Drowns Her Baby to Spite Her Husband Movie
great performances
Warning: Spoilers
Alice Goodwin (Sigourney Weaver) is a school nurse and overwhelmed wife to Howard (David Strathairn) with two daughters on a Wisconsin dairy farm. Theresa Collins (Julianne Moore) leaves her daughters with Alice to babysit. Fiddling Lizzy falls into the lake unattended and eventually dies. Everybody turns confronting Alice when the police arrests her for abusing student Robbie, the son of Carole Mackessy (Chloë Sevigny).
In that location are some terrific performances in this moving-picture show. Patently Weaver is doing the bulk of the heavy lifting. She's full of great little nuances. Moore does some powerful acting every bit a female parent who lost her daughter. Strathairn does the well-nigh interesting pathetic husband. He does it without any malice. The movie does have a couple of awkward moments that are probably best left out or changed. They build up to a kiss betwixt Howard and Theresa and so much that it'south abrasive. The whole section detracts from the drama turning information technology into melodrama. The other department is Alice hitting herself. It's a piffling weird and piece of work as a detour. The motion-picture show is better off to get on with the trial past that point. Overall, this is a good movie with iii not bad performances.
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Melodrama with much potential, most of which goes unrealized...
Infuriating story of a modest town nurse (Sigourney Weaver) who is defendant of sexual abuse on a child correct on the heels of a toddler'due south accidental drowning on her property. Tepid film of Jane Hamilton'southward book, directed by Scott Elliott every bit if he were doing a movie-of-the-week. Weaver's central performance is iffy, and overall the film is hampered by her character's screwy behavior which is never in her own best involvement. Isolated sequences have a feeling of truth, merely the depth of emotion just isn't there. Supporting players David Strathairn and Julianne Moore do what they can, but the flick is strictly one-dimensional. ** from ****
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Really fine, thoughtful moving-picture show, Sigourney Weaver'southward best performance to date.
Warning: Spoilers
Here's how "A Map of the World" gets its title - Alice (Weaver) drew a kid's colorful version of a map of the world, with a big rainbow, when she was young. The "map" makes a couple of appearances during the picture show, and is part of the last scene when Alice narrates using her map of the world and her family unit of four in an illustration.
I rate this film a solid "8" of 10. At that place are no special effects, graphic symbol development is relatively deliberate, and the consummate storyline unfolds gradually, much similar "Lonely Star" does. Weaver's and Strathairn's characters remind me of the ii leads in "Limbo" - proficient people who are just barely holding things in their lives together. They are big-city folk who make up one's mind to purchase a rural dairy farm and "work it" with their two small girls. A couple of tragedies enter, and their lives are forever changed. The moving-picture show deals with relationships and the human resiliency that allows the states to adapt.
CAUTION -- SPOILERS FOLLOW --
Things start to unravel when Alice, a form-schoolhouse nurse, allows a friend's (Theresa, Julianne Moore) picayune girl to wander off and drown in their farm pool. The girl actually dies a bit later in the hospital, only kept alive past machines. This happens almost the fourth dimension Alice is going half-crazy dealing with the brats at schoolhouse, and especially the child who seems to always exist sick, and who once spit out medicine into her face, and she slapped him in angry reaction. Days after the daughter dies, Alice is arrested, but for "sexual abuse" of the trivial brat at school. Two other children subsequently join with complaints.
At beginning it seems that Alice looks at her imprisonment as a "vacation" from the daily grind of taking care of her kids and the farm. She asks Howard (married man David Strathairn) to bring her books, she reads a lot, stays to herself, hardly asks about the kids. It starts to look similar she may actually be guilty, and inside a very sick person. What's really going on, she feels that she has earned her "penalty" because of letting the girl die, but is not worried considering she is innocent and will become out merely in a matter of fourth dimension.
Meanwhile, Howard is having a very difficult time on the farm, cannot raise the money to bail Alice out, all the friends and neighbors assume she is guilty and snub them. He eventually sells the farm, moves to a pocket-size flat, gets Alice out of jail, they rent a good lawyer, they betrayal the hoax, clear Alice, Thresa become her ally again, and Howard ends up working at the country driver license office. The story ends with Alice, Howard, and their ii girls sitting at a round table, and Alice's narration nigh the 'map of the globe."
Weaver does a marvelous job, and her character is detestable at times. The DVD is clear simply simple, no five.one soundtrack, very limited extras, just overall one of the meliorate films that deals with life'due south difficulties and triumphs. A mature film for mature viewers.
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Autumn from grace..
There are movies which are absorbing but because there are actors who are able to transcend an bookish directing :Sigourney Weaver is part of them ,and she gets fine back up from the whole bandage (with the eventual exceptions of the two lawyers ,two paper-thin characters,and some of the jail inmates).
