Malcovich and Woodward are terrific - playing their characters for all that they're worth. And I love the idea of James being played as a traveling salesman with a philosophical/psychological patter than Naughton gives him. Allen is less impressive. Although Laura is not what you might call a "feature" role, it does demand more subtlety and awareness than she brings - even more so with a camera than on stage.
There is a strange hovering presence in this picture, however. The direction is, at times, curiously overbearing - the staging is not only unnecessary but sometimes intrusive. The transparent curtains, for example, are used for their fullest effect with James and Laura, but this effect is a misreading of the scene. The split screen implies a much simpler interpretation than the scene calls for. Laura is smothered, yes, and hidden, but the reasons why and her actual state of mind go beyond the obtuse battiness of her mother. Everyone that is absent in that scene, including the "fifth character," belongs there just as much and even more than James does. For that matter, I'm surprised that more wasn't done with the absent father figure than the ridiculous smiling picture on the wall.
There is a strange hovering presence in this picture, however. The direction is, at times, curiously overbearing - the staging is not only unnecessary but sometimes intrusive. The transparent curtains, for example, are used for their fullest effect with James and Laura, but this effect is a misreading of the scene. The split screen implies a much simpler interpretation than the scene calls for. Laura is smothered, yes, and hidden, but the reasons why and her actual state of mind go beyond the obtuse battiness of her mother. Everyone that is absent in that scene, including the "fifth character," belongs there just as much and even more than James does. For that matter, I'm surprised that more wasn't done with the absent father figure than the ridiculous smiling picture on the wall.