"The Letter," what do you think?

[Charles]

I watched "The Letter" tonight and thought it was very, very good. Its very serious, moody, and enigmatic. As has been previously reported in reviews, there is what appears to be a descent into psychosis, perhaps even "Black Swan-ish". All done slowly and progressively.

And Winona, she is just great. Many years ago Charlie Rose asked Winona if she could "carry a movie," to which she turn the question around, asking,"what do you think?" Well, in "The Letter," she definitely carries the movie. A stellar performance . . .

I realize that most reviews to date have not been positive, so I'm very curious at the take of other members on the film.

[Charles]

No Huddle Reviews: "The Letter"

The Letter is a brand new film starring Winona Ryder and James Franco, and I think Winona is a beautiful as she has ever been. She was a big A-list star when she was younger, but then she had some legal problems that seemed to derail her. She resumed worked though in high profile projects like The Black Swan, Mr. Deeds, and The Dilemma playing bad girls. James Franco is also a big name and has a high profile, even co-hosting the Oscars (though that did not work out very well). Franco has a tendency to do lots of oddball projects. His projects are ambitious and far-reaching. He has big project coming up from his Spider Man director that serves as a prequel to The Wizard of Oz. He seems willing to take chances.

The Letter is an odd project. Winona (Martine Jamison) is directing a play, and the film is dreamily narrated by her as free-form thoughts. An early glimpse of a play of hers seems arty and serious. It seems she writes her plays as well. As we see her and hear her thoughts we know that she seems somewhat disconnected, and we are not sure she is just searching her way through the creative process.

James Franco (Tyrone) seems like a hostile presence, but in a coy, vague way. He seems supportive of Winona, though. It seems everyone is off kilter and ill at ease. It seems that Winona might be losing her mind slowly, but we are not sure. The performances are subdued and cryptic. The other actors in the play seem confused by what’s going on. This is a workshop production, and the actors are seeming to lose footing as to what is going on. Artists are known to be temperamental and demanding, so it is easy to attribute Winona’s moods to her searching artistic journey.

Then a hit and run accident occurs that severely injures a journalist that had started interviewing Winona. The detective investigating is trying to identify a voice on a tape the journalist was using. It might be James Franco. His actions actually become even more suspect and inscrutable. This is the kind of project that is made to deliberately try to provoke the audience. One thing that is noticeable is that there is no music (or it is very muted). This lends the project a very non-movie, pseudo-documentary style. It is obvious that Winona is confused and distressed. The question is is she crazy? The style of the piece is unusual and challenging. It seems that the writer/director Jay Anania had a real desire to do something different and thought-provoking. It is, but that is not always a good thing. The film continues to get harder and harder to decipher. Some explanations seem to occur but considering how unreliable the narrator is, can we trust these explanations?

In the end, this is a project for discriminating tastes. It is arty and difficult and may require more than one viewing to unravel. If you are the kind of person who is up for that, then try this out. If you are looking for excitement and fun, steer clear.

Source

[ilovewinona]

Thanks for the review Charles. ----- I also got to see "The Letter" yesterday. But at first I didn't think I would get to see it this week at all. After work Wednesday morning I stopped by Wal-Mart, no movie. Then Wednesday night I went to Best Buy, no movie, then Barnes and Noble, no movie, but I could order it which I did. I said to myself - damn - I wanted to see the movie this week. ----- My last chance was to drive to the "Strip" and check out Fry's Electronics for a slight chance the store has it. Son-of-a-gun! ----- One lone DVD copy of the movie on the shelf, just $17.99. ----- And off topic, I'm glad I drove to Frys because I found "Ernie Kovacs - The ABC Specials" Five ABC-TV specials he did back in the early 60s. What a find! ---------- Back to "The Letter", I like the movie for most of the same reasons you mentioned. ----- And another reason I like the movie, Winona does a voice-over during the movie. Just like the ones she did for "Girl Interrupted", "Mermaids"and "Little Women" for example. ----- It was just like the "icing on the cake", made the movie even more enjoyable. ----- So for our members and visitors ----- I hope you consider adding "The Letter" to your Winona Ryder movie collection. You will be happy when you do. ----- Rusty

[Charles]

I'm glad your pursuit was successful, Rusty! I stumbled upon the movie on my cable "On Demand" pay-per-view. I'm still turning the movie over in my mind . . . its not my usual fare, for sure. See if this makes sense,"Winona's portrayal was unique; I've never seen that character before." Know what I mean? Usually, she has a couple of signature facial expressions or inflections, but this was a totally new performance that I haven't seen before. That made me like it even more.

