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How entertaining? ★★★☆☆
Thought provoking? ★★☆☆☆ 15 March 2012
This article is a review of FRANCINE. |
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"It's going to be quite an adjustment, I'm sure you're going to do fine."
After winning the Best Supporting Actress Oscar Melissa Leo probably could have settled for a massive payday on a big blockbuster. Instead she has gone for an ultra low-budget character piece, and delivers another fantastic performance. We first see the titular Francine (Leo) in prison just as she is about to be released. Her inability to easily communicate with people suggests she has been incarcerated a long time; or something within her personality to be buttoned-down acerbated by prison. Francine is quickly let go from her first job working in a supermarket. Working in the pet department, she discovers her affinity to animals and starts to collect strays. There is a naturalism to the presentation of the events that reminds me of Kelly Reichardt’s WENDY AND LUCY. The camerawork and cinematography do not distract from the excellent performances.
I think Leo is in every scene. Watching Francine not able to bridge the gap when people attempt to reach out to her heightens our desire for her to somehow (re-) adjust. It’s a different take on post-prison life.
Much fuss was made about the over-rated SHAME, but FRANCINE is a far more interesting take on obsession and intimacy issues. There is a mixture of the sad, funny, disturbing and disgusting, and none of it is signposted; all the more impressive as this is the fiction feature debut for directors Brian M. Cassidy and Melanie Shatzky.
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