I remember "Grey Gardens" and its journey into a forest of family dysfunction. That film was guided by the Maysles Brothers. "Tarnation" wants to take us to another part of the same forest, but I felt we didn't leave the backyard.
Give anyone a camera and they're sure to have fun filming themselves, their family and friends. But show the results to strangers, even with music cues and titles intact, and there will be very little resonance.
I wonder if Tennessee Williams had had a camcorder to film his mother and sister if the results would have had one-fifth the impact that his artistically-rendered memoir-play, "The Glass Menagerie" still imparts today.
I watch movies these days on DVD at home. It's become increasingly rare for me to plunk down $18 for two tickets at the cinema, sit in an uncomfortable chair and put up with all the annoyances. From what I'd read about "Tarnation", though, I didn't want to wait before seeing it. I thought I would love it.
I didn't. Many others did, however, as you'll read below.
Give anyone a camera and they're sure to have fun filming themselves, their family and friends. But show the results to strangers, even with music cues and titles intact, and there will be very little resonance.
I wonder if Tennessee Williams had had a camcorder to film his mother and sister if the results would have had one-fifth the impact that his artistically-rendered memoir-play, "The Glass Menagerie" still imparts today.
I watch movies these days on DVD at home. It's become increasingly rare for me to plunk down $18 for two tickets at the cinema, sit in an uncomfortable chair and put up with all the annoyances. From what I'd read about "Tarnation", though, I didn't want to wait before seeing it. I thought I would love it.
I didn't. Many others did, however, as you'll read below.