Who has seen Sherrybaby? [Spoilers]

[SoloAJ]

I wanted to discuss what I considered to be one of the best cinematic moments I have seen in recent history. I don't know how many people have seen this movie though, so it might be a small discussion. Note: I think everyone should watch this movie. Maybe not ASAP, but definitely worth having a look at.

[non-whited spoilers]
Anyway, what I consider the best sequence I have seen in quite a long time is when she first arrives at her daughter's birthday party. As I watched the entire movie, I had been wondering what sort of traumas from her youth would turn her into the person that she became today. It seemed clear to me that it wasn't just drug use.

So she arrives at the party and from the get go, I see some interesting things. The way she kisses her dad, the way that she craves his attention like a little child herself. It was strange and set off a lot of obvious alarms. This in itself wasn't amazing. However, once they start talking and he starts creepily fondling her, I began to be pretty moved by the scene. And not in a good way.

It was entirely creepy, and yet subtly done. Sure, everyone in the audience knows that he is fondling her and that he did stuff to her as a child. However, it was done in a way where they never come out and say it. It wasn't blatantly hammered into the audience's heads like most movies would do. It was just subtle sleeze that moved me in a bad way.

At that point I realized how brilliant I found the entire scene to be. The kisses, the "daddy look at this" from her, the brother standing around the corner *probably* entirely aware of what was going on (as he *probably* had been in their youth).

All in all, I foudn this to be one of the most brilliant scenes that I have seen in a movie in a really long time. You filmies of the Lounge can call me bush-league if you want, but I was particularly moved both by the on-screen action (badly) and later by the direction of the scene (in a great way).

That is the end of my rant, and I hope that others have seen this and can comment on the scene or my thoughts of the scene.

[katyseagull]

I loved this movie too. I rented it because of Barcalounger's comment in the movie thread. Just outstanding performances all the way around and I can't praise it enough. There's an unusual authenticity to this film, as if we are watching a documentary of a real life family. Painful and quite cringe-worthy in many places. Definitely not a feel good movie but man did I admire the director for how he shot each and every scene.

Barcalounger made this comment in his post:

"I understand the difficult job of getting the audience to sympathize with a lead character like this, but honestly can't somebody just suck at life? Why do they always have to have an excuse for their behavior thrown in there?"

Your thoughts on this? He's commenting on the scene that you liked so much. While I agree with you that the entire sequence is well directed, I sort of see Baraclounger's point here. There are so many women out there who are just immature and suck at life without having had anything like this act committed against them. I wonder if the plot point was truly necessary to advance the story.

I was cringing well before the birthday party scene as Sherry kept hanging on her dad and wanting his attention. I actually have met a couple girls in my life who sort of behaved this way only not to such a degree. I thought there was a lot of truth in it and certainly one of the finest performances on film I've ever seen.

[SoloAJ]

I agree that the authenticity of the movie was one of its stronger attributes. I kept thinking that too. It reminded me of "The Office" (nbc tv) sometimes with some of the camera shots. They just, however they were done, made the viewer feel like they were right there sometimes (the dinner scene where she begins singing, in particular, for me).

With regards to barca's comments, I see the point but don't see the issue. Yes they threw an excuse in there. Yes, maybe it did not advance plot. However, what it did do was go a looooong way toward explaining her behavior (and adding sympathy, maybe) without being too blunt. I mean, I honestly had to give a double take to make sure it wasn't some accident that his hand was on her breast. Mostly becuase it is almost like...I didn't want to believe it.

I think you CAN have people that just such at life, but very rarely, in my lay opinion, are you going to have people THAT messed up without some serious childhood trauma. In particular, think of what kind of person you have to be to offer oral to someone just so they *might* get you a job you want....in a day care.

Sexual abuse seemed awfully likely given her past, and they just sort of closed the door on it with my favorite scene. They don't do flashbacks or have her openly talking about it (and in reality, she probably wouldn't). It was just a nice subtle scnee (in the scheme of the entire movie) and that is what I really really liked about it.

I don't know any people personally who are even close to this messed up in life, or at least, not knowingly. But I'm a naive 21 year old (for eleven days anyway [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img])

Oddly enough I only gave this film a 7/10. It would definitely be a high 7 in my book, but still. I thought there were a few aspects that I didn't like about it...but I agree that the performances were absolutely amazing and the sense of realism that it has is amazing.

Perhaps a summary of the reason it is such a good movie is how sick you get watching it...similar to United 93, a movie that I've heard by at least one Lounger "the best American film in years"

[Barcalounger]

Good to see that other people are seeing and liking this film. I really think it was well acted, painful to watch, and that it's realism is one of it's strong points. Even the scene in question I'd agree with you that it was well done, I just don't think it was needed.

I'm originally from a small town in rural Iowa where meth invaded and messed up a significant portion of my high school and some of my family members. I grew up with my cousins living with us for years while one aunt or another "got their life together". I heard recently that my best friend from high school got arrested for firing a gun at some people in his house probably after a drug deal gone wrong. I've seen this character around.

The story hit home for me because of it's realism. But the fact that they threw in the ready made hollywood cliched "mommy and daddy screwed up my life" excuse kind of took me out of it for a second. It's like the groan moment when the action hero quips something witty after shooting the bad guy, a cliche that's just not needed in a good film.

I'm not saying that the cliche isn't sometimes true, in fact I think that daddy molesting is a pretty damned acceptable excuse for your life being messed up. It's just that in my anecdotal experience you'd have a hard time combing through the lives of most junkies and finding one single excuse for their behavior like in the film. I thought the great scenes where she was fighting for attention were enough to give a background of a dysfunctional childhood without going the whole 9 yards. And IMHO it just reinforces the worst personality trait that's fairly common among people who screw up often, lack of personal responsibility. Too many people always have a ready made excuse as to why they were forced into a situation where they HAD to make the worst decision.

So anyway, I agree that it's a good realistic movie with some great acting, I just think it's more realistic and general look at "people who suck at life" without the "excuse", no matter how tastefully the scene was done.

[SoloAJ]

Barca, nice post, of course. I have very little experience with that type of stuff you're talking about but my sister was subject to some trauma of the other kind. Bleh.

Anyhow, I didn't think that it was trying to show it as any single "excuse" or "reason" for her being the way she was. Clearly there was just more to it than that. I just thought that it was a nice touch, and I found it to be subtle.

For me, it didn't equate to the action hero quip (though I can see the comparison). It didn't equate because I found the entire scene to just be sort of subtle and it wasn't outright absurd. It was just a strange and distrubing sort of scene, particularly with the brother standing around the corner.

I think it is a matter of our own past experiences influencing how we saw the seen, which is actually really good I think. And, if anything, I think it only further shows how brilliant the scene can be (on some levels) that it is so affective in such different ways. It made you bitter(?) about how it was inserted becuase it detracted from the real issue, self-responsibility. For me, it was just a nice insight to SOME of the past stuff she has dealt with.

Obviously, one thing they do not show is how she got to the point of going into jail and her jail life. I think a lot of lesser movies would have done flashbacks or talked about it. And really, the only extent of information we got was her talking about not "getting with women."

All in all, it was a really moving film, but it is awfully hard for me to recommend it because of how brutal it really is. I think that anyone who could watch this and not be affected by it is either (a) far too apathetic to the world or (b) hasn't had any experiences whatsoever with this sort of thing so they wouldn't see it as "realistic."