A Pleasant Experience

Time for another "watched it again because I'm re-building my Top 100 Movie List" review. The film in question this time was Pleasantville, a wonderful, sentimental movie that made a huge impression on me when I first saw it in theaters. I'm pleased to report that if anything, it made an even bigger impression on me watching it now.

In case you haven't heard of it, Pleasantville is the story of a young high school student, a child of divorce, who keeps his troubles at bay by enjoying reruns of a "Leave It to Beaver"-style show from the 50s: Pleasantville. Through the intervention of strange old man, he and his older sister are sucked into the world of the show itself. As they begin to have a profound effect on the integrity of the fictional world, it begins to change them too.

Visual effects play a huge role in the storytelling. The world of Pleasantville is black and white. But when the two siblings arrive and start meddling, it slowly begins to colorize. At first, it's just a lone flower in the middle of a bush. But soon, every scene is a dazzling mixture of black-and-white and color elements. Even now, over a decade later, the effects seem flawless. They're such a wonder at times that they might overwhelm the story... if they weren't so integral to the story.

And that story is perfect. It begins as a comedy, mining every corner of a fun and light-hearted premise. But then things turn deeply tender and poignant, as the movie's true message asserts itself: hiding beneath the surface of every person is more than they ever show to the world -- but they shouldn't hide any of it. It's a universal message I think anyone could be inspired by, but I find it a particularly personal message myself.

To be blunt, I find it a beautiful metaphor for coming out of the closet -- and not because the movie is trumpeting the "rainbow of colors" inside everyone. Make no mistake, I don't imagine that writer-director Gary Ross had a "gay agenda" in making this movie. The subject is not addressed directly in the movie at all. But as someone who spent too much of his life hiding this major part of myself, I couldn't help but be moved by this story.

If it's not too late to steer away from soapbox territory, let me move on and praise another perfect element of this movie, the cast. Tobey Maguire and Reese Witherspoon play the siblings transported into the TV show, and both handle the comedic and dramatic elements expertly. In the sitcom world, their parents are played by William H. Macy and Joan Allen; the former is brilliant as a stalwart resistant to change, while the latter breaks your heart as someone frightened by change in herself. Jeff Daniels and J.T. Walsh are residents of the town, similarly on opposite ends of the spectrum, and just as superb in their roles. Don Knotts is the mysterious TV repairman who sets the film in motion. There are even pitch perfect turns from actors who would come to be better known later in their careers, Jane Kaczmarek and Paul Walker.

To make a long story short, yes, this movie is still top 100 material. It's top 10 material for me. An absolute grade A gem.