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Category:    Home > Reviews > Drama > Smooth Talk

Smooth Talk

 

Picture: C+     Sound: C+     Extras: D     Film: B-

 

 

We recently looked at Testament, the impressive full-length film that gave Jane Alexander one of her greatest hours.  Originally produced for PBS’ American Playhouse series, it was theatrically released in 1983.  Smooth Talk was produced a few years later and again, we have a film about women the way we rarely see.  In it, three female teen girlfriends go about town having a good time and are in the process of still trying to find themselves.

 

Connie (Laura Dern) is particularly giddy and wild, not getting along very well with her mother (Mary Kay Place) and even clashing with her sister.  As events of late get tenser, including her unhappiness with some male relationships, Connie encounters a very odd man (Treat Williams) that is trying to seduce her.  However, he is admittedly stalking her up front and has even brought a friend with him.  Instead of seeing the warning signs, she is confused and does not know what to do.  Is it too late for her?

 

Well, things that occur in the film come from the story by Joyce Carol Oates, a writer celebrated for her depiction of the lives of women.  Tom Cole did the screenplay adaptation, but despite documentary filmmaker Joyce Chopra at the helm, the film becomes a bit muddled.  As for the conflict when Williams’ character arrives, it is more of a semi-fantasy that allows viewers (mostly female) resolve certain issues than be totally realistic.  It serves its purpose, but a chapter out of The Women Who Love To Much & The Men That Hate Them could have been worked in more or less for good measure.  As it stands, it is not a bad film, especially considering how regressive filmmaking was becoming at the time.  Good performances all around too.

 

The anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image shows the age of the independent production; with some color deficiency here and there.  Cinematographer James Glennon does deliver a good-looking film under the circumstances, but the lighting is more of a male point of view than director Chopra might have intended.  Still, it is not bad.  This was so indie, that the film was a monophonic release at a time when that old Dolby A-type analog made that rare by this time, so the Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono shows its limits as much a part of age as of the budget limits.  There are no extras, but it is still a rare film for its time with women even today not having the voice in the cinema they should have.  Smooth Talk is worth a look and some discussion of its own.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo


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