Review of Oleanna (1994) by J D — 26 Dec 2007

I ALMOST shut this one off about half an hour in. This is an adaptation of a two-person play, so we've just got two people talking for the whole movie, and both characters are pretty unlikeable. Debra Eisenstadt is particularly grating, and part of it may be because of her character, but having seen a few of Mamet's other screen adaptations, part of it may be the actress's competence and the other may be just that Mamet can't direct women (his wife's character in the otherwise great "The Spanish Prisoner" comes to mind).

In any event, I'm glad I stuck with it. If you can get past Mamet's rapid-fire, interrupted, grating dialogue, the themes in this movie are extremely thought-provoking and challenging. Macy is strong here, and through most of the movie, while I only liked him slightly more than Eisenstadt's character, I was "rooting" for him.

Then came the end. And all expectations were shattered. It's a tough one to sit through, but worth it in terms of the questions it raises.