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Pleasantville
****
Cinema
Releases - March 12, 1999
Rated on a 4-star
scale. USA. Written and directed by Gary Ross. Starring Tobey Maguire, Reese
Witherspoon, Jeff Daniels, Joan Allen, William H. Macy, J.T. Walsh, Don Knotts,
Paul Walker, Marley Shelton, Jane Kaczmarek.
Gary Ross's "Pleasantville" is, quite
simply, a wonderful movie. After the first opportunity I got to see it, I
left the screening emotionally drained and physically giddy. Thoughts --
in the form of realisations, opinions and simple reflections -- were swirling
round my head at a dizzying pace, and I felt enriched.
Its plot, upon description, seems simple. We meet
two 1990s teens -- Jennifer (Reese Witherspoon), a lively, popular, sexy
chick, and her brother David (Tobey Maguire), sharp but not so popular, and
an interestingly conflicting combination of awkward and easy-going. David
has a large fondness for a bland black-and-white 50s sitcom called
'Pleasantville', and since a marathon of the show is scheduled, David is
determined to win this weekend's fight over the remote control. It's a new
remote, given to the family by an odd TV repairman (Don Knotts), and while
the pair tussle for it, they push a wrong button and are magically transported
into the show that's playing on their set -- 'Pleasantville'.
In all honesty, this premise is not just simple,
but tired. Many television shows have themselves already used it, as have
films like "The Last Action Hero" and the truly awful "Stay Tuned". We can
tell from the outset that "Pleasantville" will be a more intelligent treatment
of the idea, but it's actually even more than that, and excels dealing with
themes we didn't even realise the story had the potential to mention. David
and Jennifer, now "Bud" and "Mary Sue", are in a world where every house
has a white picket fence, a perfectly trimmed lawn and a wholesome dinner
on the table at a set time every night, and where nobody goes to the toilet,
fails to score at basketball or strays from a formula when carrying out a
task. They try and play along, in the hope that they'll think of a way out
in the meantime, but their nature is just not in-keeping with the alternate
reality. They find themselves forced to correct phoniness, ask questions,
use their own ideas to help people... and soon things in this monochrome
universe are blossoming into colour, as people realise they need personalities,
and then find them.
Even though he is dealing with fantasy,
writer-director Ross pays careful attention to detail, and the way everything
could really be occurring. The early scenes, in our modern world, show style,
behaviour and interaction very realistically, getting us involved, and making
sure we truly experience the film. I especially liked the way David and
Jennifer's relationship is shown -- there isn't boring all-out hate which
turns into unconvincing sappy love, but a believable rapport which illustrates
that although this brother and sister often disagree and fight, they obviously
know, live with and love each other.
With this involvement, then, whenever colour came
into the picture (in revolutionary special effects, comparable to those of
"Titanic"), I had a strong emotional reaction. At times the reactions felt
near orgasmic, and maybe even that intense word is inadequate -- to try and
capture the experience of "Pleasantville" in written form is to risk rambling
or underestimating, and no review I've read has shown otherwise. What I will
say is that it is amazing how the film manages to make its premise coil and
spring. It starts as worthy lightweight fare, and proceeds with in-depth
coverage of the emerging discovery, politics, sexuality, racism and other
charged issues of the fantasy town, as it picks up the characteristics of
actuality. The movie tells us its tale with great eloquence, and the rhythm
of natural progression, and therefore is always potent, never muddled or
overloaded.
I'll forgo discussing the performances and technical
aspects of the film, except to say that they are terrific, and you will
appreciate seeing them for yourself. I'll go right on to discuss what this
film meant for me, as it does tread on dangerous ground -- by taking a serious
turn, and becoming a message movie, one would think it has to decide whether
to side with the 50s or the 90s. This, however, is not the case. "Pleasantville"
knows and shows how impossibly antiseptic a lot of places were in the 1950s,
and how it has entered history books and public consciousness as the most
bizarrely banal mirage of a decade this century. It also knows that the 90s
are loud and unfriendly, where having sex can be risking fatality and our
precious, hard-won free speech is used mainly as a defence for dangerous
mass-media geek-spectacles like "The Jerry Springer Show".
But it also knows that harmony, the 50s' illusion,
and freedom, the 90s' illusion, would be beautiful if made reality and combined,
because they're essential facets of human existence. "Pleasantville" is simply
against getting carried away with any particular extreme way of life, and
in favour of living with peace and joy, trying to keep open arms and smiling
faces. Although some people will always tut at these ideas dismissively,
intent on being selfish, mistrustful or detached, they should just be ignored,
because their attitude is poison to the concept of living in a
society.
These are all simple, obvious messages. But they
are difficult ideals to live by faithfully in a world such as ours, where
cynicism is thought of as practicality. "Pleasantville" urges us to try and
live by them despite the difficulty, and does so in a powerful way, with
intelligence and charm. What is more remarkable is that even if you don't
get caught up in the film's grand philosophies, you can still mark it as
a terrific piece of work, on the levels of its surface comedy and drama.
Like "Dave", "Groundhog Day", "My Cousin Vinny" and "Parenthood", it has
such a fundamental sense of warm humour, goodness and accessibility that
it's irresistible. From all angles, "Pleasantville" is a hymn to the glory
of life.
COPYRIGHT©
1999 Ian Waldron-Mantgani
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