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Summary: All You Ever Wanted to Know About Florida...
Review: ...or so it seems. "Sunshine State" concerns itself with the natives of two Florida beach communities, one white and the other black, who find themselves being wooed by luxury condo developers. Some are for it, and some are less so. While all the haggling is going on, we get to see the minidramas in various people's lives.For instance, on the white beach, there's a young woman bored out of her mind by running her blind father's motel ( a different take on the Norman Bates charatcter if you will). Dad is a curmudgeonly old guy, while mom Jane Alexander is the local drama teacher queen who prefers to forget that the motel is somehow connected to her family. Daughter is starting up a romance with Timothy Hutton, who is designing the landscaping for that new community. He's a decent enough fellow, apparantly. On the black beach, there's tension between an older woman and her daughter, who has just returned after an absence of many years, evidently to introduce mom to her new doctor husband. This daughter was once a drama student of Jane Alexander's, so there's a bit of overlap in the two communities. Daughter is none too happy to see that her old high school boyfriend has resurfaced, especially since he fathered the child she had to leave town to have. From time to time, we also see Alan King and his golfer friends who just comment on the need to bring nature under the control of man, "Nature is overrated", King says flatly at one point, while teeing off. Seems some of the other reviewers found "Sunshine State" overly long or soap opera-ish. I didn't find it either thing. I thought the story lines were all interesting enough, and that it was just long enough. Perhaps it's not the best movie I've seen this year, but I'm not sorry I saw it or anything.
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Summary: Another wonderful Sayles creation
Review: Author/screenwriter/director/editor--John Sayles is unique in the film industry. After a slew of odd jobs, he became a novelist, then a screenwriter and, ultimately, the winner of a MacArthur "genius" grant to finance his own films. His Return of the Secaucus Seven was the beginning of a series of highly individual films that include Brother From Another Planet, the wonderful Eight Men Out, Lone Star and now this bittersweet film about Florida. The cast--particularly Edie Falco and Angela Bassett, who both give shining performances--is wonderful, with a winning turn by Ralph Waite (remember The Waltons?) as Falco's blind father. This is a film about history, about pride, about mother-daughter turmoil, about land development (and greedy, conniving developers) about the human condition. It is funny and touching, irreverent and fundamentally true; it is also well-conceived and sometimes hilarious. Mary Steenburgen (with one of those amazing facelifts that leaves her expressionless) nevertheless is great as what amounts to a middle-aged cheerleader, trying to pump civic pride into a place that has precious little of it. There are a number of small, golden moments: a scene between Waite and young Alex Lewis as Terrell is understated and lovely. A fine, fine film with a splendid cast, and some messages that are delivered without a single heavy-handed moment. Don't miss this one!
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Summary: Dead on film for grown folks
Review: If you know anything about the beach towns east of Jacksonville, Florida, this film will resonate to your toes. The place, the people, and the politics are captured with amazing insight. And besides all that, there is just plain good filmmaking, great writing, and great acting. This is the best movie I have seen in many a year!
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Summary: Meandering along a Florida Beach
Review: John Sayles has a style of telling stories that takes a bit of patience on the part of the viewer. He seems to like 'free-association' thinking and unless you stay alert, some of his tales can slip right by. SUNSHINE STATE has so many little stories under the umbrella of a tale of redevelopment agencies vying for an old established island off the coast of Florida to turn into yet another dreary housing complex that even though Sayles keeps them all tied together in the end, the various life situations presented can wander out with the tide. There is the element of racism conquered (or is it?), a returning 'lost daughter' (Angela Bassett), a frustrated woman (Edie Falco, in a touching and very Southern role)left to run a motel and restaurant for her diabtetic father rather than follow her dreams, an orphan who witnessed his parents murder/suicide, a committed do-gooder (Mary Steenburgen) whose whole life seems tied up in a silly weekend Bucaneer Days celebration, and a misplaced Sarah Bernhardt (so good to see Jane Alexander back in the movies) trying to bring some semblance of culture to the resort folk, etc etc. What we are given is a slice of small town mentality fighting to stay afloat and Sayles elicits fine performances from a sterling cast. The ending (and beginning) are just edgy enough to qualify as an art house flick and the film just doesn't seem to know when enough is enough. But we are left with indelible portraits of some very interesing characters who challenge some home-grown prejudices and make us stop along this beautiful little beach and breathe in.......and just meander.
