The Sisters

An outstanding film from Arthur Allan Seidelman, based upon a play by Richard Alfieri (Puerto Vallarta Squeeze).

Maria Bello just dripped sensuality in every word and movement throughout, except when she was spitting venom like "This party isn't for you anyway. It's for our little unborn nephew... God save him from your genes." Or, "Harry... Harry, if you want to withhold approval, intimidate and give rewards or punishments... buy a dog." She was the child of incest by her father and that rape caused her immense pain that permeated every relationship. It is a fact of life, and I have never seen it more brilliantly displayed. Alfieri captured the lifelong torture in his word, and Bello displayed it with emotion that made this film.

That is not to say that Bello was it entirely. Eric McCormack ("Will and Grace") had a pain of his own and he was absolutely dripping with venom in his snide remarks and eventual explosion of the bottles up anger. A man afraid to revel his feeling for fear of rejection, he got to the point where he could no longer contain.

Elizabeth Banks was the perfect "white trash" that felt out of place in this family - and she was, marrying the out of place brother Alessandro Nivola. Mary Stuart Masterson was also extremely good as the sister who could not reveal her pains either due to her position at the school. Rip Torn added perspective as the professor who read headlines out loud.

Great performances from all and a film worth your time.

If I wanted to just watch a bunch of generally unpleasant people fight with each other, I'd watch "Divorce Court." Although I suppose this movie is designed to show emotional complexity with its quibbling protagonists, it just doesn't work for me. None of these gals is particularly likable, so it is hard to care about them or the "family" they form.

Against this fairly negative backdrop, we have a plot where none of the real underlying problems, conflicts, or broken relationships is fixed. No one seems to gain insight over the course of the movie, no one seems to heal. A real disappointment.

I went to the video store last weekend not really knowing which horrible studio film I wanted to fall asleep to - the weekend prior I watched Hillary Swank's awful film THE REAPING... good premise, poorly executed. And why an Oscar winner starred, I have no idea?? Which brought me to THE SISTERS, and also probably answers my last question - Swank never could of wrapped her head around the dialogue with the same wit and sarcasm Maria Bello is able to execute. Why Bello hasn't won an Oscar, I have no idea -- she most definitely should of won a few awards for her star turn in THE SISTERS -- if not an Oscar, at least an Independent Spirit. This film gives it's viewers something magical to hold onto - rich dialogue that speaks to the soul and the mind (words with more than 1 or 2 syllables, oh my!!); actors who act with passion for a project and a screenplay they must of really believed in - because you know they didn't get paid for this film and you can't pull the wool over this many stars eyes!! Director Arthur Allan Seidelman has been around for a while and brings his A-game to adapting Chekov's masterpiece. The writer is a wizard of vocabulary who obviously understood the essence of what old Anton was trying to teach us all. Kudos to the writer, director, actors and crew - your efforts to bring quality American cinema to the screen is much appreciated!

When the former assistant to a deceased eminent academic comes to pay his respects to the great man's family, the visit stirs old, half hidden conflicts and triggers an avalanche of emotions in this overheated, theatrical drawing room drama based on Anton Chekhov's play, "The Three Sisters." (Richard Alfieri wrote the screenplay, which he adapted from his own updating of Chekhov's play.) Maria Bello, Mary Stuart Masterson and Erika Christensen play, respectively, Marcia, Olga and Irene, the three Prior daughters.

Ms. Bello holds center stage most of the time, hurling one angry speech after another at just about anyone in shouting distance (though they're all in one room). She is angry primarily because her father systematically abused her sexually as a child, second because Harry Glass (Steven Culp), the psychologist she married, has not been able to heal her deeply wounded personality, and, finally and most recently, because Vincent Antonelli (Tony Goldwyn), the visitor, a man she become instantly infatuated with, turns down her overtures and leaves.

Baby sister Irene turns her hostility inward, and galvanizes everyone's attention by taking a large drug overdose. Andrew Prior (Alessandro Nivola), their brother, is angry too, but in sneakier fashion. He's mad because his sisters bully him and dislike his fiancée/bride Nancy (Elizabath Banks), who's also a nasty sort, someone deserving of the sisters' contempt. Then there's the incendiary social science professor, Gary Sokol (Eric McCormack), whose explosive behavior never ceases. Sokol's mad because Irene prefers another suitor, Sokol's erstwhile buddy, philosophy professor David Turzin (Chris O'Donnell), who doesn't seem to be mad at anyone. Olga, a bleak, unfulfilled Lesbian, at least keeps her unhappiness contained. She is the most dignified member of the family.

Somehow the veteran actor Rip Torn got himself inserted into this literal madhouse as old Professor Chebrin. And while Mr. Torn has been memorably hostile in some of his films (he's played gangsters, tough soldiers, tougher cops, Richard Nixon and even Judas Iscariot among 165 roles spanning a 50 year career), he's quite the good humored, sanguine fellow here, almost alone as a source of equanimity in these proceedings.

The screenplay is freighted with long, formalized verbal oratorios: these people don't talk like people talk. Such verbiage works on stage but is nearly always poison on the screen. The director, Mr. Seidelman, has made nearly 70 films, but almost all for television. This may explain the overacted, soap operatic tone of this movie. You've got to shout it out to be heard above the din of family life on the boob-tube. But the clamor of this film is ratcheted up way too much for pleasurable viewing on the big screen. (The IMDb says this film is 113 minutes long, so somewhere along the line 28 minutes got cut to create the version I viewed. Probably a good thing.) My Grade: 5/10 C

'The Sisters' is a lovely little family drama that I nearly missed. Obviously, I was glad I didn't.

At first, the movie just looks like two hours of people fighting with each other, and it is. But (highly due to Ms. Bello's performance)there is so much more than that: a human aspect and real characters (for the most part). However one-note the people may be, the writer adds little things here and there to make them diverse and relatable.

Maria Bello, as always, is amazing. She plays the angry sister, the one who is always prepared for an argument. Her performance is the best thing about the film. Bello expertly shows the changes her character experiences over the course of the movie. In the beginning, she is just shown as a snotty, sarcastic, rude woman. Over time, she lets us see the hidden vulnerability of a normally dull character, and by the end of the movie, Bello not only plays her part but becomes it, creating a human out of a very underwritten role.

Erika Christensen was a surprise. While she is not Evan Rachel Wood or Scarlett Johansson, she still has plenty talent for someone so young. With only one above average performance to her name (Traffic), I expected much less of her but she blew me away with her performance as the shy little sister. She is quite promising and again, I hope to see more of her.

The rest of the cast is just as good. Elizabeth Banks plays her role perfectly. She makes a seemingly one-dimensional person show more emotion than expected. Mary Stuart Masterson is also good, but I found her performance the most lacking.

Now for the flaws: the screenplay. Truthfully, they are all supposed to be college professors or students, but the vocabulary used is the most advanced I've seen in a film. This may sound like a stupid flaw, but it was the thing I noticed the most while watching this movie as it is as unrealistic as possible. It proves effective in a multitude of arguments, but it doesn't reveal anything about the characters aside from the fact that they are inhumanly smart. The other flaw is that the brother barely has any historical background shown, while his sisters reveal many of their memories; however, he is never in them. If the filmmakers had explored the characters, their relationships, and their motivation more, some of their actions wouldn't seem so absurd or out of place.

A very charming movie about anger, forgiveness, and family. ***/****.