film criticism by maryann johanson | since 1997
Plus: the deaths of Stephen J. Cannell, Sally Menke, Gloria Stuart, and Tony Curtis; Armond White is at it again (and so are his adversaries); Chris Noth thinks critics killed Sex and the City; and on and on…
Like a New England version of Northern Exposure, The Love Letter is full of intriguingly offbeat characters — from the nosy postmistress to the suspicious cop to Helen’s dotty grandmother (Titanic’s Gloria Stuart) to Miss Scattergoods (Geraldine McEwan), who works at the local historical society — with their own romantic secrets. Unsentimental and wonderfully modest, The Love Letter is that rare pleasure: a prickly yet succulent romantic comedy.
A film of immense power and eerie beauty, James Cameron’s Titanic could only have been made now, not because of its technical requirements but because the cultural attitudes of the era in which it is set have come full circle to concern us again today.
