Customer Reviews

Marion Bridge

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

_Marion bridge_ is a difficult movie to comment on: it is so modest, so delicate, that it feels like any praise will crush it. It's a low budget family drama whose basic plot outline is an utter cliche: a dysfunctional family reassembles under the same roof in the face of death and secrets are revealed, with characters coping to varying degrees as the funeral approaches. Total cliche. The worst you could imagine from an obscure chick flick. Then, on top of that, the characters mumble and whisper a lot and there are no subtitles. And the incredibly sensual Molly Parker not only manages to keep her clothes on, she looks downright haggard. Furthermore, the opening scene is unrelated to the rest of the film, except in a symbolic sense that isn't particularly obvious unless you listen to the commentary track. So this film starts at quite a deficit.

And yet... in its own quiet way, this film is near perfect. The only clumsy moment is a scene in which two characters lie about their names. The acting, which the other people comment on, is realism at its finest. The sisters physically look like sisters and interact with such palpable tension that I'd be afraid to be related to any of the actresses. I've seen the film maybe five times and there's one confusing cut and one place where the clouds in the background change between cuts. Otherwise, everything is how it should be. Even a detail that could be near impossible to control--Molly Parker's pupils contracting to almost nothing when she's looking at a character who has harmed her tremendously--is done right. And despite the hackneyed conceit upon which the screenplay is hung, at every point at which it could have gone the easy route towards the safe and predictable, it chooses something different, something quietly more authentic.

When I read the other reviews, I had the feeling that people emotionally quit watching about ten to fifteen minutes from the end. They describe a well-acted tragedy, a grim, slow-going, tough to sit through affair and make no mention of the ending. At the risk of semi-spoiler, I have to challenge this view. Yes, the characters have had horrific lives, and they often fail to connect to each other and many times don't even seem to want to.

I'll concede all that. But I suspect that the realism evokes such raw feelings that it's easy for your mind to go off on emotional autobiographical tangents and lose the film. Even if the viewer's personal life has been calmer than that of any of the characters, pretty much everyone has probably had to at least once go through a deathwatch, with the bedridden person, the awkwardness, the bottles of pills, the rented hospital bed, the oxygen tank, etc. This movie really has the potential to open the floodgates.

Yet I consider this one of the most feel-good movies ever made. Why? Because it's ending is credible in its tone. Because it doesn't force its ending down your throat like some after-school or Disney special or any movie with too much of a budget and a director who can't resist hitting you over the head with telling you how you should feel. Instead, starting with a morose, seemingly untalented, character giving a beautiful rendition of `Amazing grace', the film glides towards a bittersweet ending. Then in the closing seconds, the camera simply pans right and the meaning of everything changes. Then the camera pans again, this time towards the sky-- and credits. It takes a moment to appreciate minor victory the characters have won against themselves, against their own pasts. But then you're left with a delicately triumphant mood lingers for the rest of the day.

I would also recommend the commentary track with the director and Molly Parker. Not only does it demonstrate how so much of what the film does right was done quite intentionally and with great care, it points out a lot of local color that you might not see otherwise. (Indeed, it points out how there's a moment of confusion because one of the character's doesn't get the local color.)

If you're not familiar with the Cape Breton area of Canada (which I'm not), I would suggest using Google maps or a similar program to see where Marion Bridge and Sydney, Nova Scotia are. Geography is important but it's never explained.

I have not read the book that MARION BRIDGE is based on, but the movie's plot is easy enough to summarize. A young woman returns to her hometown in Cape Breton to join her two sisters in caring for their ailing mother.

But while that may be the plot, the story is much deeper and richer. All three of the actresses playing the sisters are quite good at biting off their lines of dialogue with each other in that familiar familial way people have. And while the movie does ultimately have a few cheesy moments, the film's intelligent direction and the presence of the actresses (there are virtually no men in this film) more than make up for it.

By the way, don't be thrown off by the strangely awful jazz music that opens the film. It doesn't fit the tenor of the story (it almost seems like something from a horror film). The film itself has no violence, sex, or even strong language that I noticed.

SIDELIGHT: Our protagonist in this film, Molly Parker, is also a featured actress in the excellent HBO series DEADWOOD.

"Marion Bridge," as the other reviewers have noted, is a drama about three estranged Irish-Canadian sisters, Theresa, Louise, and Agnes, who reunite to help their dying mother. Actually, only one sister is estranged, Agnes, played by Molly Parker, who apparently developed a serious drug/alcohol problem as a teenager and fled from her Cape Breton Island home to Toronto years ago and has since had only fleeting contact with her family. However, at film's beginning she has returned home, having recently accepted sobriety, in order to mend fences with her family.

It's not easy. Her oldest sister, Theresa (Rebecca Jenkins), resents Agnes' attempts to "meddle" into what she views as her responsibilities- the care of their mother and Louise. In addition, Louise (Stacy Smith), an unambitious tomboy whose life revolves around tv hockey games, looks upon Agnes' return as an unwanted disruption of normality and something to be tolerated until Agnes abandons them again. Agnes insists that she's changed and throws herself into the care of their dying mother (Maguerite McNeil) of whom we get the idea was not a good mother.

