Customer Reviews

Shy People [VHS]

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is an unusual film with a knockout performance by Barbara Hershey, who deservedly won the 1987 Cannes Film Festival Best Actress award for her brilliant and moving portrayal of Ruth Sullivan, a fiercely proud, backwoods, bayou matriarch, who resorts to unusual tactics to keep her sons from the outside world.

The story centers around the Sullivan family, the East Coast and Louisiana branches. It turns out that the East Coast branch is headed up by magazine editor, Diana Sullivan (Jill Clayburgh), who decides to write a piece about her southern relatives. Diana heads down South with her spoiled, teenage daughter (Martha Plimpton).

When they gets down there, they are is taken aback by what they find. This Southern branch of the Sullivan family seems like a throwback to another era. The first word that pops into the viewer's mind is "inbreeding", so backwards do they seem. The East Coast Sullivans are wealthy and overdressed for their new environs. The Bayou Sullivans do not even have electricity. Still, they try to socialize and get to know one another, after an initial standoff.

The outside world has now invaded Ruth's home, and some of Ruth's stern notions have invaded Diane's psyche. This becomes manifest at the end in the new way in which they each decide to handle their rebellious offspring. One can tell that Ruth and Diane have each touched the other in some meaningful way. This does not happen, however, before there have been some serious clashes.

It is hard to describe this film, as it is not a plot driven film. What little plot there is, is a bit implausible. It is just a highly unusual, character driven film, and the one who drives it is Barbara Hershey with a performance so awesome, it will take the viewer's breath away. With a stellar supporting cast, it is film not to be missed.

Filmed in the heart of Cajun country, the cinematography is magnificent, with incredible shots of the mist shrouded bayou with its unusual terrain and fauna. It makes for a haunting and highly atmospheric film.

The story line seems mild, the city mouse and the country mouse meet. But when you combine the two matriarchs, knowing they are blood related and seeing that their core beliefs are totally opposite, holds your curiosity as to whether they will meld, not just meet. Everything neccessary to keep one interested and riveted is achieved. I only left the couch about 3 or 4 times...(sheer feer) Most important (if your are one to try and outhink the next scene) is that the predictable always provided a bit of the unpredictable. To say the costuming was not appropriate, is like, "Who Cares". This film has all the elements for entertainment. It holds your attention, tickles your curiosity, your fears, and tweaks your brain. The end has a very sage message. Every parent with older children will nod with understanding. The acting was superb, the casting terrific and the photography excellent.

This is one of the finest films I have seen... it opened up to much fanfare on the festival circuit, but straggled into release... never recieving it's mainstream due.

If you like contemplative, haunting films, this is right up your alley. Barbara Hershey and Jill Clayburgh are fantastic... Hershey as a strong, misunderstood woman, and Clayburgh as a shallow, know-it-all magazine photographer.

Shy People is BEAUTIFULLY filmed... there is a scene involving Jill Clayburgh and Martha Plimpton out in the foggy bayou... masterfully filmed.

AHH! It's so difficult to convey exactly WHY you should see this, or how much I want anyone who reads this to!!! DON'T OVERLOOK IT!!!

I recorded this one back in the early nineties from HBO and I still have it.

Naturally, by today's standards, it looks awful. But since I like the story and the acting in it, I am willing to forget about its flaws in picture quality.

Yet, as for so many other little "jewels and gems" out there, seemingly nobody has the time to find a pristine copy and slam it onto DVD...

Is it because in this case, it was produced by The Cannon Group, a production company long gone, who was managed by the Golan-Globus team?

OK, so the company does not exist anymore, but has anybody thought at buying the rights and make it their own?
Just as it has happened for really crappy movies in the past?

Perhaps crap is better than art.

I also remember having watched the movie at theaters and it was gorgeous. The hostile, almost gothic landscape of the bayous was so romantically photographed that despite its unfriendly appearance it was almost inviting to a person who has never been there.

Shy People merits a royal digital treatment, if not for the photography alone, at least for the acting contained in it.

I hope someone listens to reason and works up the courage to do so.
I really count on it...

