Hi, Amber...
It’s funny, the way an audience forms an impression of a performer. The first time I heard your name was when they started the publicity for JOAN OF ARCADIA. Never saw an episode of the show, but by the time it went on the air, I’d read all the expected magazine pieces that introduced you and explained the show, all the inevitable hype that comes with launching a TV series. Because I never saw the show, I knew who you were without actually having an opinion about you as an actor. I knew your father’s work, obviously. I mean... WEST SIDE STORY? THE HAUNTING? TWIN PEAKS? Your dad is unavoidable for any serious film fan.
Looking back at your resume, I guess I must have seen you in things before JOAN. You did a BUFFY episode, and I certainly saw all of those. You did a BOSTON PUBLIC, and I’m pretty sure I saw most of those. You’re in THE RING, evidently. I definitely saw that.
THE SISTERHOOD OF TRAVELING PANTS... didn’t see it. It’s here in the house. My wife’s played it more than once. But still... I’m aware of it without having seen it.
So when I saw STEPHANIE DALEY and NORMAL ADOLESCENT BEHAVIOR within a few weeks of each other, I consider the collective impact of the films a surprise because I really didn’t know what you were capable of. Consider me aware now. I’m paying attention. I mean... after those two performances, I have to, don’t I?
Hugs,
“Moriarty”
This is my way of saying that STEPHANIE DALEY is starting to open right now in limited release. It’s in NY now and LA this weekend. It’ll be adding cities in the weeks ahead. It’s absolutely worth seeking out. Writer/director Hilary Brougher put together a small, quiet time bomb of a movie, a film that punches hard, but that takes its time in doing so. Tamblyn stars as Stephanie, and in the opening moments of the film, she’s found on a ski slope, bleeding from between her legs, dazed, in distress. We learn in fairly rapid order that she was pregnant, that no one knew she was pregnant, and that the newborn was found dead. Stephanie is accused of intentionally concealing the pregnancy and of killing the baby on purpose.
Raw place to start, right? But it could be a simple Lifetime movie in the wrong hands. Tilda Swinton plays Lydie, a forensic psychologist who is assigned to examine Stephanie and size her up for trial. Complicating issues is the fact that Lydie is pregnant. It’s her second pregnancy, following a disastrous miscarriage that almost ruined her marriage to Paul (Timothy Hutton). Melissa Leo (always so great on HOMICIDE) and Jim Gaffigan (in a surprisingly serious performance) play Stephanie’s parents, baffled and horrified by what happened, trying to make sense of their own daughter and their marriage.
As Brougher takes us back into Stephanie’s life, she’s careful to never tell us what Stephanie is thinking. Is she an innocent? Is there a calculation to her carelessness? Does she understand what’s happening to her? Tamblyn is called upon to handle some extremely heavy material here, and she never once tips her hand, never once looks like she’s acting. Stephanie works because we believe that she could make the mistakes she’s making, and because we don’t hate her for making them. It’s toward the end of the film that Tamblyn really turns it up, though. When we finally see Stephanie give birth, we’ve earned it. We’ve seen the effects of this moment on a family, a community, and on Stephanie herself. But it still doesn’t make sense. How could she not know? What would that experience be like? What was she thinking? Brougher puts you in the bathroom stall with her and never lets you off the hook. She never gives you enough distance to shake off the sequence. Tamblyn plays every bit of the horror and confusion and pain, and she caught me so off-guard... struck me as so real... that I couldn’t sleep afterwards. I saw the movie late one night in my office, and normally it’s right to bed after the film is over. But instead, I just stood by Toshi’s bed, watched him in the nightlight for a little while. Watched my wife sleeping nearby. In my experience with my son, birth was a miracle, a beautiful thing to be part of. It’s easy to forget that is not always true, and for some people, it’s anything but a miracle. This film isn’t the sort of thing that would ever compete with the giant blockbusters that will be rolling out in the next few weeks, but it’s a wonderful antidote, the exact opposite of that kind of thing. This is a small film, intimate, about very real things. But it’s the unbound emotional truth of it that makes this just as exciting in its way as any $200 million film could be.
I’ve written already about my admiration for NORMAL ADOLESCENT BEHAVIOR here on the site, and we ran a pretty cool little teaser clip here as well. Well, the film’s playing Tribeca next week, and I want to ask if any of you see it, write in. Let me know what you thought.
Neither of these films is going to be in the top ten on the weeks they open, but considered together, they suggest to me that Tamblyn is a much more serious talent than I would have guessed. She isn’t playing anything like the same role in either of these movies, but in both, I get a sense of just how much power she’s capable of as an actor. If you’re like me... and if she’s been pretty much under the radar for you so far... check out STEPHANIE DALEY in theaters right now and in the coming weeks, and keep an ear out for NORMAL ADOLESCENT BEHAVIOR, wherever it finally shows up. I have a feeling you’ll be as impressed as I am.
Drew McWeeny, Los Angeles
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