Rating: 
Summary: Well worth the viewing time!
Review: If you missed "Up The Sandbox" at the movies, now is the time to make up for it. The wit in this complex movie exploring a mother's daydreams about the more exciting life she may have lost when choosing to start a family may be subtle but it is fresh and funny even today. Barbra Streisand shows her comedic talent in this off beat gem.
Rating: 
Summary: Worth watching for the hilarious Castro scenes alone
Review: In the comedy film "Up the Sandbox" New York housewife Margaret Reynolds (Barbra Streisand) is married to a hard-working professor. They live with their two small children in a cramped, unpleasant flat. The flat is always messy, and Margaret's interfering mother uses Margaret's inability to cope as fuel in the argument that they need to leave New York. Faced with yet another pregnancy that she hesitates to discuss, Margaret begins slipping into the only escape possible, and she begins to create a rich fantasy life to compensate for her boredom. All of these fantasies are exciting adventures in which Margaret has a pivotal role. Feminism was still in its early stages when this film was made, and that is evident. Margaret's husband, Paul Reynolds, is a cipher in the film, and I think the film suffers from a failure to develop his character. The film is worth watching however--if only for the scenes with Castro. For a film from the early 70s, the Castro scenes are really quite remarkable. This is not Barbra's most successful comedy, but it's worth watching if you're a fan of early Barbra Streisand--displacedhuman.
Rating:
Summary: Worth watching for the hilarious Castro scenes alone
Review: In the comedy film "Up the Sandbox" New York housewife Margaret Reynolds (Barbra Streisand) is married to a hard-working professor. They live with their two small children in a cramped, unpleasant flat. The flat is always messy, and Margaret's interfering mother uses Margaret's inability to cope as fuel in the argument that they need to leave New York. Faced with yet another pregnancy that she hesitates to discuss, Margaret begins slipping into the only escape possible, and she begins to create a rich fantasy life to compensate for her boredom. All of these fantasies are exciting adventures in which Margaret has a pivotal role. Feminism was still in its early stages when this film was made, and that is evident. Margaret's husband, Paul Reynolds, is a cipher in the film, and I think the film suffers from a failure to develop his character. The film is worth watching however--if only for the scenes with Castro. For a film from the early 70s, the Castro scenes are really quite remarkable. This is not Barbra's most successful comedy, but it's worth watching if you're a fan of early Barbra Streisand--displacedhuman.
Rating: 
Summary: Barbra's Best Acting
Review: It's a film about choices. Choose jealousy, choose controvery, choose adventure, choose abortion? A lonely NYC housewife in the early 70's with 2 children, an ambitious husband and a meddling mother loses herself in dreams and fantasies after learning she is pregnant again. I agree it's the only Streisand film that ever made me forget it was Barbra up there. She was truly captivating as Margaret Reynolds. Great scenes of the Upper West Side of New York at a not particularly attractive time. It was a slice of a young woman's life from a very new, challenging, confusing time in our history, especially for women. The story line certainly seems dated and tame now, but at that time it was truly a provocative and contraversial film.
Rating:
Summary: Gritty Sandbox
Review: Margaret Reynolds has an overactive imagination. She imagines confronting her husband's female coworker; her mother. Margaret imagines blowing up the Statue of Liberty with a dream radical-black-boyfriend. She imagines discovering an African Tribe's secret for painless childbirth. And she imagines speaking out for all women at a press conference, and then discovering Fidel Castro's feminine secret! Margaret Reynolds is not crazy. She's just pregnant again - her third child. And she's very uncertain about this moment in her life and who she has become and what society values from her. So her brain tends to take some flights of fancy.
That is the setup for UP THE SANDBOX, a 1972 film that is directed by Irvin Kershner (LOVING and THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK) and written by the late Paul Zindel. The film is obviously meant to address the women's movement that was burgeoning at that time. Although some of its themes don't translate well 31 years later, most of the film is still relative and challenging today. Barbra Streisand's performance as Margaret is incredible. It's one of her best film roles. Barbra strips down, and plays it very natural here. There are only traces of fast-talking-Brooklyn-Barbra; only one or two FUNNY GIRL line readings. The rest is a different Barbra than we've seen. It makes one wonder what other sort of small film roles she could have done -- she's that remarkable in SANDBOX. SANDBOX won't be for everyone's tastes. When I first saw it in the 1980's I didn't like it. I was confused. The fantasy sequences are not obvious. There are no clichéd Hollywood transitions - no WAYNE'S WORLD "dream sequence" dissolves! The dreams can be confusing. However, if you're a fan of smaller, non-Hollywood or foreign films, one can appreciate UP THE SANDBOX for its subtle accomplishments. In fact, Kershner achieves a dangerous atmosphere by keeping the line between reality and fantasy so close. The audience is disoriented sometimes. Think what it must be like to be Margaret, though!
