Vanessa Redgrave is incredible, and memorable, in the role of Miss Amelia, the androgynous ruler of a small Depression-era Southern hamlet. She tends to citizens' medical needs, and manufactures hooch for them as well. Then, her life is shaken up, first by the arrival of hunchbacked little person Lymon (Cork Hubbert), who claims to be her cousin, and then the reappearance of her husband Marvin (Keith Carradine), whom she kicked to the curb rather than go to bed with him on their wedding night. Could be, he's out for revenge.....
Directed by British stage & screen actor & director Simon Callow, this is a Southern Gothic melodrama with a difference. It can be rather strange and offbeat, but overall it's too interesting to dismiss outright. An adaptation of a novel (by Carson McCullers), and subsequent play (by Edward Albee), it has a very convincing look & feel, with top of the line production design & cinematography.
The eclectic supporting cast also includes Rod Steiger, Austin Pendleton, Lanny Flaherty, Earl Hindman, and Anne Pitoniak. While it's true that Carradine has done better work, and while I found the character of Lymon rather annoying at times, a severely de-glamorized Redgrave is a perfect anchor for this ultimately sordid tale. She completely disappears inside her role.
In the end, this serves as a reckoning for a character who misses one chance at love, but is able to love and enjoy life for a time before fate steps in.
Six out of 10.
Directed by British stage & screen actor & director Simon Callow, this is a Southern Gothic melodrama with a difference. It can be rather strange and offbeat, but overall it's too interesting to dismiss outright. An adaptation of a novel (by Carson McCullers), and subsequent play (by Edward Albee), it has a very convincing look & feel, with top of the line production design & cinematography.
The eclectic supporting cast also includes Rod Steiger, Austin Pendleton, Lanny Flaherty, Earl Hindman, and Anne Pitoniak. While it's true that Carradine has done better work, and while I found the character of Lymon rather annoying at times, a severely de-glamorized Redgrave is a perfect anchor for this ultimately sordid tale. She completely disappears inside her role.
In the end, this serves as a reckoning for a character who misses one chance at love, but is able to love and enjoy life for a time before fate steps in.
Six out of 10.