PLEASANTVILLE by DeWyNGaLe Rating: A+
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Many films have stuck people into virtual worlds or worlds that aren't their own, but Pleasantville stands out from every one of those films. Many complain that Pleasantville is too much like The Truman Show, which stars Jim Carrey as a man that does not know his life is being filmed. I do not see the resemblance between the two films at all. Pleasantville is much different in almost every way.
David (Tobey Maguire) and Jennifer (Reese Witherspoon) are brother and sister. The two are teenagers that attend high school, who live in a town that is just like any other town. David is the kind of kid who likes to stay at home and watch classic television show re-runs, and Jennifer is the type of kid who likes to have fun and go on dates. One night, the two are fighting over the remote control and they end up destroying it. Suspiciously, a T.V. repair main (Don Knotts) comes to the door immediately after, without even being called. He gives them a new remote. The two begin to fight again, when suddenly, they are warped into the show of "Pleasantville." Pleasantville is a 60s sitcom. Everything is perfect in the world. It centers around one family, the Parkers. They are now Bud and Mary Sue Parker, the two children in the show Pleasantville. Their new parents are Betty (Joan Allen) and George. (William H. Macy)
They conclude they must follow what the two characters did on the shows, so they do not mess up the world of Pleasantville. Mary Sue does not abide by this rule at all. She tries to live the lifestyle she lived before she was sucked into this show as best as she can. She teaches other people what the real world is like as well. She is messing up their entire universe. As the people start to learn there is an outside of Pleasantville, and they do not have to be perfect, they start becoming color, along with the surroundings around them. There is a huge problem though. The city council does not like that the people are becoming color. The leader (J.T. Walsh) has decided to call a meeting. He states he wants the city to stay "pleasant."
As a result of people becoming color, racial tension is growing. This is much like the case between blacks and whites, which is not as strong now, but was earlier on. Signs read "No coloreds" and even the owner of the soda shop, Mr. Johnson (Jeff Daniels), is having his shop torn down by the townspeople because he is a promoter of color.
The performances in Pleasantville are unbelievably strong. There are the outsiders- Reese Witherspoon and Tobey Maguire, who are both very good. Witherspoon in particular does a fine job of acting while she has to go through this terrible nightmare they call "Pleasantville." Tobey Maguire is enjoyable as the know it all about Pleasantville. Then there are the people inside of Pleasantville- Joan Allen, who is marvelous as she goes through the pain of becoming color and making hard decisions, William H. Macy, who is very funny and is much like a person of that era would be, Jeff Daniels, who gives an emotional performance as he deals with the premise of color, Paul Walker, who plays Skip Martin, a boy who learns a lot from Reese Witherspoon, and there is J.T. Walsh who gives a great performance as the man who wants to put an end to all this color business.
The art direction in Pleasantville is simply amazing. The way the color and black and white people are in the same scenes together, walk by each other, and change from black and white to color are all very difficult things to do, and I found this very impressive. Two scenes especially standed out visually to me. 1. The scene in which Tobey Maguire applies black and white make up to Joan Allen to cover up her color. 2. The scene in which Jeff Daniels removes the make up, revealing color, with a napkin in the soda shop.
The moral story in Pleasantville is a wonderful one. Many people look at this film for the special effects, but they do no realize there is a deep meaning to this film. If you look deep inside yourself, you will find who you really are and that you are a very colorful person. You aren't the same as everyone else. The people of Pleasantville realized this and then they became color.
This film should have been a huge Academy Award winner. Unfortunately, it was only nominated for a few, and did not win any of the awards. If I were in charge of the Academy, Pleasantville would have been nominated for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor- William H. Macy, Best Supporting Actor- Jeff Daniels, Best Supporting Actress- Joan Allen, Best Supporting Actress- Reese Witherspoon, Best Director- , Best Dramatic Score (it was nominated), Visual Effects, Art Direction (it was nominated), Costume Design (it was nominated), and Best Original Screenplay. I think the reason it wasn't nominated for many of these awards is because many people took this movie as a rip off of The Truman Show.
The Bottom Line- An inspirational story with flawless performances is quite pleasant, don't you think?
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