Shot like a TV show - technical review

I read one time where Ron Howard was criticized for shooting movies like they are TV shows, and I never really got that until seeing this film.

Granted, it's basically a Lifetime TV movie in every other respect anyway, but what really makes it feel TV-like to me is that director Jonathan Kaplan gives his characters absolutely no space. Every scene is shot as tightly as possible, as if the intention is to show it on a small screen. In the final scenes, where Andie McDowell is moving some hay, the shot is so tight that the camera has to follow her back and forth like a pan-and-scan transfer, even tho the movie was shot in 1.85:1 (flat).

Worse, the camera never lingers on anything. It captures the action and moves on immediately. There are almost no overviews. Establishing shots are almost all done by focusing on a small element and then opening up rather than showing an overview and then cutting in.

The notable exception is the hanging scene at the beginning, where we get a nice overview and a lingering dolly around Madeleine Stowe. But even then she fills the frame so completely that it's claustrophobic. Of all things a western should be, claustrophobic isn't one of them. It's most obvious in the bathing scene. It's one thing for actresses to refuse to do a nude scene, but couldn't they get a couple of body doubles and open up the shots? The whole scene is shot almost entirely in close up.

On the other hand, I have to agree with those posters who say Drew Barrymore has never looked better. All the women look great, but she is just stunning in this.