Search
What's Hot
Day-by-Day Fall Schedule
Idol Winner Speaks!
Jim Parsons Comes Out
Game of Thrones Star's Sex Stare

The Designated Mourner

1997, Movie, R, 91 mins

The Designated Mourner: Review

DESIGNATED MOURNER, THE
starstarstarstar
Bolstered by a trio of outstanding performances, David Hare has done a terrific job translating actor-playwright Wallace Shawn's slightly muddleheaded stage play to film. In an unidentified country at an unspecified time, two ghosts and one survivor of an obscure cultural revolution assemble in a spare room. Howard (David de Keyser) is an elderly dissident poet; Judy (Miranda Richardson) is his cultured and devoted daughter; and Jack (Mike Nichols) is her husband, a failed academic. Addressing the camera, but barely speaking to one another, the three chronicle the fall of a regime, the breakup of a marriage and the crumbling of one's sense of self. Jack does most of the talking, and beneath his anger and cynical wit lies a real sense of loss: the death of a love he could never express and the passing of "high culture" as he knew it and of which he never felt a part. Shawn tosses around some awfully weighty topics -- what is "the self"? -- with blithe offhandedness, and it's not always entirely clear he wants to say: Jack throws stones at the cultural old guard at the same time he bemoans the passing of "the readers of poetry." But no matter: The talk's often very good and Nichols, turning in his first performance in over three decades, is simply extraordinary. leave a comment --Ken Fox
Are You Watching?
The Designated Mourner
Loading ...
Advertisement

Our Partners

Advertisement

Related Websites

You might be also interested in the following websites:

Most Popular TV Shows

  1. American Idol
  2. NCIS
  3. Big Bang Theory
  4. Voice
  5. Person of Interest
more popular tv shows

Most Popular Celebrities

  1. Jessica Simpson
  2. Khloe Kardashian
  3. Kate Middleton
  4. Maria Menounos
  5. Kim Kardashian
more popular celebrities

Most Popular Movies

  1. Avengers
  2. Battleship
  3. The Dictator
  4. Dark Shadows
  5. What To Expect When You're Expecting
more popular movies

Top Videos

  1. Revenge
  2. The Big Bang Theory
  3. Modern Family
  4. Young and the Restless
  5. Days of our Lives
more top videos