Monday 24 July 2023

Dolores Claiborne (1995 Taylor Hackford)

A Stephen King novel adapted by Tony Gilroy, with Kathy Bates and Jennifer Jason Leigh as her estranged daughter, who's not been back to Maine (actually Nova Scotia) in fifteen years. And we find out why. These two, and David Strathairn and Judy Parfitt, are great. Christopher Plummer and John C Reilly represent law and order, and we must mention Ellen Muth as young Jennifer. There's a reference to Shawshank Prison, and fittingly Bob Gunton (the governor) turns up as a bank manager. (It's a Castle Rock production.)

A cunningly laid out film, with good transitions to flashback via cool blue into full colour. DP Gabriel Beristain certainly likes his clouds (as do I) and stuff. Very enjoyable.





It's one of Leigh's more controlled performances, thus one of her best.

The music's by Danny Elfman. Mark Warner is the editor.

Beristain's Mexican. Funnily enough, one of his first films was Jarman's Caravaggio; latterly Magic City.

No comments:

Post a Comment