Film
Critic Notebook: Random
Screenings: A Modified Preview of 2007, Woodstock Film Festival
by
Jay Blotcher
...and
Elizabeth Ashley, whose extra booze-bloat does little to mar the
woman’s enduring beauty. As for how these two legendarily
volatile personae behaved between takes, Baker is, maddeningly,
the soul of discretion. “Dern was hilarious,” she writes.
“He would tell great stories all the way to set, but unfortunately,
what happens in Catskill stays in Catskill!”
BOTTOM LINE: If you’re a fan of John Sayles’ well-meaning
ensemble character studies that have the simplistic resolution of
a short story, then The Cake Eaters will easily charm you. Masterson’s
eye is a keen and sensitive one and she manages to direct around
some narrative improbabilities with finesse. At the core of this
sometimes too-familiar tale, however, is a galvanizing revelation.
Kristen
Stewart plays a high school student named Georgia, afflicted with
a terminal nerve condition called Friedrich’s Ataxia. But
instead of being a shrinking violet ennobled in her suffering, Georgia
is an unruly, unapologetic and independent girl who realizes she
may have only a few years left in which to cram a lifetime. Stewart’s
fearless performance -- abetted nicely by the underplaying of Aaron
Stamford as her unlikely suitor -- rises above the mechanics that
often plague this story. Miriam Shor, Talia Balsam, Melissa Leo
(an Ulster County resident) and Jesse L. Martin round out a game
cast. CAHIERS DE WOODSTOCK OVERALL SCORE: 7 out of 10.
CONTINUE...
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