Sundance Film Festival
PARK CITY -- In "Iron Jawed Angels", Katja von Garnier, who in 1997 directed one of Germany's biggest hits, "Bandits", brings her dynamic, rock 'n' roll style to a subject that is not only American but historical to boot. The story ranges from 1912 to 1920 when a group of fiercely dedicated young suffragettes band together to cajole and embarrass a supposedly democratic country into adapting a Constitutional amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote. It is bracing to see a period drama told with such a contemporary style that includes a highly mobile camera, vivid colors and techniques such as a "speed ramp," where the camera speed changes during the same shot.
While it's disappointing that, as the suffrage struggle grows more protracted, the film gradually becomes more conventional, that initial charge will undoubtedly pull younger viewers into the HBO film, which premiered here at Sundance. Certainly the film could not be timelier as it deals with the problem of politically confronting a wartime president, who is not above playing the "traitor" card and more than willing to incarcerate American citizens on dubious charges, then deny them access to legal counsel.
At the film's focal point are two real-life women. Hilary Swank plays the cerebral and charismatic Alice Paul while Frances O'Connor is the fashionable, good-natured Lucy Burns. They team up to head the Washington D.C. committee for the old-line National American Women's Suffrage Association (NAWSA). However, their inflammatory methods not only rub the new president, Woodrow Wilson (Ben Gunton), the wrong way, this confrontational approach ruffles the feathers of staid and conservative NAWSA leaders Carrie Chapman Catt (Anjelica Huston in a performance rich in appalling stiffness) and Anna Howard Shaw (Lois Smith).
Nevertheless, the energetic pair attracts many to their cause including labor lawyer Inez Mulholland (Julia Ormond), who literally dies of exhaustion campaigning for the amendment, and Ben Weissman (Patrick Dempsey), a political cartoonist smitten by Paul's fiery temperament but unable to carve out a role for himself in a life so consumed with a single political issue.
Perhaps the most intriguing and revealing characters are a Senator (Joseph Adams) and his immaculate wife (Molly Parker), who fall out over her suffrage activities. That a man once could easily and so completely control the life, finances, children and well being of a woman he claims to love will no doubt be an eye-opener to those who take women's rights for granted today.
With so many characters and issues to detail, the movie does take convenient shortcuts. President Wilson, a complicated and crucial figure in American history, gets reduced to a cartoon here. Nor is anyone who opposes our plucky heroines given any chance to rise above the two-dimensional. But this is no great loss since their cause was an ignoble one.
Working with a script credited to several writers, von Garnier has created about as lively a rendering of the period and issues as possible. It is extremely well acted, features terrific production design, costumes and cinematography and contains a directorial control over theme and style that could, if the German filmmaker so chooses, lead to an interesting career in the U.S
IRON JAWED ANGELS
HBO Films
Spring Creek Productions
Credits: Director: Katja von Garnier; Writers: Sally Robinson, Eugenia Bostwick Singer, Raymond Singer, Jennifer Friedes; Story by: Jennifer Friedes; Producers: Laura McCorkindale, Dennis Pinckley, Jim Bigwood; Executive producers: Paula Weinstein, Len Amato, Robin Forman, Lydia Dean Pilcher; Director of photography: Robbie Greenberg; Production designer: Norris Spencer; Music: Johnny Klimek, Reinhold Heil; Costume designer: Caroline Harris; Editor: Hans Funck.
Cast: Alice Paul: Hilary Swank; Lucy Burns: Frances O'Connor; Inez Mullholland: Julia Ormond; Carrie Chapman Catt: Anjelica Huston; Ben Weissman: Patrick Dempsey.
No MPAA rating, running time 123 minutes.
PARK CITY -- In "Iron Jawed Angels", Katja von Garnier, who in 1997 directed one of Germany's biggest hits, "Bandits", brings her dynamic, rock 'n' roll style to a subject that is not only American but historical to boot. The story ranges from 1912 to 1920 when a group of fiercely dedicated young suffragettes band together to cajole and embarrass a supposedly democratic country into adapting a Constitutional amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote. It is bracing to see a period drama told with such a contemporary style that includes a highly mobile camera, vivid colors and techniques such as a "speed ramp," where the camera speed changes during the same shot.
While it's disappointing that, as the suffrage struggle grows more protracted, the film gradually becomes more conventional, that initial charge will undoubtedly pull younger viewers into the HBO film, which premiered here at Sundance. Certainly the film could not be timelier as it deals with the problem of politically confronting a wartime president, who is not above playing the "traitor" card and more than willing to incarcerate American citizens on dubious charges, then deny them access to legal counsel.
