Beloved (1998) Oprah Winfrey (Sethe), Danny Glover (Paul D), Thandie Newton (Beloved), Kimberly Elise (Denver), Beah Richards (Baby Suggs), Lisa Gay Hamilton (Younger Sethe), Albert Hall (Stamp Paid), Irma P. Hall (Ella), Carol Jean Lewis (Janey Wagon), Kessia Kordelle (Amy Denver), Jude Ciccolella (Schoolteacher), Anthony Chisholm (Langhorne), Dorothy Love Coates (M. Lucille Williams), Jane Whire (Lady Jones), Jason Robards (Mr. Bodwin). Music by Rachel Portman. Cinematography by Tak Fujimoto. Produced by Edward Saxon, Jonathan Demme, Gary Goetzman, Oprah Winfrey, Kate Forte. Screenplay by Akosua Busia, Richard LaGravenese, Adam Brooks. Based on the novel by Toni Morrison. Directed by Jonathan Demme. 172 minutes. Rated R, 3 stars (out of five stars)
Review by Ed Johnson-Ott, NUVO Newsweekly www.nuvo-online.com Archive reviews at http://us.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Edward+Johnson-ott To receive reviews by e-mail at no charge, send subscription requests to pbbp24a@prodigy.com
The intent of the much anticipated "Beloved" is for viewers to leave the theater mesmerized, reflecting on the horror of slavery and its nightmarish aftereffects on the human soul. Jonathan Demme's film version of the Pulitzer Prize winning Toni Morrison novel achieves those goals to a degree, but the effect is somewhat muted by static central characters, several notable stylistic and structural problems and the production's often glacial pacing. It's been said that truly great films never feel too long. At two hours and fifty two minutes, "Beloved" does.
Like many classic chamber dramas, the film is presented "onion-style." Following the introduction of the central characters, layer after layer of the onion is peeled away, gradually revealing the emotional core of the characters. This is a ghost story, both figuratively and literally, and Demme opens the film with a lengthy, effective set-up. In 1873, former slave Sethe (Oprah Winfrey) and her daughter Denver (Kimberly Elise) live a reclusive existence inside a rural home near Cincinnati. The house is haunted and the rest of the family has abandoned Sethe long ago, yet she refuses to leave. Demme presents the haunting graphically with images that echo "Poltergeist"; floorboards and tables rattle, objects fly through the air, a dog's eye pops out of its socket.
Enter Paul D (Danny Glover), who knew Sethe when they were both slaves in Kentucky. He encounters the spirit, believed by the women to be the ghost of one of Sethe's children, and his strength of will appears to subdue the presence. Paul D moves into the house after becoming Sethe's lover and, for a brief period, it appears that the three might be able to forge a traditional family life. That all changes when Sethe and Denver return from a carnival and encounter Beloved (Thandie Newton).
We first see the wild child as she raises from a swampy muck, covered with insects, and drags herself to Sethe's front yard. The women take in the exhausted near-mute, restoring her to health and attempting to teach the drooling, growling creature how to be a proper young adult. While Sethe and Denver embrace Beloved, Paul D remains leery, suspecting there's more to this feral adolescent than meets the eye. He's right.
Between Sethe's encounters with Beloved and a series of flashbacks, the onion layers begin to peel away. We learn about Sethe's past; the horrific treatment she endured as a slave, how she received the criss- crossed ''tree'' of scars on her back, her delivery of a child while traversing the river to Ohio following her escape from Kentucky. We also witness the night where, in a desperate attempt to spare her children from a life of slavery, Sethe made a decision that hurled her into a perpetual nightmare.
''Silence of the Lambs'' director Jonathan Demme employs color manipulation, a variety of unusual camera movements and extreme close-ups for the powerful imagery required by ''Beloved.'' Sometimes it works, but often it does not. It's hard to appreciate a simple front porch conversation when Demme's camera is either swooping around the yard or flipping between full-screen face shots of whichever character is speaking. And while some of the shocking scenes, like Beloved's initial appearance, are appropriate, did we really need a close-up of Sethe squatting and unleashing a massive stream of urine?
1873 Cincinnati is beautifully realized, and a carnival scene is both charming and wonderfully detailed, but most of the film takes place in Sethe's dilapidated home. The flashback sequences are effective, but we don't get enough of them, resulting in a portrayal of Sethe's past that is unnecessarily sketchy. Demme's insistence on keeping his camera focused on Oprah Winfrey, who optioned the book and brought it to the screen, eventually gives the film the vague whiff of a vanity project.
''Beloved'' features many exceptional supporting performances, particularly from Beah Richards as Denver's grandmother, home-spun preacher Baby Suggs. Winfrey and Glover do fine, nuanced work, although the static nature of their characters limits their range. Kimberly Elise, on the other hand, is allowed to grow and change as young Denver graduates from childhood naïveté to become a self-realized woman. Elise shines in the role.
The film's most striking performance comes from Thandie Newton as Beloved. The lovely actor disappears completely into the part, and is appropriately frightening and tragic at first, but as the film drags on, her limp-headed, jerky characterization becomes cartoonish, reminding me of Gilda Radner's dim-witted rag doll character from the old ''Saturday Night Live.''
By the time ''Beloved'' finally reaches its conclusion, Demme's directorial excesses leave the viewer more exhausted than enlightened. Faithful to a fault to the source novel, ''Beloved'' suffers from too much exposition without enough details, too many camera games, too few flashbacks, too little pay-off at the end and too much Oprah. Within ''Beloved'' lies a great movie with a powerful message, but its impact is muffled due to the filmmakers' indulgence and lack of restraint.
© 1998, Ed Johnson-Ott
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