SUNSHINE STATE (2002) ¢ ¢ ¢
D: John Sayles
Edie Falco, Timothy Hutton, Angela Bassett,
Jane Alexander, Mary Steenburgen, Ralph Waite,
Bill Cobbs, Miguel Ferrer, Alan King
After previous stopovers in Ireland ("The Secret of Roan Inish"), Texas ("Lone Star"), Latin America ("Men With Guns") and Alaska ("Limbo"), John Sayles touches down in Florida with a story about greedy developers out to pave over a strip of beachfront property at the expense of those who lack the money and clout to stop them. A soap opera with a message, playing on a theme Sayles has explored before: how the past has a way of haunting the present, no matter what we do to try to move on from it. Sayles hasn't got Robert Altman's fluid dexterity with ensembles. (Who does?) But he's got a good ensemble cast, and he makes some interesting choices, like the way he holds a closeup of Mary Steenburgen - and holds it, and holds it - while the civic event she's compulsively organized goes on a few feet away, offscreen. If you're looking for the movie's soul, that'd be Edie Falco as a burned-out motel owner and ex-mermaid named Marly. One look at her face, and you know exactly what Sayles found in Florida: It's the place dreams go to die.
Ralph Waite
(1928-2014)
