Lock Yourself in Weekend: Sarah Polley
Sarah Polley is one of the most talented actresses of her generation; a smart, naturalistic actress who has been around for literally decades. A certain generation of kids know her for her Disney years in TV series like Ramona and Avonlea, and she long ago was declared a national treasure in Canada. But if you aren’t familiar with the actress, writer, director, or only know her for her foraye into mainstream horror or sci-fi (Dawn of the Dead, Splice), take a look at some of the best films from her 30 years in the business, before you see her highly recommended autobiographical documentary The Stories We Tell.
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1. The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
One of Terry Gilliam’s many critically acclaimed-box office bombs is this fantasy comedy starring John Neville as the Baron and Sarah Polley as Sally, the little girl pushing Munchausen to save the country from Turkish invaders in a hot air balloon. Costarring Eric Idle, Jonathan Pryce, Oliver Reed, Uma Thurman, and Bill Paterson, the movie is typical crazy Gilliam but surprisingly sweet and family friendly (although the little girl often seems dangerously close to explosions). Despite being best known for how beautifully it blends broad comedy and whimsy, the movie is full of subtle satire and surprise cameos which will only be of interest to adults. The 20th Anniversary DVD/Blue-ray is highly recommended because of the feature length making of documentary which shows Gilliam to be a crazy genius who scared everyone on set, including his child star.
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2. Sweet Hereafter
A canadian town is devastated when a bus accident kills many of the area’s children and leaves others with lifelong disabilities. When an attorney (Ian Holm) encourages the still grief-stricken families to file a class action suit against the bus company, the key witness is 15 year old Nicole. Nicole (Polley) is the victim of a sexually abusive father and can’t stand to be used by her parents in court, believing all they want is to profit from her injuries. This was actually Polley’s second film with Atom Egoyan (she also has a supporting role in Exotica) but her performance as the conflicted and emotionally damaged teen is devastating to watch, especially when juxtaposed with the scenes of the loving parents who are still grieving over the loss of their innocent children.
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3. Go
In the ensemble black comedy (a 20-something’s Pulp Fiction) about an ecstasy run, Polley’s broke and soon to be evicted Ronna is a character whose choices propel most of the other characters into action. Although costarring bigger names like William Fichtner, Scott Wolf, Jay Mohr, Timothy Olyphant, Katie Holmes, Taye Diggs, and Breckin Meyer, Polley is the heart of her story as the pathetic and desperate store clerk who has a lapse in judgement one night which causes potentially deadly consequences. Unlike the innocent child in Baron Munchausen or thoughtful, intelligent teen in Sweet Hereafter, Polly is surprisingly edgy and even sexual in Go. The entire film is fast and fun, with all three interconnected short films well worth the watch.
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4. No Such Thing
Another surprising role for the actress to take, this time as a plain and nebbish junior reporter who takes an assignment which could help her track down her fiance. Hal Hartley’s Icelandic horror-fairy tale is extremely weird, but always oddly compelling, funny, and beautiful, especially when the mythical creature (Robert John Burke) finally makes his appearance known to Polley’s Beatrice. The film has obvious connections to Dante’s Inferno and Beauty and the Beast, but is kept very much in modern time, complete with complaints about urban life and tabloid journalism. Helen Mirren is brilliantly annoying as Polley’s headline hungry boss and Julie Christie is genuinely touching as the doctor who forms a close bond with Beatrice.
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5. My Life Without Me
Ann meets her neighbor Ann and begins to try to play matchmaker for the husband she’ll soon make a widow. Polley is an overworked janitor and mother of two who began having children too young with her high school sweetheart turned unemployed husband. When told she has cancer, she starts a modest bucket list of things to do before she dies young, including have an affair with another man (Mark Ruffalo), but refuses to tell her family that the end is near or that she’s even sick. Its hard to call a movie about a woman dying in her 20s uplifting, but the little things she wants to do in life before the end of her life, especially things for her daughters, says a lot about life’s precious moments. Polley’s Ann, who appears in every scene of the film, is so completely engaging its hard not to become emotionally connected to her (and even understand her desire to be unfaithful to the husband she still loves).
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6. Away From Her
Polley’s connections with director Atom Egoyan and Julie Christie brought about her first effort as a writer/director, with this Alzheimer film about a couple whose marriage is slowly torn apart when wife Fiona (Christie) begins losing the memory of her marriage and husband after being placed in a nursing home. When she falls in love with another patient (Michael Murphy), her husband Grant (Gordon Pinsent) becomes paranoid that she’s punishing him. Hard to believe that this was a movie made by such a young woman and the work of a first time filmmaker, the movie was one of the surprise hits of 2006. It earned both Polley and Christie Oscar nominations, among several other awards.
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7. Take This Waltz
Michelle Williams arguably gave her most underrated performance in the romantic drama costarring Luke Kirby, Seth Rogen, and Sarah Silverman. Williams plays a seemingly happily married woman who begins to doubt her relationship when she meets a very different type of man than her husband. She slowly becomes dissatisfied with her marriage as she dreams of a potential new life with the artist next-door. Although much was made of the the very unsexy nude scene with Williams and Silverman, the story of a pre-middle age life crisis and doubt is one of the most accurate and profound commentaries on marriage and commitment which is all too rarely addressed in contemporary films.
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