After the love it/loathe it rock-spandex wonder of Velvet Goldmine, writer/ director Todd Haynes' Oscar-nominated melodrama is equally idiosyncratic, if rather less interesting.
Julianne Moore is excellent as a '50s housewife whose husband (Dennis Quaid) is playing away for the home team, leaving her to a socially frowned-upon friendship with her black gardener (Dennis Haysbert). A beautiful pastiche, rather than parody, of Douglas Sirk's studio-subverting oeuvre - - especially the sudsy All That Heaven Allows - - it's ultimately a rather unengaging experience. A film fanatic's formalist exercise that's only worth watching if you know what that means.
DVD Extras:
A blah-de-blah Making Of is accompanied by a shonky five-minute Haynes/Moore Q&A and the 26-minute Anatomy Of A Scene, which breaks down the lush party where Quaid loses it. The director's commentary is of most interest, though, the talkative Haynes proving an urbane host. Quoting Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Sirk, he says: ""Only things that are doomed can be so painfully tender. True happiness never lasts."" Cheery.
