August 2000

Anywhere But Here
Reviewed by Doug Schneider
DVD Format

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Starring Susan Sarandon, Natalie Portman, Shawn Hatosy

Directed by Wayne Wang

Theatrical Release: 1999
DVD Release: 2000
Dolby Digital 5.0, Dolby Digital Surround
Widescreen (Anamorphic)

Anywhere But Here opens with Susan Sarandon and Natalie Portman driving in a car on a wide-open highway. Sarandon is Adele and Portman plays her daughter Ann. Adele is driving and eating chips. Ann observes that, "my mother made an amazing amount of noise when she ate her food." Adele watches her chomp away out of the corner of her eye and stares with near disgust. Her mother is oblivious to the way she annoys her daughter, or perhaps she is well aware of it but simply accepts that teenagers and parents don’t always get along.

Adele is a caring and intelligent woman who’s taking her teenage daughter to California to start a new life. While she has good intentions and is pleasantly carefree, at times she is careless. She’s left her husband (Ann’s stepfather) who she finds too boring. She is also escaping from Bay City, Wisconsin, a place she never wanted to remain for her whole life. California, she thinks, will be a great start for Ann and herself. Ann is the opposite of her mother. She doesn’t want to leave Wisconsin, mainly because of her friends and because she doesn’t believe that moving will make things any better. This isn’t a travel adventure film, though; it’s a small story about close relationships and how they ultimately shape our lives.

Wayne Wang is a logical choice to direct a film like this. He brought the plight of mother/daughter relationships to full fruition in the outstanding The Joy Luck Club (one of my favorite films of all time). He uses much the same technique here -- lots of dialogue, plenty of close-ups, and a reliance on the actors to bring out the emotions in each scene -- and it works. Sarandon is ideally cast as the eccentric and sometimes flighty mother who acts far younger than her teenage daughter. Beneath her careless exterior is maturity that often shines through. She is extraordinarily protective of her daughter but sometimes doesn’t know how to control it. However, it is Portman who really shines. She’s been one of my favorite up-and-coming actresses for some time and here she gets to dig into a role with some real emotion and feeling. Sarandon gets to swing her emotions high and low with dramatic flair, but Portman must muster up and convey her feelings in a more subtle way. With effective body language and facial expressions it’s easy to read into, understand, and relate to her angst as a misunderstood teenager in a world where no one but her closest friends seem to understand her. She’s also never really known her father and there is a touching subplot as she tries to find him.

Picture and sound quality are very good. Most of the scenes are shot with rich and vibrant colors and they are rendered beautifully. Also worth noting is the outstanding cinematography. Roger Deakons is the credited cinematographer whose work includes Fargo, The Big Lebowski and The Hurricane among others. The fine sound quality is demonstrated through the excellent music soundtrack that includes the likes of k.d. lang and Sarah McLachlan. Not surprisingly for a low-key drama like this, there are not many DVD extras -- the theatrical trailer plus an interesting featurette with actor and director interviews.

Anywhere But Here is a thoughtful film with outstanding performances. While it is not as good as The Joy Luck Club (even with only one mother and daughter to worry about Wang doesn’t achieve quite the same depth), it is intelligent and refreshing and will likely appeal to a wide audience.

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