Judy Berlin Review
by "Steve Rhodes" (Steve DOT Rhodes AT InternetReviews DOT com)April 3rd, 2000
JUDY BERLIN
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2000 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): ** 1/2
On the starting day of the new school year, elementary school teacher Sue Berlin (Barbara Barrie) asks principal Arthur Gold (Bob Dishy) how his wife is. It's just polite small talk so he starts off with a typically meaningless response. "She's good; she's fine," he says perfunctorily, and then he finds honesty creeping into his reply. "I don't know how she is, actually." And then most candidly of all, he concludes, "I don't know what I'm saying."
Writer/director Eric Mendelsohn's black-and-white ode to suburbia, JUDY BERLIN, is set on Long Island, New York. With a warmly evocative look, the picture feels eerily like it will turn into a Twilight Zone episode at any moment, but it never does.
The characters exist on two levels. Outwardly, they are "fine, fine, fine." Internally, they seem to each be grappling with undisclosed demons and worries. The problem with the script is that it creates a highly polished surface gloss but never does more than hint obliquely at what might be going on inside the characters' heads.
Sue Berlin's daughter, Judy (Edie Falco from "The Sopranos"), is an actress who wants to do more in film, although she admits she hasn't done anything just yet. She works at a local historical village, and she is leaving today to go to L.A. -- "you know, la-la-land."
Set during a single day in which a full eclipse of the sun occurs, the story finds remarkably little for the cast to do. Judy develops a bit of an attachment to Authur Gold's son, David (Aaron Harnick), who has just returned from doing an undefined something in the film industry. Their brief romance never gels.
Mendelsohn does a superlative job of setting up the scenes. The birds chirp, the clouds float by and the characters pose dramatically. But, when he calls "action" and the tableau starts to talk, it never goes much of anywhere.
The character of David would appear to be somewhat autobiographical. He keeps telling Judy of his proposed next film project. He wants to make a documentary on the daily life of their town. One "without a plot," he explains, and one in which everyone "would just be." She tries to be polite, but you can tell that she doesn't think the idea has much promise.
"Didn't anything happen today?" David asks Judy at the day's end. Actually, not much.
JUDY BERLIN runs 1:35. It is not rated but would probably be PG-13 for mature themes and a little profanity. It would be acceptable for kids around 9 and up, but most kids will find little to interest them.
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