Gordon Willis' cinematography contributes to the realistic and documentary feel of UP THE SANDBOX. Willis, by using natural lighting and subtle shading, creates a warm but realistic image. Streisand (in her commentary) points out several scenes where Willis' cinematography impresses. "The Moviemakers" documentary is a welcomed addition to the DVD. Streisand fans can see some additional footage shot for the African sequence, as well as a lot of behind the scenes shots. Streisand's commentary is enlightening, as is Irvin Kershner's. Kershner, so far, is the one director Barbra speaks the most about in all of the DVD commentary she's provided for this Warner Brother's set. Barbra makes sure to point out son Jason Gould's cameo appearance in the film. It's also interesting to hear Barbra's recollection of her own mother's unannounced visits, which mirrors the scene in the film. I've grown close to several new mothers in my life recently. I don't have children myself, but I have watched and learned about parenthood from them. I couldn't help but think about this while watching UP THE SANDBOX last night. Have things really changed that much in thirty years? Don't women, when pregnant, still question whether to work, how much to work, when to go back to work? And as a woman's life becomes centered around her children and husband, she is still confused about what to do with her own life. Even exercising and eating become difficult when the little ones need her attention. Toward SANDBOX's end, Kershner films a wonderfully surreal fantasy sequence where Margaret considers an abortion after contemplating all of the issues just mentioned. Kershner, Zindel, and Streisand present us with Margaret's decision. UP THE SANDBOX tells us that women don't need to become more like men ... they need to become more like themselves. More info on Barbra Streisand can be found at my fan website "The Barbra Archives".
Rating:
Summary: Gritty Sandbox
Review: Margaret Reynolds has an overactive imagination. She imagines confronting her husband's female coworker; her mother. Margaret imagines blowing up the Statue of Liberty with a dream radical-black-boyfriend. She imagines discovering an African Tribe's secret for painless childbirth. And she imagines speaking out for all women at a press conference, and then discovering Fidel Castro's feminine secret! Margaret Reynolds is not crazy. She's just pregnant again - her third child. And she's very uncertain about this moment in her life and who she has become and what society values from her. So her brain tends to take some flights of fancy.
That is the setup for UP THE SANDBOX, a 1972 film that is directed by Irvin Kershner (LOVING and THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK) and written by the late Paul Zindel. The film is obviously meant to address the women's movement that was burgeoning at that time. Although some of its themes don't translate well 31 years later, most of the film is still relative and challenging today. Barbra Streisand's performance as Margaret is incredible. It's one of her best film roles. Barbra strips down, and plays it very natural here. There are only traces of fast-talking-Brooklyn-Barbra; only one or two FUNNY GIRL line readings. The rest is a different Barbra than we've seen. It makes one wonder what other sort of small film roles she could have done -- she's that remarkable in SANDBOX. SANDBOX won't be for everyone's tastes. When I first saw it in the 1980's I didn't like it. I was confused. The fantasy sequences are not obvious. There are no clichéd Hollywood transitions - no WAYNE'S WORLD "dream sequence" dissolves! The dreams can be confusing. However, if you're a fan of smaller, non-Hollywood or foreign films, one can appreciate UP THE SANDBOX for its subtle accomplishments. In fact, Kershner achieves a dangerous atmosphere by keeping the line between reality and fantasy so close. The audience is disoriented sometimes. Think what it must be like to be Margaret, though!
Gordon Willis' cinematography contributes to the realistic and documentary feel of UP THE SANDBOX. Willis, by using natural lighting and subtle shading, creates a warm but realistic image. Streisand (in her commentary) points out several scenes where Willis' cinematography impresses. "The Moviemakers" documentary is a welcomed addition to the DVD. Streisand fans can see some additional footage shot for the African sequence, as well as a lot of behind the scenes shots. Streisand's commentary is enlightening, as is Irvin Kershner's. Kershner, so far, is the one director Barbra speaks the most about in all of the DVD commentary she's provided for this Warner Brother's set. Barbra makes sure to point out son Jason Gould's cameo appearance in the film. It's also interesting to hear Barbra's recollection of her own mother's unannounced visits, which mirrors the scene in the film. I've grown close to several new mothers in my life recently. I don't have children myself, but I have watched and learned about parenthood from them. I couldn't help but think about this while watching UP THE SANDBOX last night. Have things really changed that much in thirty years? Don't women, when pregnant, still question whether to work, how much to work, when to go back to work? And as a woman's life becomes centered around her children and husband, she is still confused about what to do with her own life. Even exercising and eating become difficult when the little ones need her attention. Toward SANDBOX's end, Kershner films a wonderfully surreal fantasy sequence where Margaret considers an abortion after contemplating all of the issues just mentioned. Kershner, Zindel, and Streisand present us with Margaret's decision. UP THE SANDBOX tells us that women don't need to become more like men ... they need to become more like themselves. More info on Barbra Streisand can be found at my fan website "The Barbra Archives".
