Review of Lane 1974 (2017) by Dawn M — 02 Oct 2017
Lane 1974 is a film about the emotional toll of the sexual revolution, a story filtered through the perspective of Lane, a soulful, watchful pre-pubescent girl. Its gorgeous cinematography, the exquisite, subtle acting of its lead, and its restrained dialogue that expertly renders the "mundane" everyday, all work to support the film's dominate note - the pathos of the unsaid.
The film's unusual quietness and leisurely pace expose the betrayals of a cultural revolution and its promises of freedom.This is a world in which hypocrisies abound, in which ostensible pleasures appear as anger and indifference.
While the adults in her world embody authoritarianism in another guise, practicing various forms of neglect, Lane and her friends console themselves with daydreams of a more stable future. But conflicts among the parents threaten the sustaining solidarity of the children.
Lane 1974 shows us that to be utterly "free" is to be abandoned and alone, a pointed reminder of dangers in our own historical moment, in which freedom from regulations, still pushed by the Republicans, could make us free - to perish.
This review of Lane 1974 (2017) was written by Dawn M on 02 Oct 2017.
Lane 1974 has generally received positive reviews.
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