NYFF 53 REVIEW: CAROL
Director Todd Haynes has returned with a fascinating new film CAROL. Adapted of Patricia Highsmith’s 1952 novel The Price of Salt (written under the pseudonym Claire Morgan), Highsmith told a tale of unconditional love set in a time where that kind of love was heavily supported, as long as it was between two different sexes. Here, we have two women finding each other and falling madly towards that piecing sensation of happiness. However, the 1950's were not a time of enlightenment and so this love affair was sadly a hidden one.
Taking place in New York City during Christmas (magical in real life but even more magical on celluloid), Carol tells the tale of Therese Belivet (Rooney Mara) an aspiring photographer who works at the counter of a department store. A striking woman named Carol Aird (Cate Blanchett) comes to her counter and the love story begins. They sense the same longing in each other without saying so outright. In fact, Director Haynes spends a large portion of the film relying on camera angles, shadows and light, and long stares to really make us feel the desire that sits within these women. The opening scene is shown to us from one angle but when repeated from another we get an entirely new sense of what was actually happening there. Perspective is key, and the desire they hold for each other must be kept secret, until of course it no longer can and suspicion from those around them (Blanchett's husband for instance) starts shattering their hidden, beautiful world.
Mara and Blanchett are magnetic and both of their performances cannot live without each other. They are both so richly defined yet bounce on each other with the support and grace you come to expect from a lover. The world they live in is cruel and unkind, thoughtless and regressive, but their longing for each other is anything but. Where it takes them, and what they must go through to get there is a heart aching tale that has bravely been transported onto the screen, expertly so. Haynes, along with glorious cinematography by Edward Lachman and a striking costume design by Sandy Powell have brought to life a glorious tale. Grab a tissue and head on their journey with them.
VERDICT: MUST SEE
BASED ON THE NOVEL BY Patricia Highsmith SCREENPLAY BY Phyllis Nagy DIRECTED BY Todd Haynes STARRING Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Kyle Chandler, Sarah Paulson
Playing as part of the 2015 53rd Annual New York Film Festival. For tickets and information: http://www.filmlinc.org/nyff2015/
MATEO MORENO recently won a bet on who could hold their breath the longest underwater. He won the bet, having beat local loudmouth Jimmy "Thunderbird" Thomas with a record breaking "fourteen minutes." True, part of that time was him unconscious and the other part was him being revived, but he still counts it, and is now $20 richer. Take THAT Thunderbird! He currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.