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Notes on Knowing, Star Trek, and Sunshine Cleaning 5/18/2009 10:35:17 PM
Bill Johnson offers notes on recent movies, including Star Trek and Sunshine Cleaning.
Knowing
This film seems to be a supernatural thriller (crazed child, spooky characters in the shadows), but at the end
becomes a different type of film. That undercuts the fulfillment of the story. For the plot to work, who those
spooky characters in the background are is withheld until the climax. It's difficult to create drama in this
kind of situation, because the main character is mostly reacting to events and trying to solve
a puzzle. The film does develop an issue of the main character reconciling with his family, but that, too, takes a distant second to the plot.
Last Night, a Canadian film, did a much better job of
developing drama around the end of the world and how a family faces that.
Star Trek
A well-conceived re-introduction to younger characters of the first Star Trek. This is the
kind of movie where the money shows up on the screen; the ship is nicely-detailed. Spock makes
the strongest impact as a dramatic character, caught between two worlds, accepted by neither, always a good
choice for a character. Bones and Scotty
add some humor. Recommended to fans of the show.
Sunshine Cleaning
Two sisters have lived in an emotional limbo since the suicide of their mother. When the older
sister gets into the business of bio-hazard clean up (often dealing with cleaning up after
suicides) the sisters connect to their own grief through dealing with the grief of others.
I've seen this movie compared to Little Miss Sunshine. Cleaning is not a comedy, and there's
almost no attempt at humor. The movie does get across the pathos of being among the working poor.
