I'm going to be positive about something today.
I feel like I've been negative for a while, so I'm going to talk about nice happy, shiny things.
Today's nice, happy, shiny thing is Little Miss Sunshine.
A 2007 film with an all-star cast including Steve Carell and Greg Kinnear, it follows a disfunctional family road-tripping across America to take their youngest girl to compete in a child's beauty pageant.
That plot summary reads like it would be horrifying, and between Carell and Kinnear there have been some truly awful films.
But Little Miss Sunshine is quite unlike the majority of the films I've seen in my life.
Every member of the family, from Carell's suicidal professor to Kinnear's relentless self-help guru has a fully-rounded character.
You can tell where they're coming from even if you don't agree with it (or rather, even if you don't agree with Kinnear, because it's him you'll hate).
The best character by far is the grandfather, played by Alan Arkin, who as well as delivering some truly grand-slam bits of dialogue ("I still have Nazi bullets in my ass!") is genuinely likable despite snorting heroin in his spare time.
It also never goes quite where you expect it to, despite how easy it would be for it to. I won't say any more lest I spoil the rest of the film.
But what truly makes this movie great is that it's understated.
Understated television and film is rare in America. This isn't necessarily a fault of the audience, as the executives have always been pandering to the lowest common denominators.
Little Miss Sunshine is funny without being slapstick or out and out farce, the comedy just bubbles under the surface. The characters don't leave gaps in the dialogue for you to laugh. And it doesn't talk down to you.
Another American production which should be praised for how understated is The Wire.
Charlie Brooker reckons it's the best TV show ever made and similar praise was lavished on it by The Chris Mayer Experience.
If that's not enough, here I am again telling you how great it is.
Although not a comedy, the characters in The Wire again all have motivations and reasoning that makes even the ones you hate a little bit likable.
Little Miss Sunshine, The Wire; America could do with more TV shows and films like this.
I feel like I've been negative for a while, so I'm going to talk about nice happy, shiny things.
Today's nice, happy, shiny thing is Little Miss Sunshine.
A 2007 film with an all-star cast including Steve Carell and Greg Kinnear, it follows a disfunctional family road-tripping across America to take their youngest girl to compete in a child's beauty pageant.
That plot summary reads like it would be horrifying, and between Carell and Kinnear there have been some truly awful films.
But Little Miss Sunshine is quite unlike the majority of the films I've seen in my life.
Every member of the family, from Carell's suicidal professor to Kinnear's relentless self-help guru has a fully-rounded character.
You can tell where they're coming from even if you don't agree with it (or rather, even if you don't agree with Kinnear, because it's him you'll hate).
The best character by far is the grandfather, played by Alan Arkin, who as well as delivering some truly grand-slam bits of dialogue ("I still have Nazi bullets in my ass!") is genuinely likable despite snorting heroin in his spare time.
It also never goes quite where you expect it to, despite how easy it would be for it to. I won't say any more lest I spoil the rest of the film.
But what truly makes this movie great is that it's understated.
Understated television and film is rare in America. This isn't necessarily a fault of the audience, as the executives have always been pandering to the lowest common denominators.
Little Miss Sunshine is funny without being slapstick or out and out farce, the comedy just bubbles under the surface. The characters don't leave gaps in the dialogue for you to laugh. And it doesn't talk down to you.
Another American production which should be praised for how understated is The Wire.
Charlie Brooker reckons it's the best TV show ever made and similar praise was lavished on it by The Chris Mayer Experience.
If that's not enough, here I am again telling you how great it is.
Although not a comedy, the characters in The Wire again all have motivations and reasoning that makes even the ones you hate a little bit likable.
Little Miss Sunshine, The Wire; America could do with more TV shows and films like this.
No comments:
Post a Comment