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More often than not I find myself looking to movies as a way to feel something and connect, or to at least be carted away somewhere else besides my current drama in life. There aren't too many films that hit the nail on the head for dramatics without somehow blowing it. Ordinary People is a perfect drama, a movie that other films should measure themselves against to make sure they are in working order.
A family is torn apart by the accidental death of a child, and even more so when his sibling attempts suicide.
Timothy Hutton plays the youngest child. He's lost his older brother in a sail boat tragedy and after trying to dismiss himself from life, he's back from the mental hospital after repeated shock therapy sessions. His father, played by Donald Sutherland, is an easy going man. He is nice and he feels deeply. He loves his family, and wants to ensure that it will not fall apart on him. The issue seems to lay with the mother, played by Mary Tyler Moore. She has closed herself up completely and shows little to no affection for her son, and only half-heartedly to her husband.
The son is conflicted because he doesn't know who to blame. Is it his fault that he lived? Why does his mother hate him?
Moore plays the emotionally stunted household figure like a titan. She is cautious, careful, measured, and always on guard. She will not stop the world turning and discuss anything trivial, and certainly not anything that strays from an energetic onward and upward motion. Her awareness exists within the judgments of others, and even in the privacy of her own home, she cannot and will not engage in any deep emotional dialog because she must keep fit and be ready at moment's notice to be "on" and "OK".
Sutherland wants his son to be alright. He worries about him. He maybe sometimes sees his wife throw cold shade towards their youngest, but he refuses to believe it's because she feels little for him.
Hutton plays a finely pitched and heavily nuanced character. His torture is killing him on several levels. He misses the hospital where life wasn't so heavy. He can't even face his best friend because it reminds him of his brother, despite his best friend's persistence on being in his life and not giving up. A new shrink may be the answer, and Judd Hirsch does exceptional work as the doctor. He doesn't go too overboard with a yahoo fixer upper. Most of the time, he's playing it absolutely straight and reasonably, so there's no moments where you feel like the work they are doing in those sessions is on par with other films which usually have the psychiatrist act a bit too confident and pushy. There's none of that here. There is only enough to depict the effort to "break through" to a realistically resistant Hutton.
I found myself welling up with tears more than once during the run time of this movie. Maybe it's because I've seen some tragedy and these characters were close to how I realized my own family. I understand the coldness of someone close, someone who cannot open up, not that they are necessarily scared, but because they are simply incapable of that degree of depth, and have a shallow chip in their heart. This movie is told with real honesty, and I appreciate that.
The film also plays out with a high respect for the written word. You can see the details of adhering to the source material, like, for example, when the husband remembers a blossoming romance and dancing with his new wife as he sits on public transport alongside her in a deafeningly quiet trip. Has he ever had the love that he needs?
All the characters work in this movie. Elizabeth McGovern, though her part is small, still manages some trailblazing with how she can make a good joke with her eyes while trying to bowl, as well as communicate "straight shooting" to her suitor when he questions her emotional reliability. It is in that brief moment where she conveys that she is with him and does respect him, just by motioning her arms and showing her face to him on the front lawn of her house.
I wish there were more modern films like this one. It seems we have to scrape the depths of hell to get a solid drama now, and although Ordinary People does have some heavy themes, it never sells its soul just to appease carnage junkies. It's a real movie and deserves whatever awards it has garnered.
Ordinary People (1980)
Director: Robert Redford
Director: Robert Redford
More often than not I find myself looking to movies as a way to feel something and connect, or to at least be carted away somewhere else besides my current drama in life. There aren't too many films that hit the nail on the head for dramatics without somehow blowing it. Ordinary People is a perfect drama, a movie that other films should measure themselves against to make sure they are in working order.
A family is torn apart by the accidental death of a child, and even more so when his sibling attempts suicide.
Timothy Hutton plays the youngest child. He's lost his older brother in a sail boat tragedy and after trying to dismiss himself from life, he's back from the mental hospital after repeated shock therapy sessions. His father, played by Donald Sutherland, is an easy going man. He is nice and he feels deeply. He loves his family, and wants to ensure that it will not fall apart on him. The issue seems to lay with the mother, played by Mary Tyler Moore. She has closed herself up completely and shows little to no affection for her son, and only half-heartedly to her husband.
The son is conflicted because he doesn't know who to blame. Is it his fault that he lived? Why does his mother hate him?
Moore plays the emotionally stunted household figure like a titan. She is cautious, careful, measured, and always on guard. She will not stop the world turning and discuss anything trivial, and certainly not anything that strays from an energetic onward and upward motion. Her awareness exists within the judgments of others, and even in the privacy of her own home, she cannot and will not engage in any deep emotional dialog because she must keep fit and be ready at moment's notice to be "on" and "OK".
Sutherland wants his son to be alright. He worries about him. He maybe sometimes sees his wife throw cold shade towards their youngest, but he refuses to believe it's because she feels little for him.
Hutton plays a finely pitched and heavily nuanced character. His torture is killing him on several levels. He misses the hospital where life wasn't so heavy. He can't even face his best friend because it reminds him of his brother, despite his best friend's persistence on being in his life and not giving up. A new shrink may be the answer, and Judd Hirsch does exceptional work as the doctor. He doesn't go too overboard with a yahoo fixer upper. Most of the time, he's playing it absolutely straight and reasonably, so there's no moments where you feel like the work they are doing in those sessions is on par with other films which usually have the psychiatrist act a bit too confident and pushy. There's none of that here. There is only enough to depict the effort to "break through" to a realistically resistant Hutton.
I found myself welling up with tears more than once during the run time of this movie. Maybe it's because I've seen some tragedy and these characters were close to how I realized my own family. I understand the coldness of someone close, someone who cannot open up, not that they are necessarily scared, but because they are simply incapable of that degree of depth, and have a shallow chip in their heart. This movie is told with real honesty, and I appreciate that.
The film also plays out with a high respect for the written word. You can see the details of adhering to the source material, like, for example, when the husband remembers a blossoming romance and dancing with his new wife as he sits on public transport alongside her in a deafeningly quiet trip. Has he ever had the love that he needs?
All the characters work in this movie. Elizabeth McGovern, though her part is small, still manages some trailblazing with how she can make a good joke with her eyes while trying to bowl, as well as communicate "straight shooting" to her suitor when he questions her emotional reliability. It is in that brief moment where she conveys that she is with him and does respect him, just by motioning her arms and showing her face to him on the front lawn of her house.
I wish there were more modern films like this one. It seems we have to scrape the depths of hell to get a solid drama now, and although Ordinary People does have some heavy themes, it never sells its soul just to appease carnage junkies. It's a real movie and deserves whatever awards it has garnered.