Sweetie

1989 Campion debut

Rating: 15/20

Plot: Two sisters don't really get along.

Interest debut from Jane Campion. I don't really know much of her work. Actually, I think I've only seen The Piano. Though I don't remember much about The Piano, I can't remember it having this kind of visual style, the main thing that engaged me here. Here, Campion has this way of taking ordinary objects--a mug, some carpet, a person's foot, a tree, some porcelain horses--and giving them this almost otherworldly quality. Maybe it's the colors, maybe it's the composition, maybe it's the juxtaposition, or maybe it's a combination of things, but these mundane things somehow brought an eccentricity to the whole thing. Visually, it kind of reminded me of something like Wild at Heart. The humor actually reminded me of Napoleon Dynamite, so take that for what it's worth.

Tree house attack flatulence is a highlight.

I'm trying to find the name of a little person wearing a cowboy hat in this. I assume he's one of the six "jackaroos" in the credits. Ahh, yes. There he is--Marc Colombani. He also played a dwarf in 1985's Bliss, a movie I couldn't find when I was filling in 1985 gaps. Now I'm focused on 1989 movie gaps, and while this wasn't necessarily one of them, I am glad that I checked it out.