FFWD Weekly
Copyright © 1998 All Rights Reserved.
| FILM A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries is not a film for everyone. Not entirely because of a minimal storyline and unapologetically cerebral approach to an emotional story. And not because it spans two continents and, like the family struggling to find their own home, this film struggles for its own identity. Another vehicle from the Merchant Ivory team, this film throws caution to the wind and lets a very loosely structured narrative take us like thistle in the wind. This looseness is what makes the film unique, yet it is also its greatest flaw. A Soldier's Daughter, like many films based on a book, is episodic - it explores moments in separate spaces in time, often unrelated, as it attempts to weave a tapestry of image and form before the film's climax. Unlike other epics, director/co-writer James Ivory makes no attempt to tie any of these moments together. For a good hour one wonders where the story is going or if it will ever pick up. Finally, something hooks you and you don't care anymore. You watch and just let it happen. It's a demanding piece of work for a viewer. There are many near brilliant moments that transpire as subtext, so subtle that you might miss them altogether. The team of Merchant and Ivory is renowned for having top production value in all of their films. This isn't the case here. The photography and music, usual triumphs for Merchant Ivory, are low-key and nondescript. The acting is good, but with a lumbering Kris Kristofferson carrying the weight of the story on his gnarly shoulders, it's nowhere near as powerful as the work seen at the hands of past efforts, with the likes of Sir Anthony Hopkins pulling the weight. A Soldier's Daughter is dense and serious yet admirably maintains a consistent level of humor throughout. It's a slow, engaging and entertaining film, not brilliant, but certainly a cut above the mainstream. |