Feelings don't always tickle: Ordinary People

By Janni

This movie is FREAKING BRILLIANT.  When I first saw it, I didn’t realize it had won 4 Oscars (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Screenplay Based On Material From Another Medium).  All I knew was that I had just sat through two hours of painful, beautiful, heartbreaking LIFE… and that I couldn’t stop crying.

This was Robert Redford’s directorial debut and it is nothing less than inspiring.  He makes sure the explosive emotion of each character resides just below the surface through most of the film.  Every time painful feelings threaten to ignite a family member, they are swiftly snuffed out.   The lack of connection between characters is so well done it’s disturbing and what ISN’T being said is every bit as important as what is.

Most of the scenes do not use background music, which only emphasizes the awkwardness and silence torturing the family.  Even the opening credits, for the most part, are without sound.  The music only makes its appearance in the brief moments of connection between characters or when an individual realizes the truth of his or her own emotion.

The acting by Timothy Hutton is so honest and real that it draws the viewer in immediately (and won him an Oscar).  Judd Hirsch (also nominated for an Oscar), Donald Southerland, and Mary Tyler Moore are also perfectly cast, though I confess I was disappointed with MTM in her final scene of the movie.

I would be remiss to not mention that this movie is filmed in Chicago’s North Shore, so the glow of personal connection does come over me.  Trinity (my alma mater) is mentioned briefly, I’ve ridden those escalators at Northbrook Court Mall, and I know the deer that Conrad sings to as he walks through Lake Forest.  I’ve spoken to it once or twice myself.

But those personal connections are merely icing on the cake.  No, they’re more like the sprinkles that go on the icing on the cake.  The movie is so good in and of itself that, even if you have never heard of Highland Park or been to Chicago in the fall, you will be touched.  If we’re talking emotional movies where counselors play important roles, Ordinary People kicks Good Will Hunting’s ass!