Sweetie (1990)

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Good movie but grossly overrated

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The film is bizarre. We're introduced to our main character through fragmented shots of her from her knees down, then of her face off-center, and of her feet while walking on cracked pavement. We also see her walking the sidewalk past manicured bushes and trees, a shot that is repeated throughout the movie.While the opening credits are playing, we hear soulful music. Then, the music stops and contrasts with the stark bleakness of shots that immediately make us feel off-center. Like something isn't right. As an audience, we don't see the whole picture. We are at the mercy of the cinematographer just as much as the narrator, waiting for them to divulge the story, a story for which we somehow know there is much to come.Immediately after the opening credits we are told by Kay, our narrator and protagonist, of her fear of trees. In particular, the tree in the backyard of her parents' home where her sister was "princess;" she feared the roots of the tree would reach the house. This tree is to serve as a metaphor for the entire film.The first few scenes lead us to believe this film is about romance and destiny as Kay visits a psychic who tells her about the man with a question mark on his forehead. She finds the man and they begin their romance on the concrete floor of a parking garage.Tree Oblivious to Kay's fear of trees, the ever-innocent boyfriend plants a sapling in their backyard to commemorate their 13 month (I think) anniversary. As an audience, we didn't get to experience any of this first year with them, but we are aware that something has changed. Their backyard, a barren ground full of cracks, is a reflection of Kay's soul. She has kept herself unattached from others; the coworkers at work who mock her, her family and, after this tree incident, her boyfriend. But this tree is an infestation on Kay's life.The sapling is a foreshadowing of Kay's loss of control as her sister, Sweetie, enters her home. As soon as we meet Sweetie, she consumes the attention of all the characters. The life and roots of the tree represent the evils of attention-seeking Sweetie and of Kay's broken childhood coming back to haunt her.Let's not give any more attention to Sweetie.There is something truly unique and charismatic about this film. I didn't leave the film feeling as if the makers tried too hard; they didn't experiment for the sake of feeling like an art film. The cinematic choices made were deliberate and effective. They moved the story forward in ways that a simple plot unfolding could not have. The broken pavement, assumingly from roots beneath, the trees, the escape from civilization. It all worked.More at aMovieaCountryaJourney.com.

"Sweetie" (Australian, 1989): Jane Campion is one of my favorite "newer" film makers. (See "An Angel at my Table" if you like this one!) She has a unique vision on life, and most every aspect of the film is hers - from concept and writing to the directing. Although the production values have a low-budget look, the stories are so good, and so powerful, you quickly overlook this weakness. "Sweetie" is the story of Kay, a highly neurotic young woman who is totally uncomfortable with the "everyday" world. Because of a tea leaf reading, she makes decisions that will greatly affect hers and others lives. Yep, she seems close to crazy. THEN her sister arrives - Sweetie, with a mystery man. Nope, things weren't crazy before… but NOW they are. They couldn't get crazier now. Then their parents come into the picture.

Director Jane Campion once said in an interview that while she was writing "The Piano" she thought that before she made such an adult film like that she would make a smaller and more personal film. So "Sweetie" is her most personal film and its about two sisters. The film starts out about Kay (Karen Colston) who is a shy and somewhat dysfunctional woman who has her tea leaves read and is told to look for signs of love and see's them in her friends fiance'. Somehow she manages to convince him to leave his fiance' and become her boyfriend. Later in the film as the two live together (But no sex!) Kays sister Dawn (Genevieve Lemon) drops in and creates all sorts of havoc. Dawn (AKA Sweetie) is also dysfunctional but mentally ill. Shifts in moods and very erratic behavior dominate the last quarter of the film and its here that we can somewhat see that one of the reasons Kay doesn't get along with Dawn is because she is such a free wheeler and Kay is not. Kay is jealous of this quality that Dawn possesses. The film is very offbeat but also uneven. Kays relationship with her boyfriend is curious. She goes to all the trouble of stealing someone else's boyfriend and when she gets him she is reluctant to be intimate. I wish their could have been more scenes of Kay and Dawn together in a more coherent fashion but mostly its scenes of Kay reacting in frustration at her sisters antics. I did like the way the film ended. The ending seems to establish the overall drive of the film and its leaves a dramatic mark on the story. Film is interesting to watch due to the fact that it was made a few years before "The Piano" so while die hard Campion fans will enjoy this more, the rest of you will have to depend on your open mind.

I can't believe I sat through this whole stupid flick. "Sweetie" takes a long, sober, and plaintive look at the dregs of a splintered Aussie family with two adult daughters one of which is a brittle, simple-minded fat woman, the title character (Lemon). An uneventful, plodding, and peculiar story and Campion brain fart, "Sweetie" offers little save peculiar heaped on peculiar ad nauseam. Terminally boring and not recommendable.