"Crime and punishment" would be another apt title for "map" :that'south the book the heroine claims (along with Laura Ingalls Wilder's "little house",a return to childhood'south kingdom,"Walnut Grove" being another world similar the one she drew on her map) when she'southward in jail.Sigourney Weaver portrays a woman with a potent guilty feeling considering of two events in her life (i minor with a pupil,some other 1,quite tragic).When she's unfairly charged with abuse,she accepts the penalisation.When she's in jail,she's beaming,and nobody actually understands her.More,she yet thinks it'south non enough (the self-inflicted wounds are revealing).It takes all Weaver's talent to make this circuitous character apparent .Moore's development makes sense as well.She besides feels guilty and her behavior does not daze.
"Map" tells a story which concerns the states all: Its cadre is responsibility. Recommended.
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Could have been much better
This motion-picture show is about a mother's life afterward her neighbour's kid drowned in her pond.
This film could have been so much. It could have been a touching and gripping drama between Sigourney Weaver and Julianne Moore. Information technology could accept been an intense activeness film of Sigourney Weaver's life in jail. Or it could have been a courtroom thriller. Instead, the motion-picture show leaves me and then dissatisfied and unfulfilled afterwards. Things that could have been more developed are not, despite the two hours of screen time. Yet the film is nevertheless moving, particularly the grief after Lizzie drowned, and the reconciliation between Sigourney Weaver and Julianne Moore.
As the others take commented, Sigourney Weaver's acting is superb. Julianne Moore, on the other manus, is underused. I would recommend this moving-picture show to others but for Sigourney Weaver's acting.
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Lost
Alert: Spoilers
Spoilers herein.
The book played with narrative: the narrator accepted bad things happening to her because she wanted them. It was an experience that is missed here.
Weaver isn't quite upward to this. She tries valiantly, but the director gives her no assist. he doesn't understand what made the book work. Straithorn does well in spite of it all.
But the real gem here is Julianne Moore. I'll follow her into any theater. She makes a not bad flick here in the background when the director isn't watching.
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(Bad) Dream Weaver
Warning: Spoilers
Had this been made in the old days it would have been firmly labelled a 'woman's moving-picture show' and peradventure rated as a ane, ii, iii or even four handkerchief weepie. Although someone erstwhile-fashioned in content it does benefit from splendid performances from the thee leads and whilst it's truthful that Sigourney Weaver gets the lion's share both emotion and emoting-wise both David Staithairn and Julianne Moore both back up and match her. The story has married couple Stathairn and Weaver opting out of urban life for the joys of the country, which tend to sour a little when Weaver, working every bit a nurse in a local schoolhouse, ruffles a few feathers and winds up in the slammer on a morals charge. This would exist bad plenty at any fourth dimension simply it comes right on top of Moore's daughter drowning whilst in the care of Weaver. You tin can take information technology from there yourselves so suffice it to say information technology'southward a fine case of the genre.
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The truth should be told no matter what
Warning: Spoilers
It wasn't so much that this small Wisconsin town turned on a schoolhouse nurse who did goose egg merely deal with wild kids, it's that every single one of them did. There wasn't even a single person who was the least bit skeptical of Alice's guilt.
Alice Goodwin (Sigourney Weaver) and her husband Howard Goodwin (David Strathairn) lived on a Wisconsin farm with 2 daughters. 1 daughter, Emma (Dara Perlmutter), was the spawn of Satan. Obnoxious yelling, screaming "I hate yous!", and breaking bowls of cereal were a regular part of her repertoire. I will be the bad guy and say that her existence spanked or deprived of something she wanted could've been a good attitude adjustment device.
Alice and Howard had two friends with daughters as well, Theresa Collins (Julianne Moore) and Dan Collins (Ron Lea). Alice's life was flipped on its head when i of Theresa's daughters drowned while in her care. Alice sank into an irretrievable depression and things got worse. She was so charged with the inappropriate touching of a minor. A kid named Robbie (Marc Donato), with the help of his mother Carole (Chloe Savigny), accused Alice of doing unspeakable things to him. Alice was arrested and held on $100,000 bail.
It was at this bespeak the unabridged boondocks of Craphole, Wisconsin turned on Alice. What we learn is that Alice was a relative newcomer to the town, hence an outsider. Her husband was trying his mitt at farming and she and the kids were along for the ride. Obviously, in modest towns people will believe spurious things well-nigh you so long as it comes from the lips of an "insider" (a lifer, a townie). And the more despicable the easier to believe.
