In America | | Cast : | Paddy Considine, Samantha Morton, Djimon Hounsou | | Director : | Jim Sheridan | | Studio : | Twentieth Century Fox Home Video | | Format : | Color, Widescreen, Dolby | | Released Date : | January 01, 2002 | | DVD Released Date : | June 07, 2005 | | Language : | Spanish (Dubbed), English (Subtitled), English (Original Language), French (Original Language), Spanish (Subtitled) | | Audience Rating : | PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | July 25, 2005 | | Summary | Add 2 stars if you're not overly critical of films while viewing them | Content
 | Sure, you can read much into this film if such is your predilection, but the screenplay does not support much of the praise expressed above. The notion what this film is perceived to be about, in other words, is not successfully developed herein. Notwithstanding remarks above to the contrary, Samantha Morton---who was wonderful, I might add, in the film "The Sweet & Lowdown"---does not "anchor"this film. The film is, in fact, carried along by the delightful Ariel---Miss Morton's daughter in this film---and thence carried along by this girl's friendship with a downstairs sickly neighbor (named Mateo) who has lost his will to live. The other players only detract from this focus. Much of the introductory buildup of this film is thus counterproductive. When a pre-teen eclipses those playing her parents not only with her role, but with her acting as well---well, such puts paid to the praise showered on Miss Morton (at least in this role) and the man playing her husband. The father's part, moreover, begs credulity. This man takes his family to New York City for a new start, a better, life; this man who has almost no money when they so embark from Canada, by car, headed toward the "Big Apple." Once in NYC then---at an amusement park---he later gambles their rent money, trying to win a $10 cupie doll for his daughter! It's a double down game which his pride prevents him from quitting as he continually gets deeper in the hole; and does so as his wife frantically watches, until she too (Miss Morton) joins him in jeopardizing their children's welfare. It's an irresponsible display not likely to be so effortlessly engaged in by a poor immigrant couple who (presumably) know the value of a dollar saved. Soon thereafter, once the parents survive this close call, the husband proceeds to buy an air conditioner he can't afford (solely for comic effect in the film, it seems), then somehow enrolls his daughters in Catholic school. And this, all the time while he pounds the pavement trying to land acting auditions! Yes, the man is an aspiring actor too. So while his family tries to make ends meet he indulges his dream. My point is that such is NOT a particularly believable immigrant scenario. One doesn't take one's wife and 2 pre-teen daughters to NYC with no money to try to make it on "Broadway." Some months on of struggle we find that the wife has become pregnant. I'm surprised they didn't throw a trip to Disneyworld into this story too! If you still want to see this film, instead of considering buying this DVD, I suggest you borrow this film from your local library instead, or rent it. (Obviously if you were looking for a cheerleader's review of "In America" you chose the wrong opinion to read. I heard the buzz too & expected to like this film myself, but---objectively speaking---can't say that I have for the above reasons.) Cheers! |
| Rating | | | Date | July 18, 2005 | | Summary | YAWN | Content
| Another artsy film to depress the piss out of you and bore you senseless. Enjoy. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 18, 2005 | | Summary | Heartbreaker! | Content
| Few films paint a more uplifting and poignant picture of what the American dream can be, should be, than Jim Sheridan's heartwrenching masterpiece, 'In America.' Nor are there many films out there that will open up the tear gates and yet leave you smiling like this one does.
Jim Sheridan set out to make a tight, precise story that would resonate with many. He succeeded in a very big way. 'In America' hits all the marks of a great film. It entertains you, it moves you, it educates you. You come away bleeding, but all the better for it nonetheless.
Sheridan doesn't waste time. The first scene gives you the crux. The Sullivan family waits in their packed station wagon to cross the Canadian border into America. Why? To repeat the journey that all our ancestors went through. To forget something over 'there' in hopes of starting something better and brighter over 'here.' The Sullivans' secret from over there bubbles out during the customs check. When the border guard asks the father, Johnny (Paddy Considine) how many children they have, he stares blankly ahead and says, 'three.' Sarah (Samantha Morton) quickly corrects him, 'two.' Their youngest, Frankie, died from a brain tumor, but his ghost torments the whole family. Was it really a tumor or was it that fall down the stairs that could have been prevented? Unresolved guilt hovers over the parents like a phantom, while their angelic girls, Christy and Ariel (Emma and Sarah Bolger) accept their brother's loss as part of the scheme of things.
Starting over is full of new challenges, new joys and new pains. Johnny and family move into a dingy tenement full of equally dingy characters. But it is the little things that keep the coals of faith burning. The first cold shower in a humid NYC summer, the ratty air-conditioner that Johnny drags across town to cool family and frustrations, the ice-cream sundaes, the family jaunts to the cinema (cooler than the apartment!), and all the while, Johnny struggles to find his place on the Broadway stage (How American is that!). All tiny steps through the passage of rebirth.
The costs are high and failure lurks everywhere. Johnny meets rejection after rejection and finally ends up cabbing. With her sparkling candor, Ariel voices the disappointment that plagues her family, 'Things aren't the same here. I don't have any friends. And you, dad, don't play with us anymore.' Things are indeed different as Johnny and Sarah struggle to make ends meet and to put the ghost of Frankie behind them. Sarah becomes pregnant with their new child, a promise of a better future. Yet, Johnny can't accept this new future because he hasn't let the past go. His pent-up guilt and frozen pain have congealed in him, turning him into a robot of frayed nerves and cold distance. Sarah senses the source of Johnny's failure and tries to pull it out of him. When Johnny half-heartedly touches Sarah's growing stomach, she explodes, 'You can't touch the thing you've created, and that's why you can't create something that will touch others!' In trying to survive and keep his family afloat, Johnny nearly loses his humanity.
