| HeraldNet - Snohomish County's online news source |
 WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2010 4:51 am |
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Entertainment 
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'Married Life': Characters count as much as suspense Using limited means, "Married Life" conjures up a particular moment in the late 1940s. This is not a big-budget movie, so the details -- highball glasses, handsome clothes, cigarettes -- conjure up the period.That's one of the key attractions for this unusual, grown-up movie. It's based on a 1950s novel called "Five Roundabouts to Heaven" by John Bingham, a man who was long involved in the British secret service (and mentored John le Carre; in fact, le Carre says he modeled his famous spy George Smiley after Bingham). The title change suggests that director Ira Sachs has more on his mind than the suspense plot. But the suspense is rather well-handled. A successful man, Harry (Oscar-winner Chris Cooper), is disenchanted with his marriage. He confides to his best friend Richard (Pierce Brosnan) that his wife Pat (Patricia Clarkson) lacks soul. In fact, she's mostly interested in sex. Poor Harry has grander needs, which are now focused on a young war widow, Kay (Rachel McAdams, of "The Notebook"), with whom he's having an affair. This would be easy to shrug off as a midlife crisis, except that Harry is convinced his wife couldn't handle a divorce. It would be much kinder, he concludes, if he just quietly killed her. There's another complication, which is that Richard, a rogue of the highest order, is also smitten with Kay. Harry, not the sharpest tool in the shed, doesn't suspect a thing. Director Sachs, who made the fascinating mood piece "Forty Shades of Blue," takes a different tack here. The movie hits the eye like a studio movie of its era, with a foursquare, slightly over-lit look. In some shots, Pierce Brosnan looks exactly like Fred MacMurray in the classic film noir "Double Indemnity." Yet the attitude feels modern and open. The characters played by Brosnan and Clarkson, in particular, are intriguing beyond the machinations of the plot, people whose attitudes belong in a different era. Strange film, but its low-key approach plays well. And it continues Brosnan's terrific post-007 run (including "The Matador" and "Seraphim Falls"). He still seems to be wearing the excellent threads from the Bond days, and he still knows how to handle a martini. |
- Sorry, Hawkeye; M*A*S*H gets bowled over
- Former Whidbey student shot
- County archive software paid for but waiting for set-up
- Ruling expected on Sultan beating statement
- ‘Roadkill’ caucus seeks a voice for centrist Democrats
- Police seek witnesses in two accidents
- PAWS calls out for critter care-givers
- Boeing has a busy test schedule
- Ex-Boeing engineer jailed for espionage
- Morning mystery: What happened to House Bill 3181?
- Lynnwood sets height limit on grass: 8 inches
(10) - State Senate votes to toss I-960's tax-raising hurdle (9)
- School levies in Snohomish County all passing, Marysville bond failing (6)
- A tidy lawn could be law in Lynnwood (4)
- County archive software paid for but waiting for set-up (3)
- Vote on school levies by Tuesday (3)
- Two suspects sought in Everett shooting that injured two (3)
- Lynnwood makes law against too tall lawns (3)
- Schools do well in levy elections (2)
- Snohomish County's bargain housing won't last (2)
- Jackson girls outlast Meadowdale owdale
- OBT raises barre in children’s program
- Junior firefighters
- School levies passing
- Mavericks topple Wolfpack
- Get a second look at Second City Feb. 13
- Sports Briefs
- Warriors advance 11 to regional meet
- Arlington's Cascade Valley Hospital celebrates expansion, national award and 100 years of service
- Business Licences Feb. 2010
- Technology tips for launching your own business
- Business Events Feb. 2010
- Tech Talk: No excuse today for going without a Web site
- State already raising fees and rates that restrict business growth
- Some legislators again targeting people’s initiative petition rights
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