While Alice was living it upwardly in jail her hubby and Theresa got a little too cozy. They didn't quite sleep together, but they did passionately buss which seemed wholly unnecessary. Equally Theresa was trying to aid out Howard and continue a semblance of normalcy for the three remaining girls you couldn't help but become the feeling that in that location were going to exist sparks between them. Hollywood is always good for making sparks between a man and a woman when they spend time together. Nevermind that this guy'due south wife, and her best friend, is in jail, they can't help but join lips. Theresa goes out of her way to let Howard (aka the audience) know that he's a adept guy even afterward the buss so that y'all moralistic viewers don't start having negative thoughts nigh this man who kissed his wife's best friend.
Though Alice'due south time in jail was no walk in the park, she still left forlornly. It was a scene that made me think, "maybe jail isn't all that bad." Then I think of real shows like "Lockdown" and recall that this is simply a bad movie.
When Alice finally got to trial her lawyer put up a wonderful defense but to be kneecapped by his own client. Alice got on the stand up and began sabotaging her ain example. It was infuriating. In this overly sentimental fluff piece of a flick, Alice had to use the witness stand as her personal confession chambers and let the earth know of her sins because they "make her human." When asked had she inappropriately touched Robbie, she said "Yes."
Why?
My first thoughts were that she wanted to go to prison and be someone's girlfriend every bit some grade of amende for letting the lilliputian girl drown. My second idea was that she only lost her marbles and wasn't cognizant of reality. The reason she gave was that she had to "tell the truth." You lot encounter, she'd slapped Robbie before and that wasn't correct. Then she chose at present, of all times, to reveal that data. She hadn't told her attorney before--in fact she hadn't told a soul--just when her freedom is on the line she decided to SPEAK THE TRUTH. It was a move that would drive whatever lawyer to throw upwardly his hands and say, "Lock her up judge."
She further hurt her case by mentioning the drowning when the guess had already ruled that it was inadmissible. Again, refer to my starting time and second thoughts higher up as they were the same hither. Her lawyer was understandably incensed. All the preparation he'd washed and she just threw information technology in his face.
Because this is a feel good motion picture about "forgiveness" and redemption, and we accept to have a happy ending, Alice was acquitted. She told the globe the truth that no one asked for and it worked out for her. Sure, she had to leave the picayune backwards town in Wisconsin and move back to the metropolis, but profound lessons had been learned and her family unit was now a meliorate unit for information technology. Or so we should believe.
In the terminate Alice is better than all of us. She doesn't hit children, and the fourth dimension she did she told the world when it could've cost her her liberty. We should love Alice and be like Alice. We should all run a risk our freedom for the sake of an irrelevant truth, because the truth should be told no matter what. Yay Alice.
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A powerful drama with speed bumps.
=G= 19 September 2000
"A Map..." offers a mature, lengthy look at the vicissitudes and tragedy which befall Weaver'due south character, a Wisconsin dairy farmer's wife with an unusual ability to cope. A powerful performance by Weaver and first-class support by Moore and Strathairn assistance to make this sometimes boring pic well worth watching.
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Outstanding Performance By Sigourney Weaver
Sigourney Weaver offers a marvellous performance in this moving picture, playing female parent and school nurse Alice Goodwin, whose world is torn apart after the death of a friend'south child on her holding, and the lodging of a sexual assault charge by the female parent of one of the students she deals with on a regular footing.
This is most definitely NOT a light movie. It has adult themes, and some very troubling bailiwick matter. As skillful as Weaver is, the supporting cast likewise offers some very powerful moments. David Strathairn portrays Howard Goodwin, Alice's hubby, as he helplessly watches the community plough against the entire family, and as he struggles with the decisions that need to be made to free Alice. Julianna Moore (every bit Theresa Collins, the mother whose child died while being watched past Alice) is very believable equally the grieving female parent, struggling with her anger toward Alice over her girl's death, and however also convinced that the assault charges against her are ridiculous. The scenes betwixt Strathairn and Collins, both playing vulnerable characters dealing with circumstances completely beyond their command, are raw with emotion. The merely performance I found truly disappointing was that of Arliss Howard every bit attorney Paul Reverdy. I didn't notice him believable in the role.
All in all, though, this is a strong film, and well deserves an 8/x.
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Drab and soapy
At the heart of Scott Elliot's drab, soapy screen version of Jane Hamilton's novel is a terrific performance by Sigourney Weaver as a woman accused of child abuse. She is a school nurse who hates her job, is unhappy in her marriage and in whose care her all-time friend'south daughter drowns. Jail is a kind of redemption. The film ought to shake you upwardly, but Elliot imbues it with a kind of common cold, clinical detachment. It'south like a blueprint for emotion and, while Weaver is very powerful, the material never touches yous. As the friend whose daughter dies, Julianne Moore touches a few nerves and David Strathairn is very fine as Weaver's dull, uncomprehending, caring married man. Merely they are all acting in a vacuum. You don't care what happens to anybody.
