mysmaus Review of The Girl in the Park

The Girl in the Park (2007)

Excellent, non commercial little psych study

[5 December 2008]

This was a very good, small scale film. Outstanding performances by Weaver & especially Bosworth. Watch it if you are in a mood to stay with a piece & be entertained by analyzing the motivation behind people's behavior. It is not a commercial piece, not your typical movie fare. Good for a rainy day to drop into a cinema and see this, you will be discussing it w/your friends for days afterward. Hope David Auburn does more movies, this is his first directorial try & he did very well. Especially liked the way he handled Sigourney Weaver's personality after her daughter was kidnapped, the panic attacks and inability to socialize are dead on. At the end, the viewer is pretty sure of the ending but the actual facts behind it are not as important as the relationships that the characters have forged. I read a review that argued Julia should have just asked Louise to show her a birthmark but that is totally missing the point. It's a very layered, very dense movie that some will immediately 'get' and others probably never will. It's not a 'chick-flick' but it's a very cerebral movie.