The trailer made this movie seem like the writers were going to paint the 1950s womanhood/pageant-obsessed mother as a villain who doesn't care about what makes Bliss happy... But the film itself did the exact opposite. She was painted as a loving mother, who, despite being misguided, wanted nothing more than a healthy future for her daugher.
I'm really happy that they went that route.
Troll the respawn, Jeremy.
Agreed. In fact it occurs to me it didnt make anyone the enemy. Theres peace made with Oliver and even Maven earns her respect in the end. I think its always dangerous to end a movie with the "everything works out" approach but they seem to have pulled it off without it being sappy or eye rollingly formulaic. Marcia Gay Harden is a brilliant underrated actress in my book (if you havent seen The Dead Girl yet go see it NOW...) and she pulls off the subtle role of being the beauty pageant mother who actually isnt two dimensional and cares about her childs happiness without having to go through some terrible Ive Seen The Light moment. Shes never fully on board but she is accepting because she can see what it means to her daughter. And the letter scene brought it together in the end. Thats all she needed.
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Using words to describe art is like using a screw driver to cut roast beef.