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Well presented true story...
kudos to Sigourney Weaver for yet some other outstanding and sympathetic functioning. David Straithairn also is effective equally the hubby, caught in a web of chaos; Weaver as a schoolhouse nurse is accused of child abuse in a small Wisconsin town; this afterwards a kid she is babysitting accidentally drowns. (The mother of the drowned child is portrayed by Julianne Moore).
Wait for an excellent office with Arliss Howard as the defense chaser; it is a shocking surprise that 5 other children come forward accusing Weaver; it develops into a sort of witch hunt- and the extra playing the prosecutor is quite odious.
"A Map of the World" is not an like shooting fish in a barrel story to take to; there are many complicated and likewise malicious sides of several characters; The graphic symbol Weaver portrays is complex; guilty, and angry about a child accidentally dying, she accepts prison as an advisable sentence, and fifty-fifty injures herself; She remains sympathetic however, throughout this film, and that is a rare talent that many actors could NEVER carry off. A must see. 9/10.
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Involving, Affecting Drama from Scott Elliott
Strong performances by Sigourney Weaver and Julianne Moore highlight this involving and, at times emotionally draining motion-picture show about the boundaries that are inherently a part of our lives, and the limits of those boundaries, both in how much we are able to give, as well as how much nosotros can take. `A Map of the World,' directed past Scott Elliott, examines the confines of the parameters within which an individual must live, and the finite capacity of any i person to endure stress that exceeds the specific limitations established for that individual by nature. And information technology'southward not a affair of ane knowing ane's limitations; rather it is a matter of knowing how to cope with the results, once i has been driven past the breaking point into a world that can no longer be viewed in black and white, but only in shades of greyness-- that betoken beyond right or wrong or what is politically correct; the point at which nothing matters only survival-- how to live in a world that tin take then much to offering, while beingness so relentlessly bestial and decidedly unforgiving at the same time.
Transplanted from the big city to a subcontract in Wisconsin, Alice and Howard Goodwin (Sigourney Weaver, David Strathairn) are attempting to make a get of their own dairy business. Just it isn't like shooting fish in a barrel. Howard is immersed in his work, while Alice, in addition to taking on the full time responsibilities and pressures of raising their 2 daughters and maintaining the household, also works every bit a school nurse. And though Alice likes her life, the abiding strain of keeping her own life on job, too as seemingly anybody else within her sphere of existence, begins to take a toll on her.
With no respite from the daily grind, Alice becomes increasingly exhausted and exasperated. She finds some solace in her close friend, Theresa Collins (Julianne Moore), only what she really needs is some time to herself; some time to clear her caput and regroup. Instead, an unexpected summer tragedy strikes the Goodwin and Collins households, which damages Alice'southward much needed relationship with Theresa. And as if that isn't enough, further trials and tribulations are almost to descend upon Alice-- one of those curves life has a way of throwing at you when it'south least expected, or needed. And it'due south something that will test the limits of Alice's capacity to endure, more than than always before.
Working from a remarkably insightful screenplay by Peter Hedges and Polly Platt (adapted from the novel by Jane Hamilton), manager Elliott presents a genuinely honest moving-picture show that takes an in-depth await at what it oftentimes takes just to `maintain' on a daily footing, and the very real issues and situations that a person like Alice is apt to encounter. From the very beginning, Elliott establishes the credibility of the motion-picture show by creating an atmosphere and setting that is entirely existent-- so real, in fact, it will exist more than a chip disconcerting to many who volition so readily be able to place with Alice and relate to her situation. And, having effected such realism, Elliott then moves on to evangelize a thoroughly engrossing, emotional drama, which he renders with keen care and sensitivity.
Elliott achieves success with this film through an obviously not bad understanding of the material, the story, and the characters and their corresponding attitudes and reactions to given situations. And he keeps information technology `real' throughout by eschewing whatsoever superfluous melodrama or sub-plots, the likes to which a film like this in lesser hands could easily lend itself. In the final analysis, Elliott knows what he wants to convey, and furthermore, knows how to exercise it by exacting the kind of performances from his actors that actually sells it.
As ofttimes happens (likewise often, in fact), the extraordinary performances in this flick were inexplicably disregarded (equally well as the film itself) and/or ignored. Sigourney Weaver gives a commanding performance every bit Alice, arguably as affecting and constructive as the work that earned Hillary Swank the Oscar this year for her portrayal of Brandon Teena in `Boys Don't Weep.' This is quite simply some of the all-time work Weaver has ever done, and information technology's a shame that she has not enjoyed the kind of acclaim that would back-trail such an accomplishment in a perfect world. Which adds some irony to the whole affair, inasmuch every bit function of what this picture show is attempting to convey (and does so, successfully) is that we do not, in fact, live in a perfect world. All that aside, this is a memorable portrayal, in which Weaver exhibits a phenomenal depth and range of emotion.
