Susan Hated Literature

Sep 10 2006

Little Miss Sunshine

Published by Fence under Moving Pictures

Dir: Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris
Writ: Michael Arndt

Abigail Breslin - Olive
Greg Kinnear - Richard
Paul Dano - Dwayne
Alan Arkin - Grandpa
Toni Collette - Sheryl
Steve Carell - Frank

Families are a source of much amusement and not a little tragedy. Especially when your father is a motivational speaker, whose â€œ9 steps to winningâ€? doesnâ€™t seem to be working, your uncle is an attempted suicide, and your brother is a wannabe fighter pilot who has taken a vow of silence and so hasnâ€™t spoken in months. Not to mention a heroin snorting grandfather. Not exactly the most functional of families. But when Olive, a little girl who dreams of winning beauty pageants, gets a chance to compete for the Little Miss Sunshine title, the entire family is forced into helping her achieve her dream.

I donâ€™t want to give away too much about this film. In a way the plot isnâ€™t really important. Instead it is the characters that are important. Their relationships with one another, and their quirks and faults.

I really enjoyed this film, it is funny and moving at the same time. Yes every now and then things get a little too â€œkookyâ€?, but at the same time it all works. The humour is great, one-liners and visual gags. The situations are somewhat forced, but it doesnâ€™t really matter. It all works.

There is also a satirical aspect to the film, but it isnâ€™t particularly cutting satire, it is all good humoured and just plain nice. On the surface it seems as though it going to be a dark comedy, but although there is death, and suicide, and even a hint of paedophilia, but it isnâ€™t dark. Not really. It is too good natured and feel good to be dark in the strictest sense. It takes the middle ground, but it isnâ€™t a middle of the road film.

I enjoyed every moment of Little Miss Sunshine; from the out and out funny moments to the touching, moving moments. Highly recommended.

IMDb | Inside Pulse | jane dark’s sugarhigh

Tags: 8 Stars, Abigail Breslin, Alan Arkin, beauty pagent, comedy, Family, fun, Greg Kinnear, humour, Jonathan Dayton, Little Miss Sunshine, Michael Arndt, moving, Paul Dano, Steve Carell, Toni Collette, touching, Valerie Faris

9 responses so far

Jul 06 2005

We3

Published by Fence under Books

ISBN: 1401204953
Author: Frank Quitely & Grant Morrison
DDC: 741.5973

I heard about this comic over at The Woolamaloo Gazette, and when I took a look on the forbiddenplanet site it was quite cheap around nine euro I think, so I impulse purchased.

The plot is sort of Homeward Bound meets violence, death and the army. Three animals have been modified, equipped with armour, guns and taught how to speak, and are employed by the USAF as assassins. But the time has come for them to be decomissioned.

The rest of the book is their attempt to escape, and in the words of 1 we3 home now.

Sounds a bit Disney-esque, and it could easily have been quite “ah, purty animals go home.” But it isn’t. The animals don’t really say all that much. How much conversation can you expect from a dog, a cat and rabbit? So a lot of the book lets the artwork do the story-telling. And very effectively, imo.

I mentioned in my review of The Astonishing X-Men that I’m not a huge comic book/graphic novel reader, but that’ll change if I find more like this.

This is a very sad, moving book, and almost every other review I’ve read of it mentions how affecting it is. So I won’t say “enjoy”, but I do think it is worth picking up.

10/10, comic, graphic novel, sci fi