Focus | | Cast : | William H. Macy, Laura Dern | | Director : | Neal Slavin | | Studio : | Paramount Home Video | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby | | Released Date : | January 01, 2001 | | DVD Released Date : | March 19, 2002 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), English (Subtitled), English (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | April 02, 2005 | | Summary | Set in wartime, but still a message for our time | Content
 | Larry Newman, played by William Macy, lives a quiet and well-ordered life in New York towards the end of WWII. He works as a personnel man, lives with his mother, and has not gotten married because he's "too busy working and paying for (his) house". Suddenly his world falls apart when he witnesses the beating of a young Puerto Rican girl by a neighbor, and is demoted in his job because he has new glasses which make him "look Jewish". He meets and marries a young woman who is often mistaken for being Jewish and thus opens himself up for attack by the Union Crusaders, one of whom is his next-door neighbor, Fred. From a quiet beginning, the movie moves quickly to violence and hatred, and a man caught in the middle of it all. William Macy does a convincing job of showing the transformation of a shy man who doesn't want to become involved to one who is not afraid to stand up for his beliefs. |
| Rating | | | Date | July 19, 2004 | | Summary | Excellent! | Content
| William Macy is brilliant again! He portrays a role of a decent man caught up in big time trouble, trouble created by ignorance and misunderstanding. In this post World War Two time, Macy's character suffers through anti-Jew feelings in his neighborhood. It is interesting how he deals with such discrimmination and how he attempts to live his life in a meaningful way. "Meatloaf" plays a frightening but effective bigot..and supporting actress Laura Dern does a great job too. This is a "must see". |
| Rating | | | Date | May 21, 2004 | | Summary | FoKus | Content
| Based on an Arthur Miller book of the same name, this brilliant period place set in New York while much of the country is at war centers around a Presbyterian who, when he puts on glasses, both looks Jewish and sees the startling horror of a racist America beset with job discrimination, virulent anti-black and anti-Semitic sentiment, and all around negative energy. Wonderful performance from William Macy and an ever-enchanting Laura Dern as the leads. Both think each other are Jewish. Miller, ex-husband of Marilyn Monroe, who is still alive as of 2004, was considered the dean of American naturalism before drama went off in another direction. Here he exploits his beautiful story sense to focus our horror on the historical tragedy of political factions who think they can fix the world by broadly identifying the particular group of others who are threatening it, thus giving themselves a sense of identity organized by murderous hatred no less than would-be righteous indignation. The leads mistake each other for Jewish even as they know they are not but the world, throwing a noose of love around their attempts to escape this case of mistaken identity, tightening it as they try to wriggle free. The depiction of the Union Crusaders, a Rear Window-like opening scene of the protagonist watching a rape of Puerto Rican woman, and the distasteful factions of American nationalists and globally gathering totalitarianism as it existed over sixty years ago are convincingly portrayed in this touching and revelatory love story. |
| Rating | | | Date | May 20, 2004 | | Summary | Great Movie - Applicable to Other Groups As Well | Content
| As an effeminite heterosexual man, I can totally relate to this movie. Just as the main character learns all there is to know about anti-Semitism because he "looks Jewish", many of us are learning a lot about homophobia today. Excellent film, with many helpful parrallels for understanding current day discrimination of all kinds. |
| Rating | | | Date | December 29, 2003 | | Summary | Just as true today as it was then... | Content
| ...especially of people who purport to be intelligent and enlightened "humanitarians", yet are such vicious anti-semites who would love nothing more than to see another more complete Holocaust--or the next best thing: Israel pushed into the sea. Don't believe me? Take a few social science classes at any so-called respectable college and you will surely see them pop out of the woodwork--professors and students alike--with their Jewish conspiracy theories and anti-Israel crap. |
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