Marketing of Sherrybaby

Just an addendum to my previous post. I thought this was interesting. The cover of the DVD shows this picture: Sherry the bedraggled woman. You can see her either going or coming to a job interview. She doesn't look happy. The skirt is maybe a little too pink. Clearly, just a woman trying to do good.
But, this picture was not the mass-marketed version. That was this:
In this one, she looks different and, frankly, like she could use a little support (and I mean that in a lot of ways).

What I wonder is why they chose such a different look for the DVD when this "halter top" Sherry is the predominant image of Sherry we get in the movie and in all the trailers. I don't know, but I found that while I was searching around for pictures and thought it was worth mentioning...or at least questioning.

My First Venture into blogging movies: Sherrybaby

This movie has been sitting on "My Q" on Blockbuster for months. Finally it arrived on my doorstep and given my new-found sense of getting things accomplished, I had the gumption to watch it. From trailers, it looked great.

But something was off.

Sherry is a woman coming home from jail after having done some hard time for stealing to get drugs; she's going through a 12-step program, living at a half-way house, and trying to get her relationship with her daughter back. The girl, Alexis, doesn't remember Sherry, having been raised by Sherry's brother and his wife.

Here's where the wheels started coming off. We're only 10 minutes in, by the way. Sherry is consistently portrayed as "a good heart" who's been dealt an awful lot in life. She, admirably, is trying to get past that and be the parent that she knows she can be; I'm just not convinced and that's what's weird about this movie. Sherry is framed as this downtrodden heroine who we should root for, but I don't. (And I feel guilty about it because I should...I should be on the side of a woman who's persevering and overcoming). I don't. I feel pity, which makes me feel even guiltier--and maybe it's because she's still such a woman-child who's trying to grow up through her own daughter who calls her "Sherry."

Maggie Gyllenhaal is awesome in this, but Sherry isn't and that's the problem. I want to root for Maggie for portraying the sloop-shouldered, raggedy-haired, fawn-eyed make-good woman. But there is no character there. People have relationships: Sherry does not. People have dimensions--again, Sherry does not. It's almost as if slinging a poor white woman just out of the clink onto the screen would be enough to make this work. I don't think this does. It's a disservice; it allows us "viewers" to fall back into all the ready, generalized, idealized stereotypes we've gotten used to assuming are true. I hate when movies do this; it's lazy. Well-conceived and executed details were skipped: who is Sherry and what motivates her? Her desire to break free from past parental relationships? To break out of her current social situation? Just wanting to be happy? Attention to any of these might have given us some insight into a woman of dealing with the consequences of of choices made through the experience of a certain socio-economic status. She's trying to "make it right" without any kind of past framework to guide her. "Making right" is a scary world. But Sherry was done the disservice of being written off by the writers as a floozy who gave in to the demons of her past life; even her creator didn't think she could do it. We have the portrayal of a "white trash" woman embodying everything that label implies (all of which is stereotypical and too simple).

And she seems to deserve more than that.

"Damages" Debuts on FX Tonight 10/9c

Big excitement as we tv-watchers have finally been given more than the usual doldrums of summer re-run fare. "Damages" has been highly touted for it's cast, led by Glenn Close and Ted Danson (that's right...Sam from "Cheers" who has a shock of white hair now and seems to be playing the heavy in this series). The critical reviews for this show have been through the roof, but only time will tell what will happen with, from what I've heard" this mixture of "24" meets "The Sopranos" meets "other critically acclaimed dramas led by tough-yet-lovably flawed female characters (see yesterday's post).

Can we and this summer possibly handle yet another unlikable but totally lovable woman on cable?

And does network television exist anymore?

"Saving Grace" Debuts on TNT

So, I was totally pumped about this new show starring Holly Hunter (one of my favorites) as a tough detective haunted by demons from her past called "Saving Grace."

It was hyped and cleverly scheduled to run after "The Closer" which was TNT's huge hit drama of last year starring Kyra Sedgwick. It seems that TNT is becoming the channel of drama series led by quirky-yet-strong female characters who are deeply flawed yet ultimately redeemable on their own merits. But I digress.

A couple things really surprised me about "Saving": First, there was a lot of "God" and "Religion," involved...way more than I expected even though the commercials clearly showed an angel coming to her drunken rescue. Second, I was thrilled by the appearance of Laura San Giacomo (who we know better from Just Shoot Me and the movie Pretty Woman). I always thought she was a better actress than the aforementioned tv show permitted. I think this series confirms it. Third, I was pleased at how natural and normal the women look for their age. Both have wrinkles, freckles, and appear as they have for years. Thank god they've not yet succumbed to the pull of Botox or Dr. 90210.

I don't have much to say about the show right now; I like to take into consideration the whole arc of the show before I judge. But I'll say this: "The Closer" hasn't disappointed yet and my hope is that "Grace" will follow suit.