07/30/2002 Entry:
"Sunshine State - John Sayles (2002)"

I was really looking forward to this, the new film from John Sayles, being a huge fan and all. While I wouldn't say its his best film, I certainly enjoyed it quite a bit. Its no Lone Star or Limbo though.

Sunshine State continues in the line of John Sayles movies in which the locale is as much a character as any of the actors are. Set in Southern Florida, the film is rich with local color, realistic accents, and cinematography which really sets the tone for a dreary hot Florida summer. The performances are all well executed, and the actors deliver that crisp John Sayles dialog perfectly. One thing I've always loved about Sayles' writing is the way he can setup plot points and pick them up later in the most roundabout and unexpected way. The setups don't telegraph that something will be done with them later, and when they are picked up its done in a way that doesn't say LOOK AT ME REMEMBER WHAT THIS CHARACTER SAID EARLIER? Its all very subtle and natural, and yes if you're not paying attention you might miss a link in the spider web, but it just works so much better than something like Minority Report which just telegraphed every important point with great big red flags.

The film never really gels though. The Angela Bassett plotline is probably the most well executed, it has that nostalgic sense of someone going back to their hometown that Mary McDonnell did so well in Passion Fish. That really seems to be a thread through a lot of Sayles movies - people returning home, facing up to their past (see also Lone Star.) Edie Falco is excellent in her role, which really isn't that far removed from her character on The Sopranos despite the surface differences.

In the end none of this stuff comes together very satisfyingly. The developers go home, everything is back to the way it was (with the exception of Bassett staying behind to mend her wounds with her mother.) It all just seems to sort of end without resolving anything, and this is not at all like Sayles. The guys playing golf at the end were way too on the nose too. I definitely could have done without that. Some have suggested that Sayles bit off a little more than he could chew here, trying to keep a few too many plates spinning at once. I could see that I guess, certainly I could see the ex-football star thread disappearing without losing too much. I think my dissatisfaction is more of a script problem though. The Sayles films I've most enjoyed in the past - Lone Star and Limbo - have really felt like journeys from one place to another. Sunshine State does not feel that way, its just a bunch of stuff that happened.

Replies: 3 comments

No mention of Skeeter Meter?! Posted by redson @ 07/31/2002 07:09 PM CST

I knew you saw that movie Posted by gdd @ 07/31/2002 07:29 PM CST

I started to slightly doze off somewhere the middle of the film, which may reflect more on my tiredness than the movie. But there seemed to be lots of monologue type of scenes where as soon as they started I knew the character was going to talk on and on. That's not necessarily a bad thing. The editing, pacing, and lifestyles portrayed fit the setting. I overall liked the film, although it's obviously not the best thing Sayles has done. It felt like an Altman film in which the pockets of characters never really intersect. Posted by skeeter meter fan @ 08/01/2002 07:04 PM CST