:
Dan Redford,
Mark Ruffalo,
Laura Dern,
more...
:
John J. Curran
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: 
: Warner
: Drama, Independent
: 101 min.
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Two marriages and four lives are brought to a crossroads by infidelity in this drama, based on a pair of short stories by author Andre Dubus. Jack (Mark Ruffalo) is a college professor whose marriage to Terry (Laura Dern) has been going through a rough patch. Beyond the tensions over Terry's failings as a mother and housekeeper, Jack is deeply infatuated with Edith (Naomi Watts), the beautiful wife of his best friend, Hank (Peter Krause), a fellow professor and struggling poet. As it happens, Edith is also attracted to Jack, and they soon begin an affair that Edith is certain will soon be found out. Hank, meanwhile, is a man with a flexible attitude about his own fidelity, and he falls into a relationship with Terry. Before long, all four parties learn about the infidelity of their spouses and friends, with differing reactions; Terry becomes desperate to save her marriage, Jack decides he's in love with Edith, but neither couple is willing to divorce. We Don't Live Here Anymore received its world premiere at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival, where it was honored with the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Larry Gross's screenplay for We Don't Live Here Anymore won him the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at Sundance last year. In an exclusive interview for GreenCine, filmmaker Caveh Zahedi asks Gross about his 25-year-long struggle to get Andre Dubus's stories to the screen. Full article >>
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| No Context? No Contest.
by talltale
December 23, 2004 - 2:36 PM PST
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9 out of 10 members found this review helpful
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| I'm flummoxed that WE DON'T LIVE HERE ANYMORE got the reviews it did but not surprised that it flopped commercially. This is such a tired subject (bickering, unfaithful couples), and it's handled with almost no context at all. We watched this film soon after seeing a new Spanish movie called "The Archimedes Principle" (not yet on DVD, but I sure hope it will be) that featured a remarkably similar situation. The latter movie was terrific, and the difference between the two is due to context. In so many American films, the emphasis is on sex and "feelings"--to the exclusion of almost anything else: politics, economics, society at large or even the community in which the characters live. Most European films acknowledge and explore the world that surrounds the lives of their characters. This lack of context utterly sinks a film like "We Don't Live Here Anymore" because we never learn who these people are and why we should care about them--despite some good acting by the four principles, especially Laura Dern. We see a tad's worth of the two men's work situation, but it's standard and clichéd. All these people do is argue, complain, and copulate. It's a sad situation--as much for the state of the American "independent" film in general, as for this individual, failed attempt. |
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GreenCine Member Rating
(Average 5.64)
59 Votes
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