The field was potent in the Supporting Actress category this year (Angelina Jolie received the gold for `Girl Interrupted'), only Julianne Moore's functioning here stands alongside any of those honored with a nomination for their piece of work. Like Weaver, Moore faced the challenge of creating a graphic symbol that is so mainstream and `normal'-- one of those everybody'due south neighbor or the-clerk-at-the-store blazon of roles-- that the real difficulty lay in making it wait so natural, which when successfully effected, makes it all look so `easy.' Which is exactly what Moore did with her portrayal of Theresa. And-- over again, similar Weaver-- it'south a operation for which she has never received the deserved acknowledgement. Suffice to say, it's terrific work, and a big office of what makes this motion picture and then emotionally stirring.
As well effective is David Strathairn as Alice'south self-captivated hubby, Howard, a human being suffering from a terminal case of tunnel vision. How expert he is here, in fact, can be measured by the feelings of disdain he manages to evoke toward his graphic symbol, which at times, is quite substantial.
The supporting cast includes Arliss Howard (Reverdy), Louise Fletcher (Nellie), Sara Rue (Debbie) Nicole Parker (Sherry) and Aunjanue Ellis (Dyshett). An ardently thought provoking motion-picture show, `A Map of the World' invites a sense of introspection and reflection; a pic that'due south definitely going to make yous do some thinking. ix/10.
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Good story, weak directing
When I finished this picture, I was sure that it ran over two and a one-half hours. In reality, it was only 125 minutes. That reveals something about the footstep. If you can imagine a worm burrowing through granite, you take the idea.
Really, the story was a adept one. The problem was the screenplay and the direction. This is a story of Alice Goodwin (Sigourney Weaver) a city girl who has moved to the country so her husband could effort his hand at farming. Nevertheless, this is no Green Acres. Alice is having difficulty coping with state life and her relationship with her ii children. One day she is minding a friend's children and leaves them playing with her own children momentarily to put on her bathing suit. Upon returning, she discovers one of her friend'southward little girls missing and after a desperate search finds her face downward in the pond. Subsequent to this tragic accident, Alice is accused of child abuse by some other child who claims she molested him in her duties as school nurse. The 2 incidents together turn the whole town ugly as they assume she must be guilty. The story is an in-depth character study of Alice and her struggle to cope with both her guilt and innocence. The guilt is her feeling of responsibility for the little girl's drowning and the innocence is the knowledge that she is non a child abuser.
Usually I bask complex character studies with deep alien emotions, but this one left me wearied. This is not because of the story, but because of the script and the presentation by Managing director Scott Elliot. Far too much time was spent on scenes that weren't actually interesting or relevant. The dialogue ofttimes seemed inconsistent with the characters, specially in Howard's (David Straithairn) case. The lawyer was fabricated to look like a buffoon. Having seen Arliss Howard in a number of other films, I know he is a capable dramatic actor and then I have to presume this was the manager's interpretation of the character.
Sigourney Weaver has received much critical acclaim for this performance, simply I establish it to be somewhat uneven. She was superb in parts, especially the parts where she was playing the potent woman trying to hold it all together. Withal, she seemed to struggle with the vulnerable parts, as if she wasn't comfortable with the character. I realize that part of the betoken was that Alice wasn't comfortable in her ain peel and used a lot of defence mechanisms to cope, simply Weaver seemed unnatural and forced in these scenes. She seems to have a lot tougher time playing weakness than strength. In that regard, Julianne Moore's operation was much ameliorate. Her breakup scene in the forest was compelling and heartrending.
David Straithairn was well cast as the cocky-sacrificing and supportive husband, a role with which he is well familiar. However, he too seemed uncharacteristically tentative. When veteran actors accept so much trouble giving confident performances, one has to wonder if there was a disconnect betwixt the actors and the kickoff fourth dimension director.
Overall, despite some good performances and a solid story, the whole projection but didn't come together and dragged ponderously from scene to scene. I rated it a half-dozen/10. For patient viewers only.
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An unusually mature theme, endearingly indelible, with mature performances for mature audience
Information technology's not an like shooting fish in a barrel subject at all. It's well-nigh the life of a married adult female (a city woman) in a farming small town environment, with two young daughters and a non quite communicative hubby, how things but happened ane day out of the bluish, and the subsequent unexpected spin-off events turning her life topsy turvy, and her unusually calm arroyo to it all. Zip is what it seems - we only have to ride the indelible travails with the three principal characters.
