20140205: Drama Review--The Man Who Cried

The Man Who Cried

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. British/French live action feature length film, 2000, rated R, 99 minutes.
2. IMDB: 6.2/10.0 from 10,979 audience ratings.  Spoken word is in English and multiple languages.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 35% on the meter; 59% liked it from 25,557 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.3/5.0 from 341,783 audience ratings.
5. Written and directed by: Sally Potter.
6. Starring: Johnny Depp as Cesar, Christina Ricci as Suzi, Cate Blanchette as Lola, Oleg Yankovskiy as Father, John Turturro as Dante Dominio, Harry Dean Stanton as Felix Perlman.


2. Setup and Plot
1. Fegele (later Suzi) grows up in Russia in a small Jewish settlement.  Her father leaves the family to seek his fortune in America.  After he has left, the settlement is burnt to the ground, and many die.  After reports of this, the father does not look for his daughter.


2. Suzi gets evacuated to England, and learns other languages there.  When she is a bit older, she expresses an interest in singing and show business, and gets a berth in Paris.  There she meets Lola, another expat Russian; Cesar, a gypsy; Dante, an Italian opera singer; Felix, who runs the musicals that Dante stars in.


3. Paris is OK for Suzi for a while, but eventually the Nazis get closer, and closer, then take Paris.  After a period of occupation, it becomes clear that she should leave. She would like to stay with Cesar, but he advises her to go.  Lola gets tickets for Lola and Suzi, and they get on a ship headed for America.


4. Do they make the crossing safely?  Does Suzi find her father in America?


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Russian Jewish singer makes her way to America during the Nazi period in Europe.
2. Three stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 9/10 Fine looking picture for the most part.


2. Sound: 8/10 OK.


3. Acting: 5/10 Kudos to Johnny Depp, Christina Ricci, Harry Dean Stanton, and Cate Blanchette for individual performances.  The chemistry between characters seemed a bit lacking, though.  John Turturro was a major detriment, especially the dreadfully fake lip-synching.  His portrayal of a racist bully was fairly good, but did not make up for the rotten performance as a singer.


4. Screenplay: 5/10 This was a nice 15 minute story stretched over 99 minutes.