However, Agnes' return is not just about reuniting with her sisters, but also to confront the issue that undoubtedly drove her self-destructive streak. She's drawn continuously to a small antique shop to look upon Joanie, the sixteen year old girl who works and lives there (played by baby-faced Ellen Page who actually looks like she's twelve, and whose knock-out performance in the 2005 movie "Hard Candy" is what led me to watch "Marion Bridge"). Also, she and her sisters must confront the man whom they all blame for nearly ruining their lives- their father.

Overall, "Marion Bridge" is a well-acted and character driven film. However, it does have a "Lifetimey" feel about it, but that's a given when dealing with a low budget drama about familial relationships. Yet the film kept me interested in these characters, and I was particularly moved by the storyline involving Joanie and Agnes (Also minor SPOILER ALERT- I really liked how Agnes does the right thing as to that relationship). Molly Parker is very good in the role of Agnes, a woman whose made mistakes and is now trying to win back trust, and she's also stunning to look at.

This is the second movie I've seen set in Cape Breton Island this year. The other was Allan Moyle's delightfully quirky 1999 film, "New Waterford Girl." Since the two films share the same setting, they also share the same overcast skies and stark landscapes. I've heard some complaints about both films from Cape Breton Islanders about how skies above their homes are not perpetually overcast. However, I like it. As someone who grew up in northeast Ohio, where we didn't get that many sunny days either, I found the overcast skies comforting. Further, the landscapes exhibited in both films have me thinking of Cape Breton as a possible vacation destination. Finally, both films feature Allister MacGillivray's lovely "Song for the Mira" which I guess has become a sort of unofficial anthem for Cape Breton Island. It's such a pretty song. In "Marion Bridge" it is sung by Molly Parker, Stacy Smith, and Rebecca Jenkins, and they're not bad!

Wiebke von Carolsfeld's family drama Marion Bridge is an interesting little film about the power of family to both help and hinder us on the path of life.Based on the play by Daniel MacIvor the story of three sisters who come together to care for their dying mother explores the tenous relationships that develop within a family.

As the New York Times aptly put it "When "Marion Bridge," a small, exquisitely acted Canadian film, is observing the psychological tensions of three grown-up sisters attending their dying mother in a small Nova Scotia town, it uncovers a complexity and depth of feeling rarely glimpsed in a family drama. It's all in the details, as they say. And "Marion Bridge," adapted by the director Wiebke von Carolsfeld from a play by Daniel MacIvor, takes the raw ingredients of soap opera -- the spilling of family secrets and the opening of old wounds as a parent slips away -- and spins them into something truthful and quietly compelling"

The film presents a breakthrough performance by Molly Parker as youngest sister Agnes, who has to fight her own demons before she can truly join the ranks of her family. The movie, is at its best when evoking the volatile mixture of small-town boredom and seething hothouse hostilities that threaten to turn an enforced family reunion into a battleground. The strongest part of the film is the acting by is ensembe cast and is worth the price of admission just to see that dynamic. Add the bleak Nova Scotia locale and we have an interesting film that in its own way is quite enjoyable. While it may not deal with easy subjevt matter the film is well worth watching and has quite a bit of emotional impact.

`Marion Bridge' is a somber, independent film from '03 filmed against the backdrop of the rustic landscape of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Similar to the well respected `The Shipping News' from '02 the storyline deals with a dysfunctional family displaying all the neglect, abuse and legacy of heartache that comes with it.

While `Marion Bridge' lacks the big names and more dramatic storyline that accompanies `The Shipping News' the cast is superior nonetheless and the complicated, unresolved familial relationships played out between three sisters, a bedridden alcholic Mother, an estranged, deviant Father and a local teenage girl ring honest and believable.

This is definitely not a film for everyone but worth a viewing, especially if you enjoy dealing with emotional, complicated and unresolved relational issues that arise from living in a not so perfect world.

Marion Bridge is a heavy-duty and emotionally draining experience not just for the viewers, but even more so for the three Cape Breton sisters. Howevever, all that they have endured over the decades or just during their reunion days together, will have a wonderful and meaningful outcome. Do prepare yourself for some tearjerking moments as this film can be kind of heartbreaking, especially the three leads are so impeccable to watch!

Having moved or ran away from home to Toronto more than a decade ago, Agnes(Molly Parker) is called by her older sister Theresa(Rebecca Jenkins) to come home to care for their ailing alcoholic mother(Marguerite McNeil), who had never cared about her daughters. The youngest sister Louise(Stacy Smith) is also reluctant to be involved in any family matters. It's not an easy thing for Agnes to go home and face all the things and people she had left behind, and there is also a secret relationship she share with a teenager girl in the neighborhood. She treats her with gifts and things, and the girl wondered why? The darkest secret that the sisters shared have to come to surface again as it had haunted them for years. They must summon all their courage and unconditional love to go and pay one last visit for the man that had "ruined" their lives.....

