Far from Heaven 77
An interesting, impressive exercise. Visually stunning, I've no doubt it's a picture-perfect homage to the Douglas Sirk films that Todd Haynes is channeling. (Films that, admittedly, I've never seen.) My tiny knowledge base of old stuff says there's nary a false note in the dialogue, costumes, color, titles, music, etc. Even the level of wink-wink was right on.

Emotionally, though, I never fully connected with the film. Once you get past the surprise that Haynes has infused a 1950s film with decidedly non-1950s issues (or at least, issues rarely addressed out loud), I'm not sure the story is all that compelling. And how could it be, really? It's a simplistic take — and necessarily so — on improper love, prejudice and everybody bein' all up in your business. In the almost 50 years since Sirk's All That Heaven Allows, we've seen those subjects tackled in so many more complex, culturally relevant ways.

Come to think of it, quite a few of the themes here are reminiscent of those in Safe, Haynes' 1995 film that's stuck with me far longer than this one ever will.