Originally written for The Occidental<\/i>.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Once upon a time…<\/i><\/p>\n
There was a brother and a sister, who were twins but as different as could be. David (Toby Maguire) escaped the awful real world by watching a fifties TV show, \u201cPleasantville,\u201d whose perfect town and swell, perky citizens made \u201cLeave it to Beaver\u201d look like a gritty drama. Jennifer (Reese Witherspoon), on the other hand, was ultra-hip and
\nterribly popular.\u00a0 When a strange TV repairman gave them an odd remote control, they were zapped into the black-and-white world of \u201cPleasantville.\u201d Trapped, the twins found themselves cast in the roles of Bud and Mary Sue Parker in a suburban utopia where the home team always won, books had no words, and nobody ever wondered why things are so perfect. Then Jennifer began spreading her nineties attitude, and things started to happen in living color…<\/p>\n
Pleasantville<\/i>
\nis a fairytale, from its opening \u201conce upon a time…\u201d to the closing credits.\u00a0 But it\u2019s a modern one, and like The Truman Show,<\/i> it\u2019s filled with wonderful acting and gorgeous cinematography. Our sibling heroes both discover new things about themselves and life in general as the film\u00a0 progresses, and it shows. Likewise, the characters of the suddenly-real television show go from silly to touching as we realize that they are<\/b> real people behind their pleasant facades. \u00a0 William\u00a0 H. Macy is brilliant as Mr. Parker.\u00a0 His fatherly character is optimistic, caring, and surprisingly innocent, and watching him deal with the changes his world undergoes is fascinating. Joan Allen, as his wife, lets us see inside her character\u2019s head as she makes the transition from perfect housewife to self-aware woman.<\/p>\n
Pleasantville<\/i> captures the look of a fifties TV show perfectly, from the perfectly coiffed housewife presenting her husband with a martini on his arrival home to the letter sweaters the high school athletes wear. Skies are free of clouds, the weather is wonderful… until things begin to change.\u00a0 Likewise, the music fits, and as the town gradually swings away from mere pleasantness, Elvis and Dave Brubeck begin playing on the local burger joint\u2019s jukebox. The original score is also excellent, running under the surface of the film and enhancing rather than distracting from the images before the audience\u2019s eyes.<\/p>\n
Any film which includes the colorization of a black and white world has to have good visual effects, and Pleasantville sure does.\u00a0 As the characters would say, they\u2019re swell<\/i>. \u00a0 Color and grayscale shades appear side-by-side, in flawless detail from the first red rose to a stunning drive through a gray forest with pink petals blowing in the wind, and finally to one \u201ccolored\u201d woman\u2019s attempt to cover her disgraceful shading with her old, gray and black makeup.\u00a0 The colors are startlingly beautiful, and the juxtaposition of brilliant color and the lack thereof makes the audience aware of the beauty that surrounds us every day.\u00a0 As an additional bonus, when the owner of the local burger joint discovers a talent for painting in the newfound colors, the murals and canvases he does are very good, rather than the faux-paintings films so often use.<\/p>\n
The one failing of Pleasantville is its tendency to be a bit heavy-handed with its message \u2014 but then again, it is<\/b> a fairytale.\u00a0 Who criticizes Mother Goose and the Brothers Grimm for waving their messages around (do what your parents tell you, be good, and watch out for trolls)? Pleasantville<\/i> asks us to suspend our disbelief and enter into its world, where life is magical and anything can happen.<\/p>\n
So what\u2019s the bottom line? If you like films like The Truman Show<\/i>, Pleasantville<\/i> is right up your alley.\u00a0 It\u2019s also a great trip for those who love old shows like \u201cI Love Lucy\u201d and \u201cLeave it to
\nBeaver.\u201d\u00a0 But if you\u2019re looking for action or blood and gore, go elsewhere.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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