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Film Review: My Sister's KeeperDirector Nick Cassavetes pursues tears the way horror directors pursue screams. My Sister’s Keeper, which centers on a cancer-stricken child, is no exception. A master of emotional connection, Cassavetes makes us a member of the movie’s Fitzgerald family. From the outset, each person introduces us to their lives with (slightly heavy-handed) voice-overs, letting us know how the childhood cancer of Kate (Sofia Vassilieva) has ravaged their household. We are not looking at this family through a picture-glass window, but as one of them. Based on the novel by Jodi Picoult, My Sister’s Keeper has a deceptively catchy set-up. The youngest daughter in the family, Anna (Abigail Breslin), who was conceived to donate blood and bone marrow for her sick older sister, tracks down a lawyer (Alec Baldwin) to sue for medical emancipation of her body. What follows, however, isn’t about legal or ethical boundaries, but the limits of love and sacrifice. To ramp up our emotional response, Cassavetes shoots the family members in close-up, keeping the camera at eye level. Through this intimate style, it’s easy for the audience to lock eyes with the characters and feel their sadness. Even when we see them from afar, it’s usually a point-of-view shot, so that we are entirely encapsulated in this family’s struggle with cancer. They can’t escape this everyday reality, and neither can we. Cassavetes frequently turns to slow-motion, gauzy, heavily scored scenes of the family sharing “moments” together. When the Fitzgeralds play together during a rare outing at the beach, prompting chemo-ravaged Kate to smile gratefully from her wheelchair, you can’t help but cry. Why should this family have to suffer so much? Why should their happiness be so fleeting? But as these moments are repeated, again and again, the whole film starts to feel like a strung-together home movie. Tears, instead of punctuating key moments of the drama, happen throughout. All of the actors turn in top-notch performances. Breslin’s Anna has just as much gumption and quiet observation as her character in Little Miss Sunshine. Cameron Diaz, as the “I’ll-do-anything-for-my-child” mother, makes us understand, if not agree with, her hard-line methods. As befits a melodrama, both the lawyer (Baldwin) and judge (Joan Cusack) on the case have personal circumstances that make the situation particularly poignant to them, but each actor reveals these vulnerabilities with subtlety and skill. For a film about cancer and death, My Sister’s Keeper is most memorable for how it tinges its sad moments with happiness, and happy moments with sadness. When you live on the brink of death, each emotion is linked with the other. Though it pulls our heartstrings the same way a few too many times, the tearful results are unchanged.
1. stricken - seriously affected by an undesirable condition or unpleasant feeling. 2. outset - the start or beginning of something 3. heavy-handed - clumsy, insensitive, or overly forceful 4. voice-over - a piece of narration in a film or broadcast, not accompanied by an image of the speaker 5. bone marrow - a soft fatty substance in the cavities of bones, in which blood cells are produced 6. to ramp (something) up - increase the level or amount of (something) sharply 7. to encapsulate - enclose (something) in or as if in a capsule 8. gauzy - resembling gauze; thin and translucent 9. ravaged - severely damaged; devastated; disfigured by age or illness 10. fleeting - lasting for a very short time 11. top-notch - of the highest quality; excellent 12. gumption - shrewd or spirited initiative and resourcefulness 13. hard-line - uncompromising; strict 14. poignant - evoking a keen sense of sadness or regret 15. to tinge - colour slightly
1. The pilot landed the _________ aircraft. 2. The project was flawed from the_________. 3. Their policing was way too______________. 4. The budget is summarized in a ____________ at the end of the news. 5. _______ _________ donations may save many lives of people suffering from leukemia. 6. The company has moved into new quarters in order to ______ ____ production. 7. The company would ____________the asbestos waste in concrete pellets. 8. Helen wore a gauzy dress that she had bought in France. 9. He hopes to visit his _________ homeland. It was too hard for the doctor’s child to see the _________ faces of the elderly cancer victims. 10. For a _________ moment I saw the face of a boy. 11. They stopped at a _____________hotel. 12. The president would hire almost any young man who had the ___________to ask for a job. 13. His ______________ methods were the only way to make the whole factory work properly. 14. The new lines appearing on her beautiful face were a ___________ reminder of the passing of time. 15. A mass of white blossom __________ with pink was the only image he could remember of his first trip to Japan.
1. The pilot landed the _________ aircraft. 2. The project was flawed from the_________. 3. Their policing was way too______________. 4. The budget is summarized in a ____________ at the end of the news. 5. _______ _________ donations may save many lives of people suffering from leukemia. 6. The company has moved into new quarters in order to ______ ____ production. 7. The company would ____________the asbestos waste in concrete pellets. 8. Helen wore a gauzy dress that she had bought in France. 9. He hopes to visit his _________ homeland. It was too hard for the doctor’s child to see the _________ faces of the elderly cancer victims. 10. For a _________ moment I saw the face of a boy. 11. They stopped at a _____________hotel. 12. The president would hire almost any young man who had the ___________to ask for a job. 13. His ______________ methods were the only way to make the whole factory work properly. 14. The new lines appearing on her beautiful face were a ___________ reminder of the passing of time. 15. A mass of white blossom __________ with pink was the only image he could remember of his first trip to Japan. KNOCKING ON THE HEAVEN’S DOOR To embark on – begin Jubilant – expressing great happiness Spree – a spell or a sustained period of a continued event (shopping spree) Rampage – a period of violent or uncontrolled behavior involving large numbers of people Scanty – little, liking something Clad – closed (to be scantily clad – to wear something next to nothing) Screenwriter – a person who writes screenplays Spoof – a humorous imitation of something Lam – to escape/to flee Imminent – about to happen Goon – a bully or a thug Infatuation – a sense of liking someone (Soft) Underbelly – Achill’s Hard-boiled – tough and realistic Cache NEVER LET ME GO Sci-fi - science fiction Sinister – giving the impression that something bad In store – coming in the future or going to happen To entrench – to establish someone on a position very To embed – to implant an idea or feeling Tatty – poor condition Vertigo – feeling unsteady Shrewd – witty, clever, having or showing powers of judgment Staved off Muted - Submission – the reaction of accepting of superior force Composed – having one’s feelings under control Hardback – a book bound in stiff covers Pinged – suffering from the lack of money Contrived – arranged in an artificial way Home assignment: review without a handout, create a base of reviews (review + word list + exercise), compile a list of words and expressions the can be used in other reviews.
Yearning – wishing something very strongly (= to long for)
THE GODFATHER (CHAPTER !) Affront – a remark intended to insult THE INTOUCHABLES Meticulous – showing great attention to detail
Learn 7 film reviews and talk about these films using the word list from each Date: 2015-12-11; view: 1067 |