Molly Parker is brilliant, and she carries the film, but it was Rebecca Jenkins whose more powerful performance that ultimately stoled most of the scenes. The landscape of Cape Breton also is very appropiate as it provides a sense of gloomy feel for this sad movie.

This story comes alive because of Molly Parker's masterful ability to convey volumes of emotion with her many very subtle facial expressions. Of course this is true for many others of the characters she has so artfully played (Deadwood, Pure, and Kissed). The history of cinema offers an array of great actors. However, I challenge anyone to find another actor with such keen ability to appropriately detail so much with his or her subtle facial expressions as compared to Molly Parker. Probably, most viewers of her films are not really aware of how much is perceived through this particular communicative channel. That is because the acting is done so well and is so convincing without any hints of excesses.

Just try to imagine another actor in the part of Agnes (Molly Parker) as she confronts Joanie (Ellen Page). This is especially a critical point during the last two meetings in which the two were alone. It's difficult to imagine anyone other than Molly Parker so clearly conveying the many layers of conflicting raw emotions that were made so evident as the story unfolded.

Marion Bridge (Wiebke von Carolsfeld, 2002)

First off: dear movie producers, in Hollywood and elsewhere, I am formally declaring a moratorium on reverbed-up indie-rock guitar soundtracks in movies, especially those that veer between long, drawn-out solo chords (meant to sound lonesome, like the great prairie or something) and annoying pop songs. While they seem to mostly show up in bad documentaries, they appear in dramatic films as well (the best-known example is probably Juno, with its awful, awful Moldy Peaches soundtrack). Well, I'm here to tell you that such soundtracks are not all that new an invention. Let's go back to 2002, to a Canadian indie called Marion Bridge. Which, coincidentally, also features Ellen Page.

Our story begins when three sisters--Agnes (Kissed's Molly Parker), Theresa (The Five People You Meet in Heaven's Rebecca Jenkins), and Louise (Sex and the Single Mom's Stacey Smith)--return to their hometown to see their mother, who's just been transferred to the third floor. Agnes, like her mother a hardcore alcoholic (but unlike her mother is trying to get off the sauce), after a conversation with mom, decides to move back permanently, get mom home, and take care of her. The others, not trusting her, also end up sticking around. There's also a subplot with Agnes and Joanie (Page), a teenager who works at a craft store across Marion Bridge (whence the play the movie is based on gets its title).

And here's my main problem with it: the Agnes-Joanie subplot really is a subplot, while you'd think it would be the core of the movie. I mean, come on, it's called Marion Bridge! Nothing about mom has anything to do with the bridge. I haven't seen/read the play on which the film is based, but I'm guessing the Agnes-Joanie dynamic is much closer to being the main plot there. (And the way that subplot comes to a climax is very risky, though when it's pulled off correctly it's the kind of thing that makes a movie memorable all on its own. It's not quite right here, but I admire the effort.)

I originally decided to watch this because I've had a mad crush on Molly Parker since Kissed, and will see anything she's in. (Yes, god help me, even the remake of The Wicker Man.) I came away with it with equal respect for Jenkins and Smith, whom I'd never encountered in main roles before, and renewed respect for Page, whom I seem to forget more and more often really does have more acting chops than she's shown recently. All of them do the best they can with the material, but either Daniel McIvor, adapting his own play, ended up trimming all the wrong stuff (the tension between Agnes and Louise is thick as fog in the beginning, and then vanishes entirely based on one minor incident? Oh, please), or just didn't get it right the first time round. I'll have to read the play to find out, but the film, while it gets a lot of things right, could have used another rewrite or two to get it ready for prime time. ** ½

Not everyone will like this slow-moving coming home tale about three sisters and their dying mother and child abusing father who is now senile. Yes, it's pretty depressing, not to mention set in Nova Scotia, with scenery looking very bleak, indeed. Still, stick with it and you'll be rewarded. Of course, it all works out in the end. Nice jobs by the three sisters, and the alcoholic mom is actually one of the best acting jobs in the pic.

Note: This disc requires a -Region Free- DVD player to view in the Americas.

`Marion Bridge' is a somber, independent film from '03 filmed against the backdrop of the rustic landscape of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Similar to the well respected `The Shipping News' from '02 the storyline deals with a dysfunctional family, neglect, abuse and the legacy of heartache that comes with it.

While `Marion Bridge' lacks the big names and more dramatic storyline that accompanies `The Shipping News' the cast is superior nonetheless and the complicated, unresolved familial relationships played out between three sisters, a bedridden alcholic Mother, an estranged Father and a local teenage girl ring honest and believable.

This is definitely not a film for everyone but worth a viewing, especially if you enjoy dealing with emotional, complicated relational issues that arise from living in a not so perfect world.