Rating: 
Summary: How Could Anyone Not Like This Movie?
Review: I just saw this movie in the theater and was prepared for the worst. However, I was pleasantly surprised to see how incredibly good it was! I can't understand why this movie has received bad reviews. The storyline drew me in from the beginning and the acting was top notch....Pfeifer actually gave me the creeps at times. I was also rather shocked by some of the conditions of foster homes....don't these people have to go through some sort of screening process?!!! Anyway, do yourself a favor and disregard the negative reviews and see it for yourself.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Performances in a Powerful Film
Review: Based on the best-selling novel by Janet Fitch, "White Oleander" provides a fascinating portrait of a heartbroken, wounded soul trying, against seemingly insurmountable odds, to overcome the many adversities fate seems determined to throw in her way. Astrid Magnussen is a hopeful, loving, all around "good kid" who just happens to be surrounded by a world full of hurting, dysfunctional adults. And none fits that description more than her very own mother, a beautiful and successful photographer who is sentenced to 35 years in prison after she poisons her unfaithful boyfriend (with the white oleander that gives the film its title). Left to the equally dysfunctional foster care system, Astrid is sent to live with one troubled "family" after another while her mother, fearing she will lose her hold on Astrid, seeks for ways to sabotage her daughter's happiness from behind bars. Much of the criticism leveled against this film has revolved around the perceived episodic nature of the screenplay. The charge seems to be that, just as we are becoming interested in a particular milieu or set of characters, the story drops them and moves on to a new place and a new group of people. I couldn't disagree more. If anything, the freeform looseness of the script lends the film an air of greater believability, a more lifelike quality than it would otherwise have had had the story been more conventionally "plotted out." The use of such a structure shows that the storytellers are far more concerned with exploring the characters than with merely delivering a neatly tied-up and packaged narrative. This is fully Astrid's story, and the "episodic nature" of the tale brings to it the quality of an epic journey, as we join this one young woman in her search for love and meaning in a world tragically devoid of both those qualities. As Astrid, Alison Lohman delivers one of the outstanding performances of recent years, a true career breakthrough for this talented actress. She has been asked to do nothing less than carry this entire film - she is never off screen for a moment - and she proves herself more than equal to the task. Her luminous face functions as a sort of beacon, lighting our way through the labyrinth of her character's life. In her every move and gesture, Lohman embodies the hurt and confusion that define the character - yet through it all she allows us to sense the innate goodness and hope for something better that keep the protagonist from becoming just another passive victim of circumstances beyond her control. The film also does a fine job with the character of Astrid's mother. The screenplay by Mary Agnes Donoghue does not find it necessary to "explain" Ingrid in rationalistic terms. Indeed, Ingrid remains pretty much an enigma from beginning to end. By not spelling out what exactly the demons are that drive this woman - if they are indeed demons at all - the film heightens the sense of moral imbalance so essential to Astrid's story. Astrid can't understand her mother, and neither can we. Is she mentally ill? Is she inherently "evil"? Such questions are never answered - and neither should they be, for answers to such questions would violate the morally ambiguous spirit of the world these characters inhabit. Like the white oleander of the film's title, Ingrid embodies that quality of "deadly beauty" that so often defines the evil we encounter in this life - and against which we seem to have so few defenses. Director Peter Kosminsky employs a number of impressive techniques to help draw the viewer into the story. By remaining so obsessively focused on the face of Astrid, he allows us to identify fully with all she is going through. He also gives the film an offbeat, otherworldly quality by making such naturalistic elements as the wind, the ocean and the nighttime sky key players in the drama. They provide a strong impressionistic background for the story's action, helping to create a world whose moral terrain is at times very unreal and very disturbing. Thomas Newman's haunting score aids immeasurably in this respect. If for no other reason, "White Oleander" deserves to be seen for its uniformly outstanding performances. In addition to the brilliant Ms. Lohman, we have Michelle Pfieffer giving what may be the performance of her career in this (for her) atypical portrait of a sinister woman. She makes us feel both disgust and pity for this lost soul who for whatever reason is clearly unable to provide the proper moral guidance for the daughter she so obviously loves. Renee Zellweger brings warmth and just the right touch of vulnerability to her portrait of the foster mother with whom Astrid forges a strong, caring relationship. Cole Hauser is excellent as the handsome older guardian who seduces Astrid and helps to precipitate a family crisis in the process. And Robin Wright Penn and Patrick Fugit round out this nigh unto flawless cast. If you appreciate movies that have the courage to wander off the beaten path and to map out a course all their own, "White Oleander" should most assuredly fit the bill. And based on her work here, Alison Lohman seems destined for greatness.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful!
