Review of Imitation of Life (1959) by Jennifer E — 02 Dec 2007

I am biased. This film is first "grown-up" movie I remember seeing. I was so proud that I was considered sophisticated enough to watch it by the "grown-ups" in the house. My mom I think.

Imitation of Life is a scathing portrait of materialism in America in the 1950's. Lana Turner effortlessly twist and turns our experience of this film from her first moment on the screen until the credits role. She is extrodinary.

I was maybe 9 or 10 the first time I saw this movie and suddenly recognized the power of fiction to tell truths. I cried and cried at the end both because I understood this story's particular truth and because I now understood that every story held secret truths. There was no turning back.