Despertar de um Crime

I watched it Saturday, along with all the special features. It was a tough movie. If you don't like indie film, you might have a hard time with it. If you do, it's an astonishing achievement. All the acting is uniformly excellent. I don't mean to undercut the obviously painstaking work Tilda Swinton did in creating her character...

...but this is Amber Tamblyn's movie. Period. Anyone who watched Joan Of Arcadia already knew she could act her heart out. But what she does here is nothing short of phenomenal. She gets every nuance of Stephanie --- someone VERY different from her own flaky, artsy hippie-chick personality --- absolutely right. There's not one minute of "acting" in her time on screen. I promise you that if you give yourself to this story you will not come out of it the same.

And you will not soon forget it.

I am not the type of guy that watches often movies about abortion or sexual issues but when I watch them from time to time, it's for the actors. So keep this in mind as you read my review for this.

When the movie begins Stephanie Daley (Amber Tamblyn) is attending a school-organized field trip and suddenly she falls on the ground bleeding. After the recovery the medics discover that she was pregnant and find the baby dead with toilet paper stuffed in his mouth. So Stephanie is accused of child murder but instead of jail time the police give psychologist Lydie Crane (Tilda Swinton) the task of finding out why Stephanie did that act while at the same time deals with her husband Paul (Timothy Hutton) who seems to have lost interest in her.

I liked the acting, especially the performances by Swinton and Hutton. But the main problem for me is that it wasn't exactly subtle and considering this is a movie about abortion, the more the subject was handled better the better would have been because some scenes of Stephanie having healt issues or burst into tears with sad music in the background were jarring to watch. As it is, it's ok but nothing more.

It is strange how people can have a gigantic Hollywood budget, the whole powerful studio support system and churn clunker after clunker. Then someone like the director of this small independent flick, with a minuscule amount of money makes a compelling piece of art. Small town in unidentified part of America, could have been anywhere, with gloomy colorless landscape. Boring, predictable lives, unfulfilled promises, church on Sundays, unspoken words hanging in the air. Makes you want to run for your life.But where can you run? " Stephanie Daley" is an unflinching, sometimes hard to watch movie. Takes us to places we don't want to go, makes us remember things we'd like to forget. I am not sure Hollywood has a place for Hilary Brougher. People who have something to say can be nuisance. They can force us to think, and we can't have that,can we.

I had no idea what to expect from this film, and by the 10 minute mark it won me over.

Tilda Swinton and Amber Tamblyn both gave stellar performances.

The script was tight, and the back and forth between the Swinton and Tamblyn was spot-on perfect.

Tamblyn's big bathroom scene was gripping and intense - a great use of the absence of sound to really hammer a point home.

The cinematography left a little to be desired - the HD format still looks like video at times.

I can see why Swinton Exec. Produced this: It was a great vehicle for her and I now have a new found respect for her as an artist.

I am looking forward to Brougher's next film - hopefully she will get a wider release this time.

The editing of the film was eerily effective - I was never once lost or confused, yet I was constantly being moved around time and space.

The ending was very satisfying - I don't need to be spoon fed every little thing.

Concise, daring script + great performances = "Stephanie Daley"

I do have somewhat of a problem with the time device used in the film, the frame narrative that I'm not quite sure works to such extent. I think by just allowing the narrative to go through without resorting to "going back in time" would've made for a much more effective ride. As it is, the film is rather good. Amber Tamblyn and the goddess Tilda Swinton give some strong work here, and both give their characters their much required pathos for which to fully function within the film's structure better. Both are great performances that deserved a lot more attention, but alas, it's good that I sought it out. I definitely recommend this flawed, but strong piece of work.