Rating:
Summary: Mixed bag as a film, but one of Barbra's finest perfomances
Review: One can only speculate what would have happened to Streisand the actress had the response to this film would have been different. Yes, she's acting an ordinary character (so to speak)! Letting go of the shtick, it is maybe the only role I recall that I forgot about Barbra - since she emerged herself into Margaret. But evidently most of the public and fans like when everything is S-P-E-L-L-ED-- O-U-T and not being subtle. The film is confusing at times, but the feel is so different from any Barbra movie that on the other hand I totally understand how "What's Up Doc?" fans were confused. Still Barbra should have been encouraged to continue that vein. With all its problems "Sandbox" was done with talent by Irwin Kershner, photographed greatly by Willis Gordon and remains one of the more interesting characters Barbra actually committed herself to (and sacrificed her own image).
Rating:
Summary: Streisand's most underrated film and performance
Review: Strange, funny, and ultimately very moving tale of a bored New York housewife and mother who may or may not be losing her mind after discovering that she's pregnant again. A fascinating look at women's fantasies with a strong feminist subtext; would make an ideal companion piece for any women's studies class with "I've Heard The Mermaids Singing" and "9 to 5." Streisand's most subtle and graceful screen performance; the final scene with the taxicab is an ambiguous, special stunner. From Irving Kershner ("Loving" "The Empire Strikes Back").
Rating:
Summary: Excellent comedy-drama that deals with real issues
Review: The dreams and hopes of neglected housewives is a subject that is not often addressed in many films. This film tells the story of an average New York wife and mother (Barbra Streisand) who, feeling worthless and uncertain after finding out she's once again pregnant, begins to carefully examine her life and retreats into a world of fantasy. The fantasy sequences involve everything African tribe rituals to men with breasts to smashing a cake into your mother's face, but the interesting part of the story is the feminest issues that are raised. This film is not for all tastes and sometimes uneven, but Streisand's passionate and believable performance makes her character easy to care about and, in the end, makes the film enjoyable.
Rating:
Summary: Barbra's Barwood first steps
Review: This is the first film Barbra Streisand's production company produced for herself, aother change of pace role after she did 3 musical Broadway translations, The Owl and the Pussycat, and What's Up Doc? Having lost her Doc tan and wearing her long hair in a dirty brown shade, Barbra is lovingly photographed by DOP Gordon Willis and delicately directed by Irvin Kershner. What is troubling and what finally makes the film thematically unsatisfying is the attempt to present Streisand's fantasies - as originally found in the Anne Richardson Roiphe novel - as feminist challenges to her identity, which is plain silly. The point Roiphe was making in her book was that the character may have a daydream life, but that doesn't mean that she is any way dissatisfield with her real one. It's indicative of a male screenwriter, the playwright Paul Zindel, that he tries to turn her into a revolutionary who must abandon her family to pursue violent behaviour like blowing up the Statue of Liberty. What rings truer are her imagined concern over a colleague of her husband's having an affair, or the small scale revenge on her overbearing mother. This latter scene, filmed with a home movie camera (an idea Streisand contributed after experiencing the same thing in her life) is hilarious in the way Kershner has captured the hell that is inlaws. Zindel's treatment makes the Streisand character angry in frustration, moments which Kershner has trouble redeeming. Even the Castro setpiece where she delivers a speech has inappropriate elements of Barbra the singer, with people yelling "We didn't come here to listen to you" and her attempt to protect herself from cameras evidence of Streisand's dislike of the media invasion of her privacy. She probably comes off best in her quiet scenes - where she chases a cockroach, the lovely image of her sitting with her black lover before the Statue of Liberty, alone in the abortion hospital room, and the slow motion shot of her sitting up on a guerney that has run wild, her hair flowing behind her. I also like the way Kershner parallels the nurses at the abortion hospital with the African tribeswomen, one of Zindel lines "I love spending 3 hours watching liverwurst turn brown", and the music of Billy Goldenberg.
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