← Back to Reviews
in
A Thousand Acres
Some powerhouse performances from an amazing ensemble cast are the primary reason to check out a 1997 drama called A Thousand Acres, a Shakespearean-styled drama of family dysfunction from the writer of Oscar and Lucina and the director of Muriel's Wedding.
The setting is an Iowa farm community where we meet Larry Cook (Jason Robards), the most respected farmer in town who is tired of farming and wants to give his farm to his daughters Ginny (Jessica Lange), Rose (Michelle Pfeiffer), and Caroline (Jennifer Jason Leigh), but Caroline wants nothing to do with the farm, which is the impetus for a whole lot of family secrets to come bubbling to the surface that have been buried for years.
Laura Jones' screenplay, based on a novel by Jane Smiley is, interesting at its core. The story seems to be a modern re-thinking of King Lear that degenerates into a talky and predictable story that comes off as a combination of bad Tennessee Williams and bad daytime television. Once Caroline separates from the rest of the family, the family secrets come spilling out at a dizzying rate that is pretty much impossible to keep track of. Not to mention a pretentious narration by the Ginny character that added nothing to the story.
Jocelyn Moorhouse's direction is overly detailed and panders too much to a very talky screenplay that is not nearly as compelling as it intends to be. The talk comes in the forms of family secrets that are supposed to shock and titillate, but there's so many secrets that the shock factor begins to wear off pretty quickly.
The film is beautiful to look at, including some Oscar worthy cinematography by Tak Fujimoto, but what really works here and held this viewer's attention were some spectacular performances by a once in a lifetime cast, led by Oscar winners Jessica Lange and Jason Robards as the oldest daughter struggling to hold her family together and the bitter angry patriarch tearing his family apart. Pfeiffer and the always watchable Leigh bring a richness to their roles that isn't in the screenplay. Keith Carradine and Kevin Anderson are solid as Ginny and Rose's husbands and Colin Firth is sex on legs as the man who comes between Rose and Ginny. There are other strong contributions by Pat Hingle, John Carroll Lynch, Bob Gunton, and if you look closely, you might recognize a very young Michelle Williams and Elisabeth Moss playing Pfeiffer's daughters. The story tries to cover too much, but the incredible performances do make it worth a look.
Some powerhouse performances from an amazing ensemble cast are the primary reason to check out a 1997 drama called A Thousand Acres, a Shakespearean-styled drama of family dysfunction from the writer of Oscar and Lucina and the director of Muriel's Wedding.
The setting is an Iowa farm community where we meet Larry Cook (Jason Robards), the most respected farmer in town who is tired of farming and wants to give his farm to his daughters Ginny (Jessica Lange), Rose (Michelle Pfeiffer), and Caroline (Jennifer Jason Leigh), but Caroline wants nothing to do with the farm, which is the impetus for a whole lot of family secrets to come bubbling to the surface that have been buried for years.
Laura Jones' screenplay, based on a novel by Jane Smiley is, interesting at its core. The story seems to be a modern re-thinking of King Lear that degenerates into a talky and predictable story that comes off as a combination of bad Tennessee Williams and bad daytime television. Once Caroline separates from the rest of the family, the family secrets come spilling out at a dizzying rate that is pretty much impossible to keep track of. Not to mention a pretentious narration by the Ginny character that added nothing to the story.
Jocelyn Moorhouse's direction is overly detailed and panders too much to a very talky screenplay that is not nearly as compelling as it intends to be. The talk comes in the forms of family secrets that are supposed to shock and titillate, but there's so many secrets that the shock factor begins to wear off pretty quickly.
The film is beautiful to look at, including some Oscar worthy cinematography by Tak Fujimoto, but what really works here and held this viewer's attention were some spectacular performances by a once in a lifetime cast, led by Oscar winners Jessica Lange and Jason Robards as the oldest daughter struggling to hold her family together and the bitter angry patriarch tearing his family apart. Pfeiffer and the always watchable Leigh bring a richness to their roles that isn't in the screenplay. Keith Carradine and Kevin Anderson are solid as Ginny and Rose's husbands and Colin Firth is sex on legs as the man who comes between Rose and Ginny. There are other strong contributions by Pat Hingle, John Carroll Lynch, Bob Gunton, and if you look closely, you might recognize a very young Michelle Williams and Elisabeth Moss playing Pfeiffer's daughters. The story tries to cover too much, but the incredible performances do make it worth a look.