Beautiful Ohio

The plot of the movie is nothing extraordinary. In fact, it may even be interesting, but I couldn't be certain because the sound track seems to have been inverted, with the background noise in the film drowning out the characters' speeches. This technical issue was terribly frustrating for me, and I wonder if this was an issue in the original release.

It took more than one viewing for me to really like this. First viewing, first ten minutes, it felt too weak to have reached DVD distribution. Then it picked up but it took special circumstances for me to watch it a second time.

The second time, to me that was okay. The third and fourth viewings it was really okay.

The start of the film felt way too high brow. Repeated viewing say no, that is just the family with parents that enjoy that approach. Pseudo high brow? Not really, but the kids need a different mix.

*

Around the same time I was also watching 17 Again, a big-ish budget Zac Efron that is widely respected, and I actually prefer Beautiful Ohio.

I find 17 Again to have a lot of amazing details and sequences, way above this story for that. Just this one seems to flow better. No little chunks of boredom among all of the detail. They can both be understood as considering traps that people used to fall into, still do, and both feel to be worthwhile and very different to each other, just I can now like Beautiful Ohio all the way through.

17 Again is mostly high quality in a range of different ways, this is quality in rather different ways.

Look, I'm appreciative of small, quiet movies--like I'm very grateful that someone made "The Station Agent"--but "Beautiful Ohio" is small and quiet and not much of a movie. You won't be sitting on the edge of your seat due to the conflict. This movie is like you broke into someone's house to rob it, they came home early, and you are hiding in a closet watching a family that is obviously dysfunctional, but not much is happening. The most ridiculous part of this movie is when the oldest son's girlfriend moves into the basement--drops down a mattress to sleep on--and the family doesn't figure this out within six hours. This takes place in 1973, and the family's father acts like he just discovered there was something called Rock & Roll. The cast is great, but I can't believe that each one of these actors read the script amd didn't immediately run in the other direction. In interviews Michelle Tractenberg complained that you could see her butt in one scene. Yeah, from about 50 yards away. So, guys, don't get too excited. Skip this movie.

Ethan Canin is one of our more important authors ('America, America', 'Emperor of the Air', 'The Palace Thief' which became the film 'The Emperor's Club') and to discover a screenplay/story by him is a treat. BEAUTIFUL OHIO is a fascinating little film directed by Chad Lowe about an apparently close knit family that knows really very little about each other: it is Canin's purpose to unravel the stories of 'ordinary people confronting aspects of themselves they'd rather not see.' Behind each member's delusions and hopes to ultimately reach the mid-ground of recognition of just how special is each member is where this very tender story travels.

Simon Messerman (William Hurt) is an insurance salesman who happens to read voraciously and speaks in quotations of famous writers and thinkers. His wife Judith (Rita Wilson) is equally bright, quotes as often as William, but adds a flavor of correcting people's grammar and living in a world of her beloved composers (Chopin, Schumann, Mozart, etc). They have two sons - Clive (David Call) is a long-haired math genius who despite his gifts spends his time playing loud hard rock music and speaking in a language all his own, and William (Brett Davern) who is devoted to his more intelligent brother but longs for a sense of normalcy in a family that tends to fragment at odd times. Clive's best friend and the only person who understands his special language is Elliot (Hale Appleman): the two of them essentially keep to themselves and smoke pot while they are not entertaining the 'homeless' Sandra (Michelle Trachtenberg). Sandra chooses to live in the basement of the Messerman house to avoid coping with her own abusive parents. The four youngsters are a team of sorts, thought the interrelationship roles each plays is not at first apparent.

The Messermans brag about Clive's constant triumphs at math contests, entertain their neighbors the Cubanos (Matt Servitto and Julianna Marguiles), and fill their lives with attending math meets, basically ignoring the personalities of their two boys. William longs for acceptance and understanding by his parents: Clive lives in his own world. William is driven to discover the meaning of Clive's strange language and eventually finds clues that lead to the secrets he'd rather not know. A situation occurs that stuns the family, and the story jumps forward to the resolving aftermath of that discovery.

For a bare bones budget film the story is well told and is a compelling one. Ethan Canin reads better on the page than his words convey through the mouths of actors, and at times the result is pretentious dialogue. But the cast is superb and the ending is one that makes the audience stop, think, and want to see the movie again for the clues we missed. Well worth seeing. Grady Harp

It's 1973 Cleveland, Ohio. Wannabe intelligentsia Messerman parents (William Hurt, Rita Wilson) throw out the TV. Their son Clive (David Call) is a math genius. He excels in competition but seems to be growing distant. He speaks in a secret language with his friends. His girlfriend Sandra (Michelle Trachtenberg) is secretly living in the basement. His younger brother William (Brett Davern) discovers the secret and starts falling for her.

There is a great reveal ending. The movie simply needs more intensity and tension for the rest of the movie. It needs more drama. Most of this movie is too flat. The acting is fine but they don't get enough to do. The direction is functional. There are possibilities here for great drama but it doesn't really do anything with them. Even the math competition is without drama.