Very mature performance by Sigourney Weaver as Alice Goodwin, the seemingly always self-assured, contained, educated person in control: every bit the wife giving instructions to her husband, equally the female parent handling her daughters, equally the school nurse attending to the kids. She always knows what she's maxim or doing. Yet she's really holding back a lot of mixed emotions within herself, unable to let become, nigh of all, unable to forgive herself.
Julianne Moore is Theresa, a good friend and neighbor to Alice. She gave another supporting dash operation. David Strathairn is Howard the quiet gentle husband. Arliss Howard is the assured lawyer that Alice wanted for the case; he commented he has never seen anyone took to these wrongful accusations so well, and asked what's her pull a fast one on to keep so calm and collected, to which she replied, "Have you ever wanted to go away on an isle…" That's how she felt about being away from it all - that globe of conceivable madness outside.
The three principals are veteran actors who accept matured with such elegance and in multiple intelligent roles:
Sigourney Weaver is far across the queen of alien movies since 1979 with the subsequent three sequels, she has been the unattainable woman contrary William Hurt in 1981 "Eyewitness", Mel Gibson in 1982 "The Yr of Living Dangerously", Michael Caine in 1986 "Half Moon Street"; delivered tour de force performances in 1988 "Gorilla in the Mist", 1994 "Expiry and the Maiden", 1995 "Copycat". Twice opposite Kevin Kline in 1993 "Dave" and 1997 "The Water ice Storm". Comedy-wise, she shines as one of the super fun members in 1984 and 1989 "Ghostbusters" flicks, the wicked boss to Melanie Griffith in 1988 "Working Girl", and notwithstanding another fun member of the hilarious team in 1999 "Galaxy Quest".
David Strathairn - I first remembered him in director Phil Alden Robinson's 1992 "Sneakers" with the fun ensemble cast of computer wizards Robert Redford, Sidney Poitier, River Phoenix, Dan Aykroyd; Strathairn was the wiz who'southward blind and what an outstanding performance he did. His other roles take been pretty much the subtle supporting man, east.chiliad., to Mercedes Ruehl in 1993 "Lost in Yonkers", every bit the pastor in 1998 "Simon Birch", merely he was definitely front end and eye in his long time association (since 1980 and seventh time round) with John Sayles in 1999 "Limbo", delivering a terrific functioning reverse Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio and Vanessa Martinez.
Julianne Moore - I remember her initially in Robert Altman's stellar ensemble cast of 1993 "Short Cuts", then her unforgettable operation in Todd Haynes' 1995 "Safety"; she stands out in another ensemble cast in Paul Thomas Anderson's 1997 "Boogie Nights". In 1999, she'due south in 5 films: an outstanding delivery playing reverse Glenn Close in Altman's fun ensemble piece "Cookies Fortune"; another ensemble natural language-whipping cast in Oscar Wilde's "An Ideal Husband" (Oliver Parker directed); all the same role of some other ensemble engineered by P.T. Anderson in "Magnolia"; then forepart and center as the love of Ralph Fiennes' character in Neil Jordan'south "The Stop of the Affair"; and here an effective supporting office in "A Map of the Earth".
Bold (debut) direction past Scott Elliott. A bonus is the moving-picture show scored by the Pat Metheny Group - the guitar plus strings aptly complemented the mood and flavor of the plot. This film may not be for a teenage audience, information technology certainly warrants mature appreciation.
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A polished stone on yet, deep waters
"A Map of the Globe" (1999): Everything this picture wants to do, and everyone in it, is of the highest quality. Julianne Moore (one of my all-time favorite actresses), David Strathhairn (also good), and Sigourney Weaver (also very good) join upwardly with other quality artists to create a profound, unflinching await into the existent and circuitous nature of Life as a Human. Its i problem is it suffers from "Wim Wenderism". By that I hateful it has MANY goals, MANY important subjects, and WANTS to cover them all, IN DEPTH, for as long as it takes – IN One Motion-picture show - simply cannot. Because of time constraints, and an occasional unwillingness to narrow down/focus upon ONE major philosophic outcome depicted through one story line, information technology skips-near faster and faster, as a polished stone travels on top of still, deep waters, trying to touch on down on equally many places as possible before information technology sinks. This is a Strong motion-picture show, and I ain it, but I do think there are, like most of Wender's films, two or 3 films jammed into one. (And do I call back Wender'south HAS always hit it correct? Aye. My favorite film of ALL time - the "desert island" film - is his masterpiece "Wings of Desire".)
