Pros: An entrancing, sometimes hard-edged fable of how a "challenged" daughter educated her family.
Cons: Some object to the upper class setting and a possible homage to THE GRADUATE.
The Bottom Line: Juliet Lewis in THE OTHER CHILD helps us to see a "challenged" young woman as a real human being -- in essential matters just like us. Recommended.
Epinions and iMac work in mysterious ways! Yesterday THE OTHER SISTER (1998) suddenly appeared on my screen, caused presumably by a nervous finger on the modem. That accident reminded me the title had also popped into my mind last week, prompting me to revise it onto my list of Best Movies of the 1990's. I then spent a couple of hours on a review, went for a drink of water, came back to find the work gone. I reconstructed and finished the review, but in submitting a finished copy, I ran into the "dreaded Server Delay" and, after half an hour, lost it all again. iMac is telling me one thing, but Epinions may be saying something else.
Let's see who wins.
In prep yesterday, I read 35, mostly brief, reviews of THE OTHER SISTER, two dozen of which expressed something like this: "When I sat down with my [boyfriend, husband, girlfriend, wife, brother, sister, mother, grandmother, friends], I had no idea we would so enjoy this comedy [drama, fantasy, love story, examination of a dysfunctional family, inspiring spiritual story] about the growth of a "mentally challenged" young woman in San Francisco, starring Juliet Lewis, Giovanni Ribisi, Diane Keaton and Tom Skerritt."
After seeing the film at an advance screening over a year ago, I had much the same reaction.
Director Garry Marshall has a penchant for ingratiating himself to his audience by romanticizing harsh subjects: (callgirl romance, PRETTY WOMAN (1990); ex-con romance, FRANKIE AND JOHNNY (1991); dead letter reading, DEAR GOD (1996). In THE OTHER SISTER, as with THE FLAMINGO KID early in his career, he has a situation that is unique, yet so universal, and a cast that gives their characters such heartfelt life, that his few lapses of taste may be excused.
THE OTHER SISTER is unique, I think, because seldom has a film taken up how a family deals with a "retarded" child, and never, in my experience, with the even more delicate subject of the maturation a female child in this condition.
The film is universal because, as we pass the lip of the New Millenium, harried by economic forces which fragment human values, many families must contend with a boy or girl who doesn't fit in (can't hack it, is disturbed, can't find work, is failing in school, may be headed for jail or recently death row). Place our heroine Carla (Juliet Lewis) in any one of these situations, and the film would still work as well.
Indeed, a considerable reason for the success of this film is that viewers, as they sit down, do not realize Juliet Lewis, thought of as a rather limited actress, has played all these roles. From the start of her career at age 13 in MY STEPMOTHER IS AN ALIEN (1988) through the disappointing EVENING STAR (1996), this hard working actress, with her asymmetrical face and unconventional figure, has essayed a range of characters, such as a troubled teenager (CAPE FEAR, 1991), prostitute/victim (ROMEO LIES BLEEDING, 1993), a serial killer (NATURAL BORN KILLERS, 1994), among mainstream and peripheral figures in our society. Just looking into her eyes, one can tell she has had her own share of difficulties. She has made 17 movies, three TV series, and she is only 25.
Critics have tended to marginalize her performances in films that succeeded, and to blame her for the failures, but in THE OTHER SISTER, she is believable, touching, funny, brave and endearing as a "different child" who, in the span of the movie, establishes her independence, developes her artistic interests, goes to a school she likes, finds meaningful work, marries a young man of her choice, reconciles with her family, and joins in the conventional rituals of our civilization. In other words, she becomes an admirable, productive citizen of whom any family should be proud.
Juliet Lewis' identification with this "mentally challenged" young woman is well nigh perfect. Her every gesture, giggle, frown, puzzlement, resolution, despair and joy suggests a fully realized human being, without a hint of condescension. In a film where so many things might have gone so wrong it is no mean feat that Juliet Lewis (and Director Marshall) carry it all off so well.
Much credit should also go to the Prince Charming of our story, Giovanni Ribisi, another rising star not from the trodden path. He is just the right foil for Lewis, and contributes a touch of individuality for his character, while embracing his Princess in a dance of personalities. Diane Keaton, as the frantic, mortified mother, and Tom Skerritt as a father struggling with guilt-driven alcoholism, have not given better performances in years. (Some viewers did not like the film because Keaton's mother was so nervous and destructive -- which was the point of her character.) Finally, the young actresses who play Carla's embarrassed sisters, though working with slightly underdeveloped roles, provide interesting subplots.
Some critics have attacked THE OTHER SISTER. They charge it is an upper class San Francisco fairy tale, where the heroine comes from Piedmont and rents a view apartment in the City with no trouble. They charge it borrows its climax and denouement from the wedding scene in THE GRADUATE (1964).
The first charge is true, but well-off families have troubles, too. And there is a small truth in the charge concerning THE GRADUATE, Mike Nichols' brittle, arch satire about the progress of a naive young man toward rejection of society is a much different film. The final shot of the rebellious couple (Dustin Hoffman and Katharine Ross) suggests they are lonely and afraid in a world they have newly made. Ribisi and Lewis, on the other hand, want to join the society that rejects them; they simply want to do it in their own way.
Given a society that is producing increasing numbers of children "challenged" in some way, please join me and at least a couple of dozen Epinion Reviewers who have found a real sleeper. If you have ever belonged to a family or have the proverbial ounce of compassion, you will enjoy renting this film.
P.S. I thought it a nice parting gift (typically Marshall) that Juliet Lewis was allowed to sing a song over the end titles, suggesting a possible fulfillment of Carla's Artistic Ambitions.
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Juliette Lewis and Giovanni Ribisi perform admirably as developmentally different young adults who meet and fall in love. As the friends and family of...More at Family Video
Though Carla has many challenges, her biggest is to prove her independence to a more-than-slightly over protective mother. So, when she falls in love ...More at HotMovieSale.com
24-year-old Carla (Juliette Lewis) has, after years of special education at a private boarding school, successfully exceeded many of her limitations, ...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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