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Summary: Land for Sayles
Review: John Sayles returns to his Altmanesque "Lone Star" formula, with mixed results. Instead of a small town in Texas, a sleepy little resort community in Florida is put under the microscope. Once again, Sayles juggles about a half-dozen subplots that eventually tie together, although in a somewhat less compelling fashion than his Texas tale. The now-familiar Sayles themes of family ties, bittersweet love stories, culture clash and community traditions are trotted out and examined. The film opens strong, with greedy land developers descending on quirky small-town landowners, initially leading the viewer to think they are headed for a picaresque Carl Hiaasen-flavored social satire. Instead, we are given a deliberately paced, almost Mike Leigh ("Secrets and Lies")-style glimpse into the lives of several families. The various little epiphanies that result are, at best, only a little interesting. Sayles is an actor's director, and while that usually guarantees good performances (which this film does have), it doesn't necessarily guarantee a riveting story. In fact, there are so many good actors in the huge cast (Edie Falco, Tim Hutton, Angela Bassett, Ralph Waite, Jane Alexander, Mary Steenburgen, etc.) that it's almost distracting, since no one stays on screen for very long at any given time. Worth a look, and more intelligent than 95% of the current Hollywood offal, but not quite gripping enough to compare to Sayles' best work.
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Summary: Edie Falco Is The Only Reason to Watch This
Review: John Sayles tries to remake Nashville except it's now about the real estate market in Florida. Unfortunately this movie is just dreadful. The only character that is at all interesting is the one played by Edie Falco. The rest of the characters are all minor characters given major screen time and the result is just SNOOORRRRRREEEEE....ZZZZZZZZZ.
Please avoid this travesty at all cost or just fast forward to all the scenes with Edie Falco and her family. It's films like this that illustrate why Halle Barry got the Oscar and Angela Bassett never did.
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Summary: Another masterpiece from John Sayles
Review: John Sayles' crisp dialogue and interesting characters are so arresting in this movie that you find yourself smiling from ear to ear in awe. It's so flawlessly paced and brilliantly acted by all included, that you can't help but fall in love with the story. What might be mistaken for a dissertation on real estate development, this movie is so cleverly imbued with nuances and touches of genius that you simply won't want it to end. Maybe his best yet.
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Summary: Sayles produces another winner
Review: John Sayles, who wrote, directed, and edited Sunshine State, is one of the finest directors working today. He is able to take seemingly unrelated stories and create a wonderful film. His work, including Limbo, Eight Men Out, Lone Star, and Matewan are all movies that make you think. I would have liked more extras on this DVD, but Sayles commentary is interesting and does provide some insight into the movie making process. The movie, about developers moving into a little town in Florida and the effect on the town, looks at class and race differences and provides a different look at Florida, much like Limbo did for Alaska. The cast is really good, led by Edie Falco, who provides a Oscar worthy performance as a "motelier" who wants more out of life but doesn't seem to want it enough to leave, and by Angela Bassett, who did leave and maybe is wondering what she got of life by leaving. Bill Cobbs and TYimothy Hutton also provide solid performances in this movie. As I indictaed, the lack of extras is disappointing, but the movie itself is a gem. John Sayles, whose body of work stands with any director working today, has produced another film that will leave you thinking about it long after you view it.
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Summary: BRIGHT AS DAY
Review: Land developers preying on naive and worldly-wise landowners in Florida isn't the most original idea, indeed it sounds dated, but this ensemble comedy-drama from Writer-Director John Sayles is as engaging as a warm ocean breeze on your favorite Floridian beach. All the interlocking stories of the potentially wealthy residents are entertaining and amusing but the film really belongs to Angela Bassett and James McDaniel as a woman returning to her home town with her husband, half-heartedly willing to confront unresolved family affairs and relationships. They provide a strong backbone to this gentle and funny film.
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Summary: John Sayles At His Best
Review: No film director has earned more the right to make a movie about not selling out than has John Sayles. Over the years he has consistently directed fine independent movies. I thus expected much from this movie and was not disappointed. The out-of-state developers have descended on Delrona Beach and Lincon Beach, Florida. They want to bring progress in the form of "plantations," planned resorts, golf courses, etc. If you are interested in how timely this subject is, spend a day driving down A-1A in Florida. Then there's Disney World in the middle of the state. You'll be interested to see just who the bad guys are and what color some of them are. The ensemble cast is outstanding, from Angela Bassett-- when she's on the screen, all eyes are on her-- to Edie Falco, Timothy Hutton, Mary Steenburgen--"it's so difficult to create a tradition"--to Jane Alexander and Gordon Clapp. There is a delicious scene where Alexander outsmarts a developer who is trying to rook her out of her property. She says something to the effect that she's good at finance since she has run a nonprofit theatre group for 25 years. A word about Falco: you totally forget that she is a big part of "The Sopranos." It's good to know that there is life for her outside that show. She's completely believable as the tired manager of her father's restaurant and motel. Finally, it's worth what you paid to rent or buy this video to hear the young woman sing "The Last Mile of the Way."
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