Review: This is truly a wonderful movie! I just watched it today, I walked out of the movie theater feeling as if I had been watching real life, not a movie. The acting was SOOO good! Alison Lohman (Astrid) does the greatest performance I have seen all year! She is so talented! Michelle Pfeifer (Ingrid), wow! Her glares send shivers up your spine, proving once again that she is one of the greatest actresses! During the movie I was thinking that Alison Lohman's performance should win her an Oscar, and then I came home and read reviews on this movie and found I was not alone. Almost all the reviews I read raved about her performance, it really is something to rave about. All in all, this is a REALLY great movie if you like dramas, and if you don't then at least see it for the fabulous acting.
Rating: 
Summary: 3 1/2 Stars: Love as a Weapon
Review: I am not a dyed-in-the-wool proponent of the "movie must be faithful to the novel" school of thought. But, if a film is going to state, "based on the novel" it should be faithful to the tone and intentions of the novel at the very least.
Janet Fitch's "White Oleander" is a sometimes bitter, very graphic, straightforward, hold no punches, indictment of the foster care system and of the all controlling, do as I say not as I do type of bitch/goddess motherhood as embodied by the character, Ingrid Magnussen. Fitch's "Oleander" was all sharp edges and exaggerated angles...melodramatic at times but beautifully written and ultimately painfully effective and redolent with pathos.
The film of "White Oleander" as directed by Peter Kosminsky (who also directed the ill-conceived and casted 1992 "Wuthering Heights") is more geared for the masses and for that essential (?) in these times PG-13 rating. It's "White Oleander/Lite" as it were.
All of Fitch's sharp edges and angles have been buffed smooth,but
Kosminsky has managed to assemble a dream cast that is, more to the point, extremely effective in their roles: Michelle Pfeiffer as Ingrid, Alison Lohman as her daughter, Astrid (a real find in what is basically the lead role), Robin Wright Penn as Starr and Renee Zelwegger as Claire.
Pfeiffer, playing against type here, is a mass of negative vibes and wounded, exposed nerves: "Love is fleeting, but Hatred envelops and soothes you" (paraphrase). Alison Lohman is on the screen about 99% of the time and has to go up against, in difficult and dramatic scenes, the likes of Pfeiffer, Wright-Penn and Zelwegger. And she holds her own without any problem or hesitation. It would have been very interesting for Wright-Penn and Zelwegger to have exchanged roles: Zelwegger as the slattern Starr and Wright Penn as the sensitive, suicidal Claire. But as it stands both do good work here.
"White Oleander" feels stunted and chopped up; as if the film has been over-edited: some scenes feel like they are stopped short before they have a chance to "play-out" as originally shot. The scenes with Astrid's last foster family rushes by and has no dramatic worth or weight. Couldn't these scenes have been cut out completely thereby allowing all that precede them to breath and live more effectively?
"White Oleander" has some major flaws but casting is definitely not one of them. Kosminsky has succeeded in directing a wonderful cast in what is basically a good film of an excellent novel. Ultimately, though it will be Pfeiffer's Ingrid and Lohman's Astrid that will forever resonate as two of the most thoughtful and indelible performances of 2002.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't touch the White Oleander
Review: First, let me say that I had high expectations for this movie. I've read & loved the book, and thought with the star power of Michelle Pfeiffer, Robin Wright Penn, and Renee Zellweger, I was guaranteed to love it. However, this was NOT the case. To me, it felt like Michelle Pfeiffer was trying too hard at this role - her acting was unnatural and overrehearsed. Ditto for Renee Zellweger - I loved her in Bridget Jones Diary and Jerry McGuire, but I thought she looked completely uncomfortable playing this role. The only reason I gave this movie 2 stars is because of Alison Lohman - she played the role of Astrid to a "T". And to top it all off, the movie was incredibly different from the book. The timing of Barry's murder and the chronological sequence of events were altered drastically from the pages to the big screen. I went to see this movie opening weekend, and there were only 7 of us in the theater - that should have been a dead giveaway that this movie was going to be a bust. Don't waste your time or money on this film - a night of watching the paint dry is much more entertaining than watching the movie White Oleander.
Rating:
Summary: transferred admirably from book to screen
Review: Brilliant screenplay, perfect casting. A sheer delight to watch (if "delight" is the right word for being on the verge of tears for almost the duration of the movie). In effect, there were two dramas in parallel: first, the story itself; secondly, just beneath the surface, the equally interesting drama of "I wonder how the screenwriter and director will get the NEXT scene translated from book to screen?" Of course a lot of the novel had to be left out, but given that constraint (to keep the length modest and the rating at PG13), it was done masterfully. Bravo!
Rating:
Summary: Better as a book than it is a movie?