At the film's focal point are two real-life women. Hilary Swank plays the cerebral and charismatic Alice Paul while Frances O'Connor is the fashionable, good-natured Lucy Burns. They team up to head the Washington D.C. committee for the old-line National American Women's Suffrage Association (NAWSA). However, their inflammatory methods not only rub the new president, Woodrow Wilson (Ben Gunton), the wrong way, this confrontational approach ruffles the feathers of staid and conservative NAWSA leaders Carrie Chapman Catt (Anjelica Huston in a performance rich in appalling stiffness) and Anna Howard Shaw (Lois Smith).
Nevertheless, the energetic pair attracts many to their cause including labor lawyer Inez Mulholland (Julia Ormond), who literally dies of exhaustion campaigning for the amendment, and Ben Weissman (Patrick Dempsey), a political cartoonist smitten by Paul's fiery temperament but unable to carve out a role for himself in a life so consumed with a single political issue.
Perhaps the most intriguing and revealing characters are a Senator (Joseph Adams) and his immaculate wife (Molly Parker), who fall out over her suffrage activities. That a man once could easily and so completely control the life, finances, children and well being of a woman he claims to love will no doubt be an eye-opener to those who take women's rights for granted today.
With so many characters and issues to detail, the movie does take convenient shortcuts. President Wilson, a complicated and crucial figure in American history, gets reduced to a cartoon here. Nor is anyone who opposes our plucky heroines given any chance to rise above the two-dimensional. But this is no great loss since their cause was an ignoble one.
Working with a script credited to several writers, von Garnier has created about as lively a rendering of the period and issues as possible. It is extremely well acted, features terrific production design, costumes and cinematography and contains a directorial control over theme and style that could, if the German filmmaker so chooses, lead to an interesting career in the U.S
IRON JAWED ANGELS
HBO Films
Spring Creek Productions
Credits: Director: Katja von Garnier; Writers: Sally Robinson, Eugenia Bostwick Singer, Raymond Singer, Jennifer Friedes; Story by: Jennifer Friedes; Producers: Laura McCorkindale, Dennis Pinckley, Jim Bigwood; Executive producers: Paula Weinstein, Len Amato, Robin Forman, Lydia Dean Pilcher; Director of photography: Robbie Greenberg; Production designer: Norris Spencer; Music: Johnny Klimek, Reinhold Heil; Costume designer: Caroline Harris; Editor: Hans Funck.
Cast: Alice Paul: Hilary Swank; Lucy Burns: Frances O'Connor; Inez Mullholland: Julia Ormond; Carrie Chapman Catt: Anjelica Huston; Ben Weissman: Patrick Dempsey.
No MPAA rating, running time 123 minutes.
Sundance Film Festival
PARK CITY -- In "Iron Jawed Angels", Katja von Garnier, who in 1997 directed one of Germany's biggest hits, "Bandits", brings her dynamic, rock 'n' roll style to a subject that is not only American but historical to boot. The story ranges from 1912 to 1920 when a group of fiercely dedicated young suffragettes band together to cajole and embarrass a supposedly democratic country into adapting a Constitutional amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote. It is bracing to see a period drama told with such a contemporary style that includes a highly mobile camera, vivid colors and techniques such as a "speed ramp," where the camera speed changes during the same shot.
While it's disappointing that, as the suffrage struggle grows more protracted, the film gradually becomes more conventional, that initial charge will undoubtedly pull younger viewers into the HBO film, which premiered here at Sundance. Certainly the film could not be timelier as it deals with the problem of politically confronting a wartime president, who is not above playing the "traitor" card and more than willing to incarcerate American citizens on dubious charges, then deny them access to legal counsel.
At the film's focal point are two real-life women. Hilary Swank plays the cerebral and charismatic Alice Paul while Frances O'Connor is the fashionable, good-natured Lucy Burns. They team up to head the Washington D.C. committee for the old-line National American Women's Suffrage Association (NAWSA). However, their inflammatory methods not only rub the new president, Woodrow Wilson (Ben Gunton), the wrong way, this confrontational approach ruffles the feathers of staid and conservative NAWSA leaders Carrie Chapman Catt (Anjelica Huston in a performance rich in appalling stiffness) and Anna Howard Shaw (Lois Smith).
Nevertheless, the energetic pair attracts many to their cause including labor lawyer Inez Mulholland (Julia Ormond), who literally dies of exhaustion campaigning for the amendment, and Ben Weissman (Patrick Dempsey), a political cartoonist smitten by Paul's fiery temperament but unable to carve out a role for himself in a life so consumed with a single political issue.
Perhaps the most intriguing and revealing characters are a Senator (Joseph Adams) and his immaculate wife (Molly Parker), who fall out over her suffrage activities. That a man once could easily and so completely control the life, finances, children and well being of a woman he claims to love will no doubt be an eye-opener to those who take women's rights for granted today.
With so many characters and issues to detail, the movie does take convenient shortcuts. President Wilson, a complicated and crucial figure in American history, gets reduced to a cartoon here. Nor is anyone who opposes our plucky heroines given any chance to rise above the two-dimensional. But this is no great loss since their cause was an ignoble one.