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A film that should be applauded or at least admired for what it has to say
"A Map of the World" is easily ane of the most honest films I've ever seen. The merits go specially to a very fine cast and a clever, well written screenplay. Sigourney Weaver actually shines here, in an Oscar caliber operation, as Alice Goodwin, a woman who is not afraid to show what she is feeling. She is married, has two young girls, lives in a farm and works at a schoolhouse nursery. Her life seems at-home, but happy, until a terrible blow happens, followed past a lamentable mistake, and her life falls apart.
"A Map of the Globe" had everything to be a bland and conventional motion picture, but it is not. I have to say that I don't requite any merit to the direction- this is indeed the principal problem. The director doesn't captivate the audition, and doesn't seem to intendance nigh that. There are many slow moments and scenes that could have been cut. Just "A Map of the World" is a rarity- a very expert film with mediocre directing. Who is the miracle maker? Sigourney Weaver, surely. She shows passion for acting and an incredible strength as Alice Goodwin. I tin't imagine anyone else playing Alice, considering Sigourney is perfect building her character. The Oscar was gone, only I put Weaver on my list of snubbed stars this year. But she doesn't work alone- Julianne Moore is hither, and when she is in yous can expect much. I'm a fan of Ms. Moore since I've seen her in "Brusque Cuts", and now that I've seen "Magnolia" (if you've read some of my reviews you know how much I praise "Magnolia") I'thou starting to admire this lady. She shines even in slapstick comedies as "Ix Months"... In that location'south nothing she tin't do!
Getting back to "A Map of the Globe", I have to say that I appreciated very much its screenplay. It was written with strength, trying to escape of the clichés even in courtroom scenes. There are many beautiful messages the picture has to pass and information technology should be admired for this. It shows that everyone commits mistakes, more than one fourth dimension, and that is why we are ordinary people, with qualities and flaws. We should larn with ourselves and with the others. We should believe in ourselves and try to cope with our mistakes. The film has messages like these to acquire, and many others, resulting in a complex study of people in conflict.
I truly recommend "A Map of the World", despite its flaws. Picket it for Sigourney, Julianne and the messages and forget the weak directing. It is a worth seeing.
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My Review
Warning: Spoilers
Something is very off about this movie. Information technology was very difficult to feel sorry for Sigourney Weaver's grapheme (despite her innocence) due to her bizarre behaviour, and other people in information technology equally acted out in strange means which felt straight at odds with the state of affairs they were in.
Despite not being a bad flick by any stretch, I tin can't quite put my finger on why I didn't think much of A Map Of The World, but it was definitely overlong past a good half-hr and the children in it were very abrasive... and alas, nosotros saw a LOT of them.
There's prison scenes, drama at dwelling and even a final court sequence, just nothing really connects and it simply all seems unconvincing and unmoving.
Finally, there'south a part where our main family, nearly bankrupted by lawyer fees and trying to discover the resources for bail, determine to sell their farm and relocate to the urban center. This ways getting rid of their cat... and the glib way they care for losing a family member made me lost any sympathy I had for them in the first place.
Which, considering how weird they've been from virtually from the first shot, wasn't a heck of a lot to brainstorm with. 5/10
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Weak script, directing, and editing
There is potential in this flick, and the performances are good, but the execution of this movie is very poor. Especially the longer the movie goes. All credibility is thrown out the window when we get into the "Girl Interrupted" blazon jail scenes. And the whole zen of Oprah thing. Gimme a break. Plus there's scenes that don't seem to add upwards to anything that could easily have been thrown out to quicken the pace. I tin can see why this didn't evidence up on the Oscar radar last year.
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Great Weaver, confused story
I certainly tin can't mistake Sigourney Weaver'southward acting hither and she's in expert company. But to a higher place all the pacing here is off, then that the film is too tedious sometimes, then speeds up unexpectedly. The fundamental dramas that drive information technology might take been spaced out a piddling differently and at least 1 motivated more clearly. The dynamic between husband and married woman is hard to follow sometimes, as are the purpose of various scenes, notably what await like outtakes from "Orange is the New Black". Does the moving-picture show have a moral, a betoken? Missed it if so.
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Get out your handkerchiefs.
This pic could have been handled with a lot more depth. The offset 60 minutes or and then is well done, but and so it becomes some other B-film tear-jerker, and so much Hollywood fluff. A Map Of The World is the story of a married mother of two on a Wisconsin farm who suffers terribly when, while babysitting her best friend's two children, 1 of them wanders off and accidentally drowns in a pond on their property, after which she is charged with child abuse (in an unrelated incident) on her job every bit a school nurse and the confluence of events turn her tranquility subcontract life upside down.
