For
a studio film, White Oleander surprisingly meddles with risky issues - -
nothing groundbreaking, but the film is bold enough to go where few mainstream
flicks have. In fact, some scenes are so dicey that the pesky PG-13 rating,
which restricts the development of any interesting subplots, is an unfortunate
anchor. Even without the rating, though, Oleander is ultimately nothing
more than standard studio fare, albeit a well-acted one. And the most notable
performance doesn’t come from veterans like Michelle Pfeiffer, who hasn’t
been in anything worthwhile since The Age of Innocence, but from 21-year
old Alison Lohman.
Adapted
from the best-selling novel by Janet Fitch, the film has difficulty condensing
scenes in a cinematic manner. As a result, the story is sloppily set in motion.
Within the first five minutes, Ingrid (Pfeiffer), a liberal mother whom teacher
her daughter Astrid (Lohman) to think for herself, is arrested for murder. This
leaves 14-year old Astrid to bounce from foster parents to foster parent, all
while she comes-of-age.
Director Peter Kosminsky assumes that brief clips showing the mother-daughter relationship is sufficient for audiences to care about the difficulty of having an incarcerated mother. But how can they when the relationship is this underdeveloped? Kosminsky focuses more on the foster parents Astrid lives with, such as Starr (Robin Wright Penn), a trailer-trash ex-stripper and ex-cocaine addict turned bible lover. But it’s Astrid’s relationship with Paul (Patrick Fugit), a fellow member of the foster care community, that gives the film some much-needed depth. -Shaun Sages
GRADE: C
-Copyright 2002 by
Shaun
Sages