Review: Based on the best selling novel of the same title (which my girlfriend loved), WHITE OLEANDER is a film about the problems a young girl named Astrid (Alison Lohman) faces as she is bounced around in a series of different foster homes after her mother (Michelle Pfeiffer) kills a man in cold blood.
I'm a movie fan not a book fan. But I can see where this would have made a better book than it does a movie. There's way two much ground to cover in two hours. This story needs a background and we need to understand ALL the characters and in the film we don't. Good performances by Alison Lohman (in her debut I believe), Cole Hauser (PITCH BLACK), Patrick Fugit (the ALMOST FAMOUS kid), and Renee Zelwegger (JERRY MAGUIRE) though. Fans of the book may want to check this out just to see what they think could have been done differently. I know my girlfriend had plenty of opinions of her own.
Rating:
Summary: Stick to Tea
Review: Men covet the hunt and women desire the perfect nest, so when we see a story about women and these women suffer in melodramatic fashion, we say this is a "Chick Flick." The men leave the room to drink beer in the garage. Well "White Oleander" did not threaten my burly manhood. I found the story compelling. I rooted for young teen, Alison Lohman. Her mother, Michelle Pfeiffer poisons a lover in a jealous rage. Consequently mom is arrested and gets 30 years in the slammer. Alison is shuttled from foster home to orphanage. Alison falls for the man toy of a Jesus freak and gets shot. Then terror girls at the orphanage jump her and she gets even. Renee Zellweger is L.A. as a substitute mom even if she is suicidal. The final foster home is all drugs and punk. So we see Allison morph from innocence to a worldly punk chick. Pfeiffer has a Feminist-Goddess hold on her daughter even from prison and her daughter must break away. This is the weakest part of the story, muddled. After all, mom should have kept her feminist panties on and her poison Oleander in the garden.
Rating:
Summary: A movie that teaches you a lesson & stimulates your brain
Review: The cruelest part of the movie, for me, was when Ingrid Magnussen (Michelle Pfeiffer) flings her voodoo magic at Claire Richards (Renee Zellweger), her daughter's 2nd foster mother, to get her to commit sucide so that her daughter, Astrid (Alison Lohman), will be unhappy again ... which she constantly wants. At that point, you realize that she's only happy for her Astrid when her life is getting flushed down the toilet. Ingrid's life, you see, wasn't that great, and she makes herself feel better by always making sure that her daughter's life is utter & complete hell. That way, she (in her mind) will always feel good about herself. It's how she got her kicks. In any case, her daughter (at that point) decided to finally cut her mother out of her life, which, towards the end of the movie, is key in Astrid finally getting to find the hapiness she's been looking for all her life.
Also, Ingrid is shown to be somebody who thinks that the world revolves around her, and that doing anything to keep this delusional reality she has is justified, even if it includes murder. And, no matter what, she never appoligizes, or feels sorry for what she does. In the end, there is no doubt in your mind that she deserves to rot in jail & never get out. This movie is a great piece of work. One that, I think, will stand up for years to come.
Rating:
Summary: Ingrid Magnussen: Beautiful but Deadly
Review: I've read the book and I must say I prefer the film version because the characters here were more three dimensional especially Michelle Pfeiffer's character. Her character is not the most realistic thing ever but towards the end the film version humanized her that totally changed the vibe of the character, it's different from the book but I think it works better. .
It's the story of Astrid (Alison Lohman) who had the worst luck in terms of foster homes as she transfers from one messed up foster parents to another, after her mom Ingrid (Pfeiffer) murdered her boyfriend. Most of the memorable scenes are the ones where Astrid and Ingrid are together. Michelle Pfeiffer gave one of her best performances in a kind of role she's so adept at playing (think of a poetic Catwoman or Suzie Diamond) In a climactic final confrontation with her daughter she's got to be evil, moving and vulnerable all at same time. She's really great.
But the whole ensemble was actually good. Renee Zellweger gave a very affectionate performance, the vulnerability she showed especially when Ingrid was verbally attacking her was just heartbreaking ("she must be a great comfort to you not being able to have children of your own"). Lohman carried the role with such natural understatement and believability and carried the whole film with tenderness, she's an important aspect of the film since she's in every scene of the movie .
The whole flow of the movie is great, it's like a subtle breeze as she embarks chapter by chapter, it's stylish enough for my taste. I guess this is also the type of movie that should've been longer to improve the movie. It has a classy atmosphere compared to other dramas. I guess the weakness of the movie is that since there are too many characters, not all of them were given the chance to fully develop, The ending was good, the final gaze between Pfeiffer (who by the way just became the prettiest criminal in the world) and Lohman speaks it all.
Grade: A-
|