I thought Sig Weaver gave a generally skillful performance as the mom in trouble, because the script she had to work with, which is more often than not banal trash. David Straithairn is reliably good equally usual equally the put-upon hubby. I estimate Julianne Moore has the best moment in the film, after playing it brave-faced at the death of her girl, she is constitute past Weaver in the woods having a individual breakdown. Information technology's a smashing piece of acting and very touching, but it's merely nifty compared to the balance of the motion-picture show. Straight-upwardly, it's not all that skilful.
The biggest problem here is the script. Some of the situations and dialogue are fraudulent, and characters aren't really adult. Chloe Sevigny plays basically a cardboard cut-out of a sleazy bimbo (she might as well have merely had information technology stamped on her forehead for all the script gives her to practise), and in ane scene Julianne Moore's hubby is overheard in an angry tantrum because Straithairn and his kids were in their house visiting, just then, I wondered, how did he feel about HER going over THERE. Information technology isn't really explored. I also didn't get some of what Weaver'south character was doing - the "let's let Oprah decide" speech, or one scene when Straithairn visits her in prison and she's making a lot of rambling small talk and doesn't ask virtually the kids - the insensitivity seems totally out of character. I didn't believe it for a second when the black women who were needling her in the cellblock "came effectually" at the stop, the scene where Straithairn and Moore kiss I saw coming a mile away, and for the creme de la creme of tawdry Hollywood BS endings, when Moore'south character turns upwardly pregnant at the end of the movie, it is the ultimate in inexpensive, slapdash, experience-proficient garbage. Oh, well, drown 1 baby, make another. This is the sort of affair that screenwriters love because it provides a groovy and happy resolution to everything, when, in fact, there is never a resolution to losing a child. If you remove Miss Weaver'south occasional nudity, this affair could play forever on Lifetime channel. In spite of some stiff efforts by the actors, A Map Of The World is junk, irredeemable junk. 2** out of 4
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A bravura operation by Sigourney Weaver
It is a pity that "A Map of the Globe" was non better directed. It had it all, a wonderful story, vivid actors simply the picture show somehow lacked guidance. In spite of this problem, Sigourney Weaver was null short of magnificent, her operation did deserve an Academy Award nomination. Information technology is astonishing how well she plays roles that range from comedy to drama, always doing it beautifully. If "A Map of the World" were to be directed by somebody else, it would have been a masterpiece.
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Just one redeeming characteristic: her name is Julianne Moore.
I really tried and so difficult to like this motion picture - but in the end I had to concede: nosotros did not get on. Information technology turned out to exist one of the nigh disappointing pieces of 'drama' I've seen in a long time. The script is terribly hammy, in fact in that location are some truly apalling moments (the worst being Sigourney Weaver's declaration 'allow's proceed Oprah!' - I still can't piece of work out if that was a joke) The interim (with one notable exception) is pretty mediocre, which is non helped by formulaic, humdrum direction and some truly shocking kid actors. Why give kids who tin't act dialogue? It undermines the dramatic potential of a film. As an aspiring screenwriter, I am constantly told to 'make every scene earn its place in your motion-picture show' - well, there are countless here that could take been omitted. I have seen improve made for Telly films. The whole thing seems a terribly overlong excersise in 'how tin can we pull on the heartstrings of the Academy voters?' Luckily even they chose not to acknowledge it.
'A Map of the World' has, as I said, one redeeming characteristic: the presence of the gorgeous, versatile Julianne Moore. Her compelling scene of emotional breakdown following the death of her child in the woods is, in my opinion, worth the price of the moving picture alone. What a shame that they didn't cast her in the lead role. With mediocre material like this, the merely hope of transcending it is with a gifted extra of Julianne'south talents - however I fear that even she could not accept saved information technology.
I to avoid - merely worth it (simply) for Julianne Moore.
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Cute.
This is a beautiful motion picture, simply but for people that want to see a thought-provoking, thinking persons motion picture. Sigourney Weaver did such a fantastic job with her role that I literally wanted to cry for her beingness ROBBED of an Oscar.
This is one of the nearly realistic movies I've seen. Everything that is in this movie could actually happen, which makes information technology even more than hearbreaking. Julianne Moore and David Strathairn were too robbed of Oscars. I literally cried every moment that Julianne Moore was onscreen; her functioning was great. David Strathairn brought an elegance and subtlety to his function.
The ending! Fabulous. It was and so total of hope and optimism.
PS: Read the fabled novel by Jane Hamilton, its merely as good!
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Genie
Map Of The World: Starring Sigourney Weaver Has The About Interesting Affair About The Entire Motion picture And Character Portrayed By Sigourney Weaver That Goes Beyond Whatsoever Thing I take Ever Witnessed From Hollywood When A Person Is Falsely Defendant Of A Crime That Involves Child Neglect Or Child Abuse. The Fact That She Never Non Once At Someday Throughout The Whole Pic Lashed Out At Her Accusers.
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