Thursday, May 15, 2008

THE STONE ANGEL




Drama

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Ellen Burstyn: 90-something-year old Hagar Shipley
Dylan Baker: her eldest son Marvin, a doctor
Sheila McCarthy: his wife Doris
Christine Horne: the young Hagar
Cole Hauser: her boyfriend Bram Shipley
Devin Bostick: the young Marvin
Kevin Zegers: his younger brother John
Ellen Page: John’s girlfriend Arlene

REVIEW
I certainly don’t have a problem with any film making use of a flashback or two to tell the story. But this one over does it. Just when you get settled in to the present day Hagar thinks of something that took place in earlier years so off you go to that time frame. After a bit you’re transported back again to the present but not for long as another memory-jogger sends us once more into the past. What a ride. There should be a law against using flashback more than 2 times in any one movie.

This would have been a far better movie had they chosen to tell the story in one long flashback instead of this flip-flop method. It’s too bad, because there are some good performances if you can hang in long enough to see it through.

CLASSIFICATION
for some sexual content, brief nudity, mild language and some drug use.

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