Viewed in
2013
Formats
HDTV
Premise
A heart-broken family (Donald Sutherland, Mary Tyler Moore, Timothy Hutton) try to deal with a death of a family member. Directed by Robert Redford.
Loved
Strong performances and characters.
Disliked
Pachelbel's "Canon in D Major".
Thoughts
It held up very well, thanks to some great characters and writing.
Within the first half hour, I saw son, father, and mother as a real family, each member with distinct voices and genuine flaws. Through strong writing and acting, I believed them and their unique, subtle conflicts that bubbled up as time passed.
As the ostracized, self-blaming son and the uncommunicative father, Hutton and Sutherland, respectively, were instantly sympathetic and realized. On the other hand, Moore had an incredible degree of difficulty, given her TV baggage, and somehow managed to make an unlikable character empathetic.
In general, the minor characters were well-fleshed out as well. I really liked Elizabeth McGovern as the interesting love interest for Hutton. Judd Hirsch was arguably too angelic and one-dimensional, but really not a concern for minor characters.
The story had some nice twists. It technically didn't follow the conventional movie structure, but it still moved effortlessly in terms of pace and emotions. A lesser film would've been compelled to force our hero, Hutton, to win "the big game" (in this case a swim meet) while trying to win the girl back. Instead, it carefully built up the emotional payoff by chipping off puzzle pieces of the family deftly, culminating in powerful moment that didn't require a single word uttered.
While Hutton's payoff worked great, I felt Sutherland and Moore's wasn't as strong. This was where the unconventional/novel-derived story structure wasn't able to help. After feeling the emotion high of Hutton's payoff, I expected the film to tie up the ending quickly, so it was harder to keep investing in the couple's resolution. I also recognize that I might've had trouble relating to the parents's strifes, given my young-ish stage in life.
I found it fascinating that the story was about affluent Americans, as noted by their expansive houses and boating habits, the movie was so well done that I was still able to relate to the characters' issues. In the 1%/99% and #FirstWorldProblems culture of the 2010's, I wonder if focus-grouped studios would've tried to change the financial circumstances of the setting. Another amusing thing was getting used to how young Hutton and Sutherland were.
For some reason, I found the use of Pachelbel really corny, reminiscent of 1970's flicks forcing a pop song into the movie.
Ordinary People was a fantastic and moving drama thanks to great acting, memorable characters and haunting story. There's so much genuine character that there's probably new nuggets to unearth upon every re-watch.
