.
Nobody gets pumped full of lead, no monsters explode, only
life-like troubles are there to see, of which we have had just
enough, thank you. Yet perhaps while rushing through our lives we
fail to stop and look them in the face, or perhaps we
intentionally avoid them, or sweep them under the carpet. This is
a film that makes us stop for a second, and look some of them in
the eye. Exactly like films directed by the director’s father,
John Cassavetes do. But while John Cassavetes’s films are
characterised by astounding takes, (Faces, A Woman Uunder the
Influence etc.), the images in this film are conventional to
the extent of reminding one of a television commercial. Beautiful
visual experiences carry us away, while they explore “a world
beneath the surface” almost unnoticed.
The story takes place in a small town of California. The emotion-filled conflict situations and relationships are centred around the ageing Mildred. Like the chairs of a merry-go-round do characters revolve around her. They approach and withdraw, approach and withdraw again. And slowly, as if the laws of mechanics diluted, attractions and repulsions evolve according to an almost impenetrable pattern. Mildred’s husband is dead, and his son, moving to San Francisco, is a married man. Her daughter moves from home right at the beginning of the film. She is fed up with her mother hindering her from taking own decisions on her way to adulthood (for all their happening to be bad decisions) by solving all her problems herself. (E.g., when Ann Mary Margaret gets bored of early morning newspaper deliveries, her mother does the work for her.) Mildred is left by herself, and lives the life of millions of housewives in her situation. Yet for her, life has surprises in store!
On a bright new day, Monica, the
young woman next door, knocks on Mildred’s door, and asks her
to watch over her son for the afternoon, as Monica’s husband,
following a family quarrel, failed to return home. The silent J.
J., with his helplessness and childlike defencelessness soon has
a special place in Mildred’s heart, and she offers Monica to
spend the afternoons after school with the boy while Monica is
working. Mildred feels important again. She is needed, without
needing to sacrifice her own self. Mildred soon makes Monica’s friendship as well, and the two women start reshaping each others’ lives and opening each others’ eyes. Monica teaches her to love and enjoy life, while Mildred teaches Monica to love the child and surround him with care. Through Monica, Mildred meets Big Tommy, who dashes into her life - if not on a white horse, at least on a steel long vehicle. Mildred once again feels that she is not just a baby-sitter-mother, but a woman as well. Yet she feels too old for the fulfilment of their love and the public acceptance of their relationship. She returns to J. J., feeling that what is most important is still her ability to give the warmth of a family to this lonely kid. She again closes the door of her unusual world, as she closed the same door on her son before. But very soon this world falls to pieces - Monica’s husband moves home again. Mildred feels she has been cheated and is unable to find her place in the new situation. Was it not herself, though, who told Monica about the necessity to learn to accept each other, because values like love and family may get lost in the bustle of life otherwise, and a young life will get derailed? Yet when Monica – upon Mildred’s advice – makes it up with her husband and the wholeness of the family, - required for the boy’s healthy growth - is restored, Mildred feels abandoned and useless. This is the first time in the film when she truly faces neediness. It is an ugly word, but the great majority of people need the feeling of being useful like the starving needs a piece of bread. Many are the ones whose very centre of life is this usefulness. Mildred attempted to make up for her remaining alone in the family by J.J. She escaped into the family next door from becoming useless and superfluous, and became superfluous again when she was no longer required there. But in the meantime, she learnt something from Big Tommy! While they were dancing in the bar, the driver told her about the thrill of a free and independent life, which - in the absence of any fixed points, - may be dangerous as well, but that’s just what makes it beautiful. Mildred now turns her back on the attitude which made her yearn for constraints. With a ritual movement, she removes the necklace that was given to her by J. J., and does what the millions mentioned before do not dare to - she embarks upon a life of independence defying all dangers, as if accepting the truth of the lyrics at one point in the film “Don't waste time for yesterday, Let's be free”. |
 Gena Rowlands 86 KByte |
