Change Your Image
edalan-1
Reviews
Evergreen (2004)
Great film - unique and powerful
I thought that this film was great! I saw it at SIFF and went back for a second showing. I thought that the the story was not only well crafted and well presented, but also that it was one not too often told even in independent films these days. The issues of class, race and one's place in world were part of the film, but did not take it over either. I am already a big fan of the director, and wonder what she can pull off with more money.
(After the show they said that it was a totally bare bones production.)
The film is told through details of ordinary people's lives. I was brought into the lives of these people and I liked them people despite all of their flaws. (The mother is a bit confused and dull, the grandmother isn't too kind, the teenage daughter is mean to her mother, the teenage boy is immature, etc.) But since the film shows these people as real people, I liked them all (but for the dad of the teenage boy) and wanted to know them better. For an American film with a teenage love story as one of its plot lines, the film is unique. That's because the story is more about the people then the love, and the people in the story are presented as real and deep.
While I enjoyed the story, and found parts of the film captivating (there is an incredibly tense series of scenes towards the end of the film that bring the film's themes and characters together), what I really like about the film were its themes. Strong women who make mistakes and get through life, class and race and issues of being human are rarely explored in even independent films these days. I was impressed at the issues the film explores, and think that the film carried the themes well.
I'd see at least one more time!