
"One of the biggest points of criticism The Ruins has faced is that its characters are one-dimensional and frivolous, this impossible to care about. This brings up one of my biggest pet peeves of movie reviews: the assumption that one most emotionally wrap himself around a film to appreciate it. So not true! But more than that, of course what happens to these characters is so much bigger than they are. They're consumed by a tangle of vines on ancient Mayan ruins. I'm not sure that any character would be a match for that, and it seems foolish to go looking for Anna Karenina in plant food, anyway, you know?"

No more so than in the performance I have raved hither and thither over, Jena Malone's performance as Amy, which I just think is straight-up genius. Malone's an actress I always see so much going on in - an intelligence and weariness beyond her age - and all of that is just gone with Amy. She makes Amy an infantile mess from the out-set, petty and childish and erratic, and having my preconception of Malone going in only makes the performance even more astonishing. She's so different, and so heartbreaking, here.
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1 comment:
You know I'm with you on this. It's gotten increasingly predictable to see the "pretty people with problems" charge thrown against movies that don't deserve it. Like your life is so goddamn interesting that you can't possibly empathize with people in a movie if they're pretty and dumb.
Whatever, imaginary straw reviewers I just created in my mind!
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