Believe it or not, I was not terribly excited to see 1982’s “Sophie’s Choice” until only recently. It was a film I always planned on seeing, if only to see the titular choice that film lovers refer to when saying a decision is impossibly difficult, but I didn’t especially look forward to the experience. Then, I saw Alan J. Pakula’s “All the President’s Men.” I loved that movie, and was intrigued by his other efforts, thus increasing my excitement for this directorial outing. Couple that with a reminder of Adam Kempenaar’s love for this film on an old episode of Filmspotting, and I was ready and willing to watch this movie. For the most part, it lived up to my expectations.
Set primarily in 1947 Brooklyn, the film opens with its narrator, Stingo (Peter MacNicol), traveling to the big city from the south. Stingo wants to be a writer, so he moves to New York to focus on his craft. After he moves into his new living quarters, he meets his upstairs neighbors, Polish immigrant Sophie Zawistowski (Meryl Streep) and her boyfriend Nathan Landau (Kevin Kline). The trio become best friends, but there is more to this couple than meets the eye.
First and foremost, this movie boasts a phenomenal performance from Meryl Streep. I’ve seen three Streep performances now – the …show more content…
In a film that features mainly conversations, Pakula and Almendros use long takes and few camera movements, which allows the performers to do their work and the audience to focus on that excellent work. They use close-ups infrequently, but when they do use them, they are very effective at showing the actors (specifically Streep) in powerhouse emotional moments. The best example of this comes in Sophie’s second flashback when we get a close-up of Streep lit by a beam of moonlight that is strikingly beautiful and
Set primarily in 1947 Brooklyn, the film opens with its narrator, Stingo (Peter MacNicol), traveling to the big city from the south. Stingo wants to be a writer, so he moves to New York to focus on his craft. After he moves into his new living quarters, he meets his upstairs neighbors, Polish immigrant Sophie Zawistowski (Meryl Streep) and her boyfriend Nathan Landau (Kevin Kline). The trio become best friends, but there is more to this couple than meets the eye.
First and foremost, this movie boasts a phenomenal performance from Meryl Streep. I’ve seen three Streep performances now – the …show more content…
In a film that features mainly conversations, Pakula and Almendros use long takes and few camera movements, which allows the performers to do their work and the audience to focus on that excellent work. They use close-ups infrequently, but when they do use them, they are very effective at showing the actors (specifically Streep) in powerhouse emotional moments. The best example of this comes in Sophie’s second flashback when we get a close-up of Streep lit by a beam of moonlight that is strikingly beautiful and