39 lines
4.0 KiB
Plaintext
39 lines
4.0 KiB
Plaintext
it must be some sort of warped critical nightmare : the best movie of the year would be a summer vehicle , a jim carrey vehicle at that .
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and so it is .
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_the truman show_ is the most perplexing , crazed , paranoid and rib-tickling morality play i've seen since i-don't-know-when .
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don't credit carrey .
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it starts with andrew niccol ( gattaca ) , who created the script ten years ago .
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the story , replete with sublte religious and philisophical undertones , is about a man who discovers that every day of his existence has been televised for a mass audience .
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( ironically , it was within these past ten years that " reality-based " television have become a predominant fixture into our culture .
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who knew ? )
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one-upping niccol , it was when unlikely candidate-director peter weir took the helm that things fell into place .
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weir had the nearly impossible task to create the unimitible tone , deftly mixing capra with kafka , throwing george bailey in a universe inhabited by rod serling .
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it was weir's first stroke of genius to create seahaven : a suburban paradise/prison that would make spielberg cower in shame .
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for example , bystander-extras would walk around the block incessantly with flowers along with the latest issue of _dog fancy_ .
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the nicest touch are the plethora of subtle hints for truman to _not_ leave the island .
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credit weir for his second stroke : the casting of carrey .
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carrey seems to be the type of character actor who would always turn " on " and act goofy whenever the camera is near .
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not here .
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his performance is so subverted you sometimes wonder if he is ever aware the camera is on .
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and although carrey does not deserve an academy award nomination ( just as well , the academy rarely honors goofy comedians , excepting robin williams ) , he stretches enough to alter his hyper-silly image considerably .
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playing one who has the cameras constantly invading his most intimate moments turns to be quite the role of jim carrey's life .
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no pun intended .
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better in a smaller , more pivotal role is ed harris as christof , who mixes the right amount of his apollo 13 " work the problem , people " character with dustin hoffman's megaglomaniac producer in _wag the dog_ , and then only slightly svengalian .
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it is clear that he is torn between the nielson ratings and truman's well being .
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yes , in his own misguided way he loves truman as a father to a son , and has provided the best universe he could provide .
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he thinks .
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rounding out the cast is natascha mcelhone ( mrs .
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dalloway ) as carrey's true " forbidden love " , sylvia , very effective in another pivotal small role .
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laura linney ( congo ) and noah emmerich ( copland ) have the unfortunate task of playing truman's wife and best friend ; their sitcom-ish dialogue allow little room for any authentic character development .
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the exception is at the very beginning , where they speak into the camera , wholeheartedly believing that their participation is truly good for truman , and for society in general .
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there are other little problems with the script .
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are we to assume that toddler truman had no recollection of hearing the construction of such a gigantic dome during his formative years ?
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was there any reason as to why in one scene , it rained solely on truman , even though it never had to ?
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how is it they hire hundreds of extras , and none of them could drive a boat , and yet truman , fearful of water , is helming a sailboat effortlessly ?
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and couldn't christof have turned off the wind , to strand truman at sea ?
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these little contrivances , however , do not hold a candle to the overall effect of the work .
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the audience gets the feeling that it is watching the actual show , and we are drawn to truman's mundane existence for no other reason than it is there .
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the final result effortlessly combines the emotional happy ending of a mainstream picture with a gnawing discomfort that hits you square in the gut .
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upon leaving the theater , i was looking up in the sky , wondering if it was nothing more than a gigantic dome .
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just checking .
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