Yet, the Sullivans' are saved just in time by their odd neighbor, Mateo (Dijimon Hounsou). An African artist locked up in his wounds and loneliness, he paints with his own blood and frightens the whole tenement with his violent screams. Christy and Ariel break into his world unawares. In one of the film's numerous poignant scenes, they stop at his door for their first trick-or-treat and won't be denied. Knock and you shall receive. Two alien worlds crash together and a bond is forged. The Sullivans' find their first 'American' friend and Mateo begins to venture out from his locked world. And all this, the doing of Christy and Ariel. They sense a fellow wounded heart in Mateo, yet one capable of extraordinary love. Johnny has his doubts about this freakish neighbor, until Mateo gives him a lesson in being grateful for what he has. And then it's all downhill to a mighty bang. The baby's coming and the pregnancy is not without risk...Mateo passes out in the stairwell and his frig is full of medicine...
The pace quickens into a crescendo that is guaranteed to leave you wet-eyed. Resolution, sacrifice, salvation and the continuance of life. They're all there. Waiting to be discovered. A lot has already been said about the superb acting in this film, and it's all true. Not a bad apple in the bunch. While the adults all do fine work, the prize must go to the Bolger sisters. Ariel's impish innocence and Christy's maturity beyond her years will leave you glued. That's not acting, it simply being yourself before the camera.
More than the heart-wrenching and stellar performances, its the little stuff that Sheridan sneaks into each scene that trips you up. Some many things to identify with, to make your own. Ariel's honest query, 'But where did ET go?,' the girls first Halloween contest, 'We got a prize only because we were different. I don't want to be different anymore!' and the family's first trip to an amusement park where Johnny must win the ball-throwing contest even if it means sacrificing their last dollar. So much that touches us on a human level, so much about what it means to be American. A nation of 'losers,' drifters who must 'lose' something, sacrifice something in order to win it all back and more. Take a chance on this film, I guarantee you won't fail to find something new and wonderful, 'In America.' |
| Rating | | | Date | June 28, 2005 | | Summary | Heart wrenching reality | Content
| In America is loosely based on Jim Sheridan's life - Frankie was really his brother, rather than the 5-year-old boy in the movie, and the movie was dedicated to him. I bought the DVD purely after seeing the trailer on another DVD. The trailer touches something deep down inside you, and the whole film sticks with you long afterwards.
The two girls in this (real life sisters), Christy & Ariel are absolutely outstanding for children so young, and showed some real emotion. Look out for Christy singing the Eagles song "Desperado" - you need a heart of stone if you don't find this the hardest part of the movie to watch. Little Emma & Sarah Bolger called "cut" and "action" in every scene. This was decided by the director and the girls early during filming, so that it would make the acting easier for them. Jim Sheridan captured every raw emotion that could be possibly portrayed in this, and all the actors do an excellent job.
There are some things that stopped me giving this movie a four star rating. The fact that it's so fast paced & disjointed, and also there's no indication of how much time is passing, so you'll be watching it and suddenly it'll be a matter of months has passed, with no explanation. And also Samantha Morton - I think it's the fact that I can't stand girls with hair that short, I'm all for the girly girls with flowing locks. It doesn't make her look good in my opinion. I also found it really difficult to understand what was wrong with their originally grumpy downstairs neighbour, Mateo, played magnificently by Djimon Hounsou. I did think it was either cancer or AIDS, but it was quite difficult. Also, it's only called a "disease" throughout the movie, so it's really up to the viewers to come to their own conclusions as to what is really wrong with him. (I did think Samantha Morton's character had cancer, but she didn't.) Unfortunately, there's not much integration between Mateo & the family, and this was a major selling point of the movie, if only that part could have been extended a little. That part seemed rushed to me.
If you're a sucker for an Irish accent, like me (I go weak at the knees), then you'll love the accents in this, since it's predominantly spoken in thick Irish accents. If you're from outside the UK, you'll probably need subtitles. You have been warned!
Sit back & enjoy this movie but get a box of tissues for the finale of this film (there's an alternate ending on the DVD which I haven't yet watched) and Christy singing Desperado.
Now where's that Eagles album? |
| Rating | | | Date | June 23, 2005 | | Summary | All-around wonderful movie | Content
| This movie was just superbly done. My only complaint is that in several parts I had to put the subtitles on because they would talk so softly and their accents would be so thick I couldn't understand what was being said, but that is just a minor flaw.
The acting in this movie is just phenomenal and impeccable. You actually get the sense that you are viewing this family's life rather than actors playing it out. Essentially, it is the story of this young Irish couple and their two daughters who move (illegally) into the slum of all slums of Manhattan in the 1980's. The purpose of their move is so the father can pursue an acting career, but most importantly, to move away from their life in Ireland where they lost their only son to a brain tumor. Though they live in the poorest conditions, the family still keeps their chins up and makes the best of their situation. Additionally, they develop a strong friendship with their strange downstairs neighbor, whom they find out latter is dying from Aids. The story is full of real-life problems and situations yet the family seems to make it in the end through hope, faith, and a few miracles.
Truly touching and well told story.
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