Willkommen in Freak City

Freak City was a better movie than I expected. It actually was a good storyline and what a cast. From the talented and beautiful Samantha Mathis playing a girl with MS and she plays it so well to Jonathan Silverman playing a blindman so well. Marlee Matlin is terrific and such a talented actress who is deaf in real life. Natalie Cole plays a brain damaged singer and she is good. She sings in the movie and it is good. Now a movie about handicapped people may not be a movie geared to alot of people but when you watch this, you will basically be watching people's lives in this. I was so impressed with it and bought it to add to my Samantha Mathis collection. Samantha is superb as always and this girl shines like always as well. It was shot here in Toronto and that was when I had the honor of meeting Samantha who is such a sweetheart. Rent it or buy it, not boring at all.

This is a nice movie, some scenes are a little long, but it's not annoying. In this movie, Ruth's grandma dies. Ruth is an MS-patient and her family takes her to a home for mental and physical handicapped people. At first, she does not like the home, but she finds her way there and makes some new friends. The movie has a good story. It's definitely one to watch if you like drama movies.

This movie stars Samantha Mathis and shows the life of someone with MS who is sent to a nursing home after her grandmother dies. Her grandmother had been her care-giver up to that point. It shows the emotional problems that someone in this situation would face because they can still THINK for themselves, but are not physically sufficient any longer. Ruth (Samantha) has to learn to deal with the others around her in the nursing home and ends up with several friends (blind guy, mentally slow roommate, brain damaged singer, and others). She not only learns how to deal with others, but helps them learn to move forward with their lives too.

It was a good movie that touches on a subject that most of us do not like to think about and Samantha gives a good performance. Her co-stars are Jonathan Silverman, Marlee Matlin, and Natalie Cole.

Samantha Mathis, Jonathan Silverman, and Natalie Cole? Sounds like it ought to be trite and even a bit goofy or silly...however, I was more than pleasantly surprised.

Ruth (Mathis) undergoes a beautiful transformation in this film. She finds her life in utter upheaval after the death of her grandmother. Dealing not only with that loss, she must also seek to find personal peace in Lewellyn, a care facility she is placed in against her will by her aunt.

It is here that she encounters Lenny (Silverman), Cass (Matlin), Elanor (Cole), and Cal (Sarsgaard). Each facing their own affliction, Ruth must learn to deal with her MS.

I must take a moment to applaud Peter Sarsgaard's performance as Cal. Through his conversations on Dante's inferno and his own personal demons rising to the surface, he monopolized my attention. He is phenomenal, powerful, real, and, above all, believable.

I urge you all to rent this, especially if you are involved in any way with health care. This is a beautiful story and film deserving more attention.

Caution: there are, at times, some predictable moments, Natalie's song does seem to be about two verses too long, and Lenny's mother (who you'll know as Roseanne's sitcom mom) is unavoidably annoying.

We try not to think about a time when me might be no longer self sufficient. If we do ponder the future, I suspect most of us just think one day we'll be living, the next day we won't. No muss no fuss.

It would be too humiliating to be dependent, too embarrassing, particularly if you are still young, and young at heart. Ruth Ellison (Samantha Mathis) is a young rebellious girl, whose immediate family is gone, all but her grandmother, with whom she lives. Ruth suffers from MS and is confined to a wheelchair. When her grandmother dies one day, what remains of the normalcy in her life goes with her death, and Ruth is forcibly confined to an in-patient care facility; housing physically and mentally challenged of all ages. Can you imagine?

'Freak City' is not a traditional name, nor is it a name that generally would attract filmgoers. That this film shows a lot of early promise, then totally self-destructs halfway through is no surprise. It completely comes off the rails.

A waste of a good cast, including Marlee Matlin, and we get so little chance to see her anymore. Such a shame.