I saw this movie several years ago on cable T.V. and it has envoked many memories through time. A MUST SEE movie if you like intense, nail biting thrillers. Barbara Hershey is the definition of the word ACTOR! She and the cast were all excellent in their parts.

Although few people have heard of it, this is one of my favorite movies of all time. The story is so interesting and like nothing I've ever seen. Wealthy New Yorkers are voluntary thrown in the middle of the poor Bayou, and the concept is treated artistically while commenting on right versus wrong in two very different cultures. Martha Plimpton is terrific as a rebellious teenage daughter who learns that there's a world -- and what a world -- beyond the precocious Manhattan prep school scene. All the characters are fascinating, and all the actors are marvelous (big names like Barbara Hershey and Jill Clayburgh, as well as, randomly enough, Patrick Swayze's brother). A must-see -- I promise!

A good movie done from good writing. The acting is excellent all around. It was real, a little dark at times, poigniant,but engaging. I'm surprised that it never made it to a DVD version. The used VHS I got was in good condition but the color had faded - which no one can prevent. Soon the movie won't exist for the general public and that will be a sad day.

It is funny how far apart the variation of reactions is to this film: some see a profound statement, others bald stereotypes. What made the difference for me was the quality of the acting: outstanding. Hershey is at her best in this as a plain swamp woman trying to control her sons with an iron hand. In contrast, Clayburgh is a liberal city type, who not only lets her daughter experiment with hard drugs, but turns a blind eye to the fact that she is dating one of her mother's former lovers.

So far are the plot goes, Clayburgh decides to go to visit some distant relatives in Louisiana, perhaps to do a story for her magazine, but also to spend time with her daughter, who can only be described as a dangerous adolescent. When they arrive, they are shocked at how primitive their cousin's lives are, almost living in autarchy, with few ties to the mainland. It is a place of great freedom from social obligation but also cut off from economic opportunity, where fundamentalist conservatism is balanced by a libertine culture of stripper bars and drink.

As they spend time together, the contrast only sharpens. Hershey wants to tightly control the lives of her sons, to the point that she keeps one of them in a cage, while the other lives there with a homely wife, trying to be the man in the family. Hershey also has some painful secrets, like the husband that left her and a son she refuses to mention. The arrival of Clayburgh disrupts the balance, with some dire consequences: her difficult daughter discovers that it is foolish to provoke isolated men in this back water, as she taps her supply of cocaine. The resulting conflict reveals the pain in both families, to the point that the two women learn from eachother.

Now this may sound sappy, but at least for me it was completely believable. The characters were not at all two-dimensional, but full, quirky beings, whose little touches stick vividly in the memory. There is a scene, for example, where Hershey comes to a bar with an old colt pistol, seeking vengeance for an assault on her son; she quickly goes beserk for reasons (later explained) and is taken to jail. In another scene, Clayburgh goes into the bayou, desperately in search of her traumatized daughter. Dramatic, to be sure, but very emotionally true in my viewing.

Recommended. This is a very good indie film that deserves release on DVD.

This is an amazing story, something I saw on TV 12 years ago and couldn't forget! It took me a while to find out what movie it was and finally I did, ordered and just watched it again today. I was not disappointed a bit! Rather surprised that such a talented work is not in demand and is not available on dvd. The music, the plot, actors - everything displays a great taste. I thought this movie should have been nominated for the best picture in its time. 2 women, 2 families meeting together and it seems that there is an eternity separating them - one lives in the contemporary world, the other one - in the last century or even more back in time. The life style, the values - everything seems to be incompatible. Yet, there is a contact.
I am really thankful to Konchalovsky for making this movie. It makes you think and at the same time it has a light taste.

This is a compelling story - very engrossing and fascinating. Barbara Hershey gives an excellent performance, as does Mare Winningham. The setting is the swamps of Louisiana - spooky, and mystical. I loved this movie - I've watched it a dozen times! It's one of those movies that you keep thinking about the moral or the message - the twists in the plot that change the outcome for the characters, and the lessons they learn. Not one I'd show to younger kids, because it has foul language, sexual conduct, drug use, and an attempted rape scene. But definitely a two-thumbs up for adults or very mature youth.