Where were you in your life and in your career when you auditioned for this movie? What do you remember about that? Sedgwick is currently playing a villain in the horror-comedy film Villains (co-starring Bill Skarsgård and Maika Monroe, in theaters now) but I just wanted to talk about Phenomenon - the shaving, the rocking, the sweaters, the trees - and she agreed. She rocks an imaginary baby under an apple tree and it’s unbelievably poignant. ![]() She cries on at least four separate occasions, and each time her face gently crumples. She walks around in gigantic cable-knit sweaters and overalls and does not give any indication that she is troubled by Travolta’s denim shirt, denim jacket, and jeans ensemble. She acts as something of an audience surrogate, expressing doubt and confusion and fear and, understandably, a low-key lust toward Travolta’s ability to move sunglasses with his mind. Her warm, calm, sandpapery-voice energy helps sells the shit out of a character arc that, in someone else’s hands, might feel sappy. Travolta’s performance is appropriately unassuming and eventually heartbreaking, but I believe Sedgwick is the standout in Phenomenon. It also features one of the sexiest non–sex scenes of all time, wherein Kyra Sedgwick, as George’s hard-won love interest Lace, gently shaves John Travolta’s entire face. It grapples with spirituality without being too preachy it touches on climate change and the frailty of nature without feeling too soapbox-y. Variety called it “soppy and soft-headed” - but Roger Ebert really liked it, dubbing it a “good-hearted story about the rhythms of small-town life and the meaning of friendship.” If I were to review the movie, I would describe it as “includes several shots of trees swaying in the breeze that make me cry so much it’s embarrassing and I can’t figure out why.” Phenomenon possesses a strange beauty, owing in no small part to its hauntingly exquisite Thomas Newman score. Phenomenon and Michael are surely different films where Michael can be slapstick and a little on the nose, Turteltaub’s film is a classic tearjerker, one that’s interested in slightly deeper questions, including, but not limited to: What would happen if we could use more than 10 percent of our brains? What would happen if we opened ourselves up to our fellow human beings? What would happen if we tried loving someone who is, quite chillingly, able to learn Portuguese in 20 minutes? What would happen if we made chairs out of branches?Īs was the case with Michael, Phenomenon wasn’t the box-office hit everyone involved hoped it would be. In Jon Turteltaub’s Phenomenon, he’s George Malley, a good-natured car mechanic who, when struck by some kind of space lightning, becomes a freaky telekinetic genius. In Nora Ephron’s Michael, he’s a fallen angel with an unquenchable lust for women and the ability to bring dogs back to life. In 1996, John Travolta starred in two films wherein he plays a seemingly human character graced with supernatural powers, which should tell you something about our national mood at the time. Photo: Photo Illustration by Stevie Remsberg and Photo by Buena Vista Pictures “Phenomenon wasn’t a hit - if it had been, I think I probably would have had a different career.”
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |