SUNDANCE 2006: flannel pajamas
This is the story of a relationship. It begins with a first date, moves on to the courtship, the proposal, the marriage, and eventually the separation and divorce. Most of FLANNEL PAJAMAS is comprised of dialogue between Stuart (Justin Kirk) and Nicole (Julianne Nicholson). We get to experience their relationship and everything that comes with it in a series of snippets.
Normally this is my kind of film. It reminded me of Bergman’s SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE, except for this film did not work. The biggest complaint was in the writing. Jeff Lipsky (writer/director) based this film on his own failed marriage and I believe that is where most of the problems came from. There is not the necessary perspective that I writer must have.
I felt like most of the film, he was being judgmental of Nicole’s character and writing her as ungrateful and not a very good person. Stuart, on the other hand, was overly generous and gave at all time. I found him to be pathetic and I never believed his emotional state in the film. In a film like this one, being real is a must and that is where FLANNEL PAJAMAS fell flat for me. It felt fake.
Kirk and Nicholson were very good in the roles. I do not fault them for what they were given to play. This is not a bad film, just one that missed the mark. It is an example of why a personal story is not always the best kind to make as a filmmaker… telling a story requires a certain perspective that I felt was lacking in FLANNEL PAJAMAS.
posted by Humby | 6:48 PM
2 Comments:
My husband and I just watched it. He's 29, I'm 23. I thought Nicole was just completely ungrateful for everything Stuart did for her. My husband really loves me and does a lot for me so that I can be happy and sometimes I act ungrateful like Nicole acted for half the movie. I am not so sure Nicole ever loved Stuart, though. If anything this movie made my heart swell with gratitude for the amazing man I married. (some of the stuff, like when stuart paid for their wedding and drove tess back to the airport and then said how tired he was-- nicole then asked to stop somewhere for some rhubarb pie and sulked when he didn't want to..) my husband was like, "ah see!!" and I did see. I've been reading reviews of this movie and some people say Stuart wasn't "believable" or that he was "pathetic" in some way. I think people just have low standards about how a guy should/could treat a woman. Stuart was willing to help Nicole in every way and he just wanted to be responsible and wait to have a child. She basically sucked in the relationship. She was selfish and never tried to think about how he felt. The movie really inspired me to appreciate all my husband does for me every day!!
Anyway, my whole point is that it was VERY real to my husband and I. We talked about every last aspect of life together before we married, though. (we only knew each other 6 months when we did it and knew from week one of dating we'd found "the one") SO we haven't had any problems with money/children etc. I thought the movie rang true and I was also grateful we talked about important stuff like kids before marriage.
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