[ryderfan1012]

My first viewing of THE LETTER, the movie went really slow, but after that I got into the stride of the movie. I've watched it about 4 times now. It's definitely not for everybody. I mean, I, myself, am patient enough for a movie like this.

The performances are great. Jay Anania's style of film-making is dream-like and the cinematography is amazing. I also own another movie of his called "Her Name Is Carla" on DVD. Another eerily executed film. Beautiful imagery. Very strange and cryptic narration.

The butoh dancer was great. ;D

[Charles]

Thanks, Ryderfan, for your thoughtful post . . .

[ryderfan1012]

Sept 30, 2012 17:51:21 GMT -5 Charles said:

Thanks, Ryderfan, for your thoughtful post . . .

Thanks, Charles! I'm new, just signed up.

[ilovewinona]

Yes, an interesting new performance from Winona to say the least. Charles. ----- And ryderfan1012 I'll also have to watch "The Letter" again to appreciate the movie more, in my first viewing last Thursday I was more interested in just watching Winona in the film for the first time. ----- Rusty

[ryderfan1012]

Oct 1, 2012 9:27:57 GMT -5 ilovewinona said:

Yes, an interesting new performance from Winona to say the least. Charles. ----- And ryderfan1012 I'll also have to watch "The Letter" again to appreciate the movie more, in my first viewing last Thursday I was more interested in just watching Winona in the film for the first time. ----- Rusty

Yeah, it's the kind of movie you have to watch not just once to get into the stride of it. A couple of people from the other board seem to really hate the movie but I think they're just not open to its uniqueness. I think they were expecting something else and maybe they are not familiar with Jay Anania's films. I've only seen one other Jay Anania movie and the first time I watched it, I was like---"WTF did I just watch?" But I gave it another chance and I finally got what the movie was all about. I would definitely call Jay Anania's film-making style unique and NON-SENSATIONALIST, although the subject matters are unusual. He tells stories in a very unusual way.

The thing is I don't watch films expecting to like it or not. I guess I just watch films to watch them whether I would end up liking it or not. Have you read the reviews on imdb? People, man.

[phil]

I made it through the first seven minutes and couldn't.. take... it... anymore.

[ryderfan1012]

I had the movie on today while I was doing house chores and then I noticed towards the end that one of the Doctors is Laila Robins who played the Guidance Counselor in "Welcome Home Roxy".

[massimo]

Finally from 2018 distribuited in italian language in DVD thank's Koch Media!
Yesterday I bought a copY and tonight I saw it .I think it's a very good film,the first i saw from Anania with Winona and Franco at top.
The Lady can expose  all her expressive range with intensity like I don't saw from years(I told in another post how much Noni has been overshadowed in this part of the world after 2001) in a role cut to size for her. This film increase my belief she's so cut for stages.
I consider this movie like a progressive downhill in delirium,her delirium and despite is evident there is a tale to tell(a story of swindle and betrayal)is very particoular and important the way to tell.
I saw here a masterfull use of ligths and effects,if at first is possible have got an idea about reality or dream looking kind of light in the framehand to hand the puzzle is outlined this distinction vanishes,until let live togheter characters invested by different effects in same shotall that increase sense of loss and the empaty for protagonist Martine.
James Franco(Tyrone) apparently see immediately the affair from Raymond and Anita,before him affair with Martine,and probabilly he understand the scope of the scam carried on from Raymond included the use of poison(in final we can see Raymond collogue with blowing poisoner...but perhabs not,because all this can be only a dream.
I think this is the key to look this film,not search for absolute truth also if absence of music give a report cut,we must to keep always in mind the teller(Martine)is not shiny,Anania fully succeeds in this.
I'll see other him films in future,he've got something of new to make we see .

[massimo]

Raymond is evidently a piece of s--t...but perhaps no .
Interesting the journalist is made out probabilly from Tyrone,the journalist like the absolute truth...

[hugobolso]

Awful film, very bad directed. Probably one of her worst film and worst performance. Only The Darwin Awards is worse.
The positive thing is that we see a translation from young roles to adult ones.-

[Deleted]

Jan 15, 2020 23:26:00 GMT -5 hugobolso said:

Awful film, very bad directed. Probably one of her worst film and worst performance. Only The Darwin Awards is worse.
The positive thing is that we see a translation from young roles to adult ones.-

I actually enjoyed most scenes (though not all interests) in The Darwin Awards. Winona showed expressive parts of herself that I liked immensely.