Children of a Lesser God Randa Haines’s Children of a Lesser God might have impressed this writer more if he hadn’t already seen the director’s much better Dance with Me, a film that empl os similar cinematic clich”|s to much greater effect. This 1986 offering! a a cu lt favorite among fans of mushy faux sentimentality! a attempts to tell the story of John Leeds (William Hurt), a special-education teacher, and his increasingly complex relationship with the deaf and mute Sarah (Marlee Martin), a former study nt who now works as a janitor. Although Leeds initially wants nothing more than t o teach the reclusive prodigy how to speak, he finds himself coming increasingly under her spell. Eventually the pair becomes lovers! a a fact that doesn’t sit we ll with either the school’s principal (Philip Bosco) or Sarah’s estranged but sti ll overprotective mother (Piper Laurie).
The film’s flaws aren’t in the perform an ces, which are consistently exquisite (Marlee Marlin took home a Best Actress Osc ar for her work here, but William Hurt’s portrayal of Leeds is no less striking, emphasizing the conflicting emotions his character supposedly is feeling).
The pr obl em with Children of a Lesser God is that such atypical characters are forced t o share the screen with a plot unworthy of their charisma and ideals.
Very little of the story is devoted to the unique problems of a relationship between a deaf woman and a hearing man, including their difficulty finding a happy medium between n sound and silence. Worst of all, the few token struggles that the characters ar e forced to deal with are handled in such a trite fashion that it’s hard to take them seriously. So much potential existed for thoughtful, introspective drama tha t the story’s reliance on formula is, quite simply, inexcusable. Unfortunately, P aramount’s DVD presentation of the film doesn’t improve the rather mediocre impr e ssi on modern viewers are likely to be left with once the movie’s credits begin to roll.
The Essay on Male Character Sam Film Effie
The Maltese Falcon, was not only a detective film, but a film that displayed many different aspects of the female and the male character in the movie. The film was more than a story, but a story that explored the ideas of the detective genre and the different characteristics of femininity and masculinity. It also brought forth subjects of sexual desires and the greediness of money. The characters ...
Apart from a lovely anamorphic widescreen transfer (in an unspecified a spe ct ratio that appears to be 1. 85: 1) and a rather mundane theatrical trailer, ther e’s little to interest the digital connoisseur. Keep-case. ! a Joe Barlow.
