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Show By