80s Movie Review - Sophie's Choice

Director: Alan J. Pakula
Genre: Drama/ Romance
Runtime: 142 minutes
Year: 1982
Starring: Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, Peter MacNichol
 
I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2022 MOVIE CHALLENGE
WEEK 21: A MOVIE RECOMMENDED YOUR MY MOTHER
 
Description: Sophie (Meryl Streep)is the survivor of Nazi concentration camps, who has found a reason to live with Nathan (Kevin Kline), a sparkling if unsteady American Jew obsessed with the Holocaust.

Review: Stingo is a young writer from the southern United States who movie to Brooklyn to begin writing his first novel. He rents a room in a big mansion, where he soon becomes friends with his upstairs neighbors Nathan and Sophie. Nathan is a biologist whose team is about to make a major discovery. Sophie is a Polish immigrant who survived the Nazi concentration camps. Nathan is a rather volatile person, who frequently argues and leaves home and sometimes stays away for nights. Sophie then seeks comfort from Stingo, who himself craves affection passionately and is only too happy to accommodate her. During such moments she tells him stories about her life and how she ended up in a concentration camp. Slowly, Stingo gains insight into Sophie’s life, which literally and figuratively contains a lot of scars.

“Sophie’s Choice” can rightfully be called an actor’s film. Visually, the films is also impressive, however, the most of the attention goes to the three lead actors Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline and Peter MacNichol. The film contains long dialogue scenes, sometimes minutes of two people sitting on a bench, but because of the wonderful acting it’s never boring. That is the strength of the film. Especially Meryl Streep, who won her second Academy Award for this role, is convincing as the Polish immigrant. She had to learn a Polish accent and had to speak both Polish and German for the role. And does this flawlessly. For Kevin Kline, “Sophie’s Choice” was his film debut. This is what gave him his Oscar-winning role in “A Fish Called Wanda”.

The story is compelling. We see it through the eyes of Stingo and this way we see the developments in the lives of Sophie and Nathan. The theme of the film is rather heavy, but it has a lot of light-hearted moments as well. But it’s mostly the acting that lifts the film to a higher level.

Rating: 4/ 5

100 Movie Challenge 2017 - # 37: The Addams Family Values

Director: Barry Sonnefeld
Genre: Comedy/ Fantasy/ Horror
Runtime: 94 minutes
Year: 1993
Starring: Anjelica Huston, Raul Julia, Christopher Lloyd, Christina Ricci, Joan Cusack, David Krumholtz, Carel Struycken, Christine Baranski, Peter MacNichol, David Hyde Pierce, Nathan Lane, Tony Shalhoub

Description: A comical Gothic horror-movie-type family tries to rescue their beloved uncle from his gold-digging new love.

Review: If you love macabre humor, this sequel to “The Addams Family” is right up your alley. And “The Addams Family Values” manages to keep the magic of the first film intact.
The family welcomes a new member, baby boy Pubert. Gomez and Morticia are very happy with their new baby, but his siblings Wednesday and Pugsley aren’t. they are trying to do everything to get rid of him. The Addams family decides to hire a nanny, in the form of Debbie. In real life she is a serial killer, who marries rich men to then eventually kill them and take their money. Her eyes are on Fester this time. And Wednesday and Pugsley are send to summer camp.
Probably the best parts of the film are set on Camp Chippawa and Wednesday, played by Christina Ricci, steals all the scenes.
Director Barry Sonnenfeld is energetic and inventive. Great eye for detail and a wonderful way to bring this family to life. Raul Julia, Anjelica Huston and Christopher Lloyd are again great in their roles and Joan Cusack is a lot of fun to watch.
Again the story isn’t that complicated, but it’s a good move to let the kids of the family have their own adventure. “The Addams Family Values” is not as good as the first film, but it’s not very far from it.

Rating: 4/ 5