Movie Reviews

Three films that explore our capacity to change.

by Robert Horton / Film critic for KUOW-FM in Seattle

For Acme Care – jbruce@acmecare.com

Tender Mercies

People love to argue the Oscars — but surely no one has ever disputed the rightness of Robert Duvall’s overdue Academy Award for his 1983 role as a broken-down country-and-western singer in Tender Mercies. Duvall brings to life Mac Sledge (what a classic C&W name!), a man who has lost everything he’s ever had, including his family and his career. Waking up in a boozy haze in a motel room in Texas, he builds a new life by doing odd jobs around the place and relying on the kindness of the owner (Tess Harper) and her 10-year-old son. And yes, if some of this sounds like Crazy Heart, the film that won Jeff Bridges his overdue Oscar, you’re not far off. Tender Mercies did it first, and better.

Pickpocket

Bresson’s Pickpocket (1959) presents a main character who, despite his self-centered nature, seeks to pass through the world as invisibly as he can. This suits his chosen profession: He needs to be as unobtrusive as possible in order to steal wallets from the unsuspecting, a process we watch unfold in almost clinical detail. In the exceptional final sequences, Bresson leads us into the realm of faith and forgiveness, as the example of “good” enters Michel’s life, shaping and humbling this locked-in character.

Margaret

Kenneth Lonergan’s Margaret is some kind of rich, strange, remarkable movie, and a bittersweet reminder that forgiveness begins with the complicated issue of forgiving oneself. Our central character is Lisa Cohen (a ferocious performance by Anna Paquin), an abrasive Manhattan teen whose life is altered after her involvement in a terrible street accident. Through a series of awkward incidents and a gallery of characters, Lisa navigates toward understanding, acceptance, and — oh, a host of other issues that might sound dry, except that they come to life with unpredictable, spiky energy.