Working with a script credited to several writers, von Garnier has created about as lively a rendering of the period and issues as possible. It is extremely well acted, features terrific production design, costumes and cinematography and contains a directorial control over theme and style that could, if the German filmmaker so chooses, lead to an interesting career in the U.S
IRON JAWED ANGELS
HBO Films
Spring Creek Productions
Credits: Director: Katja von Garnier; Writers: Sally Robinson, Eugenia Bostwick Singer, Raymond Singer, Jennifer Friedes; Story by: Jennifer Friedes; Producers: Laura McCorkindale, Dennis Pinckley, Jim Bigwood; Executive producers: Paula Weinstein, Len Amato, Robin Forman, Lydia Dean Pilcher; Director of photography: Robbie Greenberg; Production designer: Norris Spencer; Music: Johnny Klimek, Reinhold Heil; Costume designer: Caroline Harris; Editor: Hans Funck.
Cast: Alice Paul: Hilary Swank; Lucy Burns: Frances O'Connor; Inez Mullholland: Julia Ormond; Carrie Chapman Catt: Anjelica Huston; Ben Weissman: Patrick Dempsey.
No MPAA rating, running time 123 minutes.
PARK CITY -- In "Iron Jawed Angels", Katja von Garnier, who in 1997 directed one of Germany's biggest hits, "Bandits", brings her dynamic, rock 'n' roll style to a subject that is not only American but historical to boot. The story ranges from 1912 to 1920 when a group of fiercely dedicated young suffragettes band together to cajole and embarrass a supposedly democratic country into adapting a Constitutional amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote. It is bracing to see a period drama told with such a contemporary style that includes a highly mobile camera, vivid colors and techniques such as a "speed ramp," where the camera speed changes during the same shot.
While it's disappointing that, as the suffrage struggle grows more protracted, the film gradually becomes more conventional, that initial charge will undoubtedly pull younger viewers into the HBO film, which premiered here at Sundance. Certainly the film could not be timelier as it deals with the problem of politically confronting a wartime president, who is not above playing the "traitor" card and more than willing to incarcerate American citizens on dubious charges, then deny them access to legal counsel.
At the film's focal point are two real-life women. Hilary Swank plays the cerebral and charismatic Alice Paul while Frances O'Connor is the fashionable, good-natured Lucy Burns. They team up to head the Washington D.C. committee for the old-line National American Women's Suffrage Association (NAWSA). However, their inflammatory methods not only rub the new president, Woodrow Wilson (Ben Gunton), the wrong way, this confrontational approach ruffles the feathers of staid and conservative NAWSA leaders Carrie Chapman Catt (Anjelica Huston in a performance rich in appalling stiffness) and Anna Howard Shaw (Lois Smith).
Nevertheless, the energetic pair attracts many to their cause including labor lawyer Inez Mulholland (Julia Ormond), who literally dies of exhaustion campaigning for the amendment, and Ben Weissman (Patrick Dempsey), a political cartoonist smitten by Paul's fiery temperament but unable to carve out a role for himself in a life so consumed with a single political issue.
Perhaps the most intriguing and revealing characters are a Senator (Joseph Adams) and his immaculate wife (Molly Parker), who fall out over her suffrage activities. That a man once could easily and so completely control the life, finances, children and well being of a woman he claims to love will no doubt be an eye-opener to those who take women's rights for granted today.
With so many characters and issues to detail, the movie does take convenient shortcuts. President Wilson, a complicated and crucial figure in American history, gets reduced to a cartoon here. Nor is anyone who opposes our plucky heroines given any chance to rise above the two-dimensional. But this is no great loss since their cause was an ignoble one.
Working with a script credited to several writers, von Garnier has created about as lively a rendering of the period and issues as possible. It is extremely well acted, features terrific production design, costumes and cinematography and contains a directorial control over theme and style that could, if the German filmmaker so chooses, lead to an interesting career in the U.S
IRON JAWED ANGELS
HBO Films
Spring Creek Productions
Credits: Director: Katja von Garnier; Writers: Sally Robinson, Eugenia Bostwick Singer, Raymond Singer, Jennifer Friedes; Story by: Jennifer Friedes; Producers: Laura McCorkindale, Dennis Pinckley, Jim Bigwood; Executive producers: Paula Weinstein, Len Amato, Robin Forman, Lydia Dean Pilcher; Director of photography: Robbie Greenberg; Production designer: Norris Spencer; Music: Johnny Klimek, Reinhold Heil; Costume designer: Caroline Harris; Editor: Hans Funck.
Cast: Alice Paul: Hilary Swank; Lucy Burns: Frances O'Connor; Inez Mullholland: Julia Ormond; Carrie Chapman Catt: Anjelica Huston; Ben Weissman: Patrick Dempsey.
No MPAA rating, running time 123 minutes.
- 1/19/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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