Pleasantville | | Cast : | Tobey Maguire, Joan Allen, Jeff Daniels | | Director : | Gary Ross | | Studio : | New Line Home Entertainment | | Format : | Color, Black & White, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby | | Released Date : | October 23, 1998 | | DVD Released Date : | June 01, 2004 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), English (Subtitled), English (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | August 23, 2005 | | Summary | Out Of Focus | Content
 | While Pleasantville attempts to portray a "Leave it to Beaver" scenario compared to a "Free thinking" present day scenario, consider the facts (darn). In the 1950's kids would bring 8 inch sheath knives to school to play mumbly peg. Today a student is suspended for bringing a pen knife to school. Then, kids would buy model airplanes and glue at the store. Now, it is illegal to sell a tube of glue to a minor. Then, kids would ride a bike to school without fear. Now it is illegal not to wear a helmet. Then, a boy could hug a girl. Today, that is "inappropriate touching". Then teen suicide was almost nonexistent. Today it almost commomplace. These are only a few examples. When you look at the facts you realize that today's society is more regimented, suffers from higher crime rates, higher divorce rates, higher suicide rates.To return our sick society to health, we need to Go To The Source. |
| Rating | | | Date | August 04, 2005 | | Summary | Ladies, Discover the Joys Of A Coloured Bathroom!!! | Content
| This is an unusual Comedy set in the fictional television sitcom called 'Pleasantville". Toby Maguire and his sister are plunged into this world by T.V. repairman Don Knots. Then these two bring the nineties into the town with dramatic results. William H. Macy is wonderful as always as the guy who just wants his hot dinner after work and Joan Allen who plays his wife discovers the Joys of a coloured bathroom and Adultery which I do not approve of personally.There are a couple of incidents in this movie worth mentioning. The residents of the town break a diner window rather than just painting over it and burn books instead of just locking the Library doors. Perhaps the director wanted to show that the 1950's was really a time of Repressed Anger and Hostility. I give this movie 5 stars because it does have a novel concept and the acting is very good even though I don't remember that the 1950's were as "Pleasant" as portrayed in this movie.I also give myself 5 stars because I think this is a very insightful review!!! Please feel free to Email me if you don't agree!!! |
| Rating | | | Date | July 04, 2005 | | Summary | pleasantville | Content
| podrian conseguirla con subtitulos en español? do you have this title whith spanish subtitles? |
| Rating | | | Date | June 27, 2005 | | Summary | A very good movie | Content
| Picture a world of black and white that lives on an invisible agenda, a way of life that was assigned to all the citizens from some unseen force. They go about business as usual, always, and never break routine. Never, because they don't know how to. They lead lives that have already been planned for them, so no decisions they make will really change a thing, as they are limited to the amount of decisions they can make. In fact, they are powerless over their own destiny, over their own actions. Sound like George Romero's "Dawn of the Dead," where violent zombies tended to congregate around the shopping mall, as it was a point of high relevancy for their former consumerist life styles, and whose craving of human flesh was uncontrollable because they were programmed deep inside to do so, to you? No, it is no horror film, it is Pleasantville.
David Wagner (Tobey Maguire) lives the modern-day, suburbanite life, with one exception. He is a teenager, so any weird behavior is game for him, but rarely does David act out of hand, or even do a thing to get noticed. There comes a point in the film when his oblivious mother looks over and asks how he got so smart, as if he matured behind her range of sight. He is the typical neglected teen who turns to books, music, movies, and television for emotional comfort. For me, it is books and movies, as I have had a tough time expressing emotion to others. For David, it is a old 50s sitcom called "Pleasantville."
He knows everything about the show. His small, select group of friends can ask him anything about they show, because he knows everything about it. Too bad that David's knowledge does not exist outside of books and television. He has trouble with girls, with high school, and with his mother. Quite the contrary to his case, David's sister, Jennifer (Reese Witherspoon) is the typical high school girl obsessed with guys, and ignorant of her brother's large swell of knowledge, often leading the two to arguments over things as large as what to do in a situation, or as small as who gets the remote control on a night they both need it. They are complete opposites, but all that is about to change, because they are soon going to be inside of a sitcom.
I won't specify how David and Jennifer are brought to
Pleasantville, but it does involve a mysterious T.V. repairman (Don Knotts), who assigns the two the role of brother and sister on a different plane of reality. Instead of their regular lives, they now live the preset lives of the populace of Pleasantville, a nice little town that happily exists in television reruns. That is, until Jennifer and David begin to influence the actions of the citizens of Pleasantville. Their "parents" are George Parker (William H. Macy) and Betty Parker (Joan Allen), and their names are now "Bud" and "Mary Sue." Despite his enthusiasm for the television show, Bud first objects to staying there, as does his sister, but thetelevision
repairman forces them to remain in that location.
This development has its ups and downs for both brother and sister. For one thing, everything is perfect and ideal, a quality that Bud often wishes his real life had. He also happens to know every single event that will occur in town, because he was such a loyal viewer to the Pleasantville sitcom. Mary Sue happens to now have access to a very cute guy, where as in real life, dating isn't as simple. But problems arise when she is not content with just holding hands. She takes her new male acquaintance, and rocks his world. He leaves changed, as does the world of Pleasantville. Colors start to pop up, especially after the guy who she had sex with begins to describe the event to his friends.
Suddenly, change becomes a frequent thing in Pleasantville, even though Bud tries his hardest for it not to. That is, he does until he meets the most unhappy man in town, Mr. Bill Johnson (Jeff Daniels), who happens to run the most popular burger joint in town, and who lives depends on his assistants to act in certain ways. That's until Bud, terribly busy at that moment with trying to keep things together and "pleasant," tells him to handle the making of a burger himself. Bill likes the new changes, and he gradually begins to make these changes without the assistance of Bud. This is what this man really wants; he wants to do things that are out of the ordinary, but most of all, he wants to paint. And he does not have to wait long, for the colors soon provide themselves for him to start painting.
All around the town of Pleasantville, the changes that Bud and Mary Sue is bringing color into the black and white world. People, especially teenagers who "got lucky" on lovers lane, soon have colored hair and skin. That isn't all, all things nature and mechanical are becoming colorful. The color comes out of Betty Parker almost immediately. She is informed of a little thing called "sex," (every couple in Pleasantville have double beds) as well as ways to please herself. After a single session in the bath, she gets a color of her own, and becomes totally unpredictable for her husband, who is still as black and white as before. He wants his dinner, but suddenly his wife isn't around. She is watching Bill Johnson copy the paintings he sees in art books. This disturbs him, leading the husband to assemble with his regular group of male friends, and deeply think.
They've seen the changes. A lot of them aren't bad. Books, which were once filled with zero content, are now coated in words and images that bring color to many of the Pleasantville populace, as it gives them a sense of destiny outside of their small town. When Bud begins to explain that there are places outside of Pleasantville, he finds open ears from many people, including an attractive blonde who goes against the T.V. episode's "routine, and delivers oatmeal cookies to Bud, instead of another guy who was supposed to get them, drawing the attention of the T.V. repairman. He has been watching reruns, and he doesn't like what he sees. But Bud can't contemplate life outside of Pleasantville now, things are so... pleasant.
But not everywhere. A small group of concerned husbands soon grows into a mob who go around burning books, making fun of "colored" folk, and trying their hardest to remain within their pre-assigned boundaries for life. They begin to make life hard for citizens who have found color with signs that say "No Coloreds," and instituting segregation. All of these acts of hatred don't come from anything more than confusion, but can Bud make the townspeople understand this?
That is the plot of Pleasantville, an underappreciated
masterpiece brought to you by Gary Ross, the director and
writer. His only other directing credit is the
movie "Seabiscuit," which came after this film. He has literally no credentials, except being the writer of the screenplays for "Big," with Tom Hanks, and "Lassie," as well as a few other films that did little to catch the attention of the audience. But the man has created an excellent film that tackles the difficult subjects of book-burning, segregation, racism, and attacks the "perfect American family." This does not feel like the work of an amateur, leading me to ponder if maybe Ross has had the idea of Pleasantville in his mind for quite some time?
Tobey Maguire is perfectly cast as David Wagner, later Bud Parker. He is one of the only actors I know that can portray characters who show real enthusiasm about learning, discovering, and sharing. He did a terrific job of acting, but it was not his performance alone that carried the film. Other stand-outs include Reese Witherspoon, who proves she actually CAN act, and Jeff Daniels, an actor who deserves better projects than the ones he usually stars in. Pleasantville is a film that gave him an opportunity to really share his acting gifts with the world, and I for one was not disappointed with him at any point in the film. The side-players of this posse are William H. Macy, who acts well, but isn't given enough to work with to really stand out, and Joan Allen, who delivers a great performance that rivals her work in The Crucible, which was a very wooden film, but offered an good performance by Allen. Together these actors make the film, but it was originally Gary Ross who came up with the idea of the film and directed it so efficiently, so he deserves just as much credit as the actors.
This was obviously a group project, as one does not derive such a perfect feeling of unity from actors and actresses who don't get along. Pleasantville is a movie that may tackle many subjects, but deep down, it is all about human drama. Do any of these sitcom people want to do what they are programmed to? According to this film, the answer is this. Of course, in the real world, sitcom characters are all actors or actresses, but that is what is so wonderful about movies. They can create a world from an old television show, and then populate it with characters who aren't always wooden and wanting to follow the script of whatever episode they're but are instead people who all want to act differently. First off, though, they must be liberated, and that is what Pleasantville does. It frees it's characters from their invisible shackles, and provides the audience with a message that deeply stresses individuality, and most importantly, the ability to do what one wants, no matter what their rationale behind the action. Because conforming to please the crowd is wrong, but many of us, too many of us,
forget that this is true.
What Pleasantville is is a pleasant wake-up call for all the people out there who "go with the crowd" and "think that fate will lead them to whatever destiny." The film is there to make us feel good, but also remind us that routine gets boring, and that once we are bored with living, we get tired of life. Change is good, Pleasantville stresses, and I can't say that I don't agree.
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| Rating | | | Date | May 30, 2005 | | Summary | Surprise! It's not just another Comedy. | Content
| I went in with very low expectations for this movie. I expected the movie to be a simple family comedy. I was taken by surprise when it turned out to be much more deeper than that. The movie has many levels of symbolism and meaning layered on top of each other. The 'real' aim of the movie only began to dawn on me towards the end of the movie. The subtle way this movie sends it's message across is genius!
I suggest you watch this movie and experience Pleasantville for yourself. |
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