| As the film begins, she is
a young girl talking with her brother. Even then, she questions parts
of the faith. Her brother, to prove something to himself and her,
decides to go for a midnight swim (he was a non-swimmer) and
drowns.
Cut to the present, and she is taking
her newborn to his bris, but is not happy about it.
She is having much trouble coping with her libido, the difficulties of
raising a newborn, and her husband's indifference toward her.
She is also
under the thumb of her sister in law. Finally, relief of sorts comes
from her husband's brother, who gives her a job running his
under-the-table
jewelry business, and nails her on top of the table every morning. As
she struggles to make meaning of her life, she is frequently seen
talking with her dead brother, who, in some ways, is her conscience.
She meets a young Puerto Rican jewelry artist, and wants to represent
him. Shortly after meeting him, her husband and his sister decide that
she is to be shunned, divorced, and expelled from the community.
Spoilers
You can probably figure out the rest of the plot from here, and, in
fact, the film makers let you do that, although they visually complete
it during the end credits. One of the symbols in the film is a ruby,
which is a symbol for Sonia (Renee Zellweger), and is her birth stone.
The artist has created a wonderful ring setting for his muse. He says
he is saving it for when he finds his muse, then he will know which
stone to set in it for her. The film ends with her husband giving her
a ruby, and admitting that there was no fault to assign for their
failed marriage, but that they just were not compatible.
The jeweler tries to give her the ring, and she asks him to hold it
for her for a while. During the closing credits, they show the ruby
being set into the ring -- extra closure for those who were unwilling
to reach the logical conclusion. It was very refreshing for a film to
give me credit for some insight and intelligence.
End Spoilers
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This film purportedly has a nipple
slip of Zellweger, but it does not exist in the Widescreen version
that I saw. There are some poke throughs, when she wakes up in a thin
nightgown next to the jewelry artist. There is also excellent breasts
and full-frontal from an actress I could not get a positive ID on. The film
grossed just over $1.m in a limited US release. I liked it a lot, but
we all know I sometimes have weird taste. Zellweger's performance was
wonderful, and I enjoyed this glimpse into a culture very foreign to
me. I award a B-. You know by now if you are going to see it or not.
Scoop's note:
Writer/director Boaz
Yakin has certainly had an unpredictable career. He followed up this
sensitive film by writing the script for the ungodly awful From Dusk
Till Dawn 2, then directed the smash family hit Remember the Titans.
Where do you go from there? I don't see any pattern forming.
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The
Critics Vote
|
The People
Vote ...
- With their
votes ... IMDB summary: IMDb voters
score it 6.3.
- With their
dollars ... 1 million domestic in a limited run
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| IMDb
guideline: 7.5 usually indicates a level of
excellence, about like three and a half stars
from the critics. 6.0 usually indicates lukewarm
watchability, about like two and a half stars
from the critics. The fives are generally not
worthwhile unless they are really your kind of
material, about like two stars from the critics.
Films under five are generally awful even if you
like that kind of film, equivalent to about one
and a half stars from the critics or less,
depending on just how far below five the rating
is. My own
guideline: A means the movie is so good it
will appeal to you even if you hate the genre. B means the movie is not
good enough to win you over if you hate the
genre, but is good enough to do so if you have an
open mind about this type of film. C means it will only
appeal to genre addicts, and has no crossover
appeal. D means you'll hate it even if you
like the genre. E means that you'll hate it even if
you love the genre. F means that the film is not only
unappealing across-the-board, but technically
inept as well.
Based on this
description, this film is a B-. You know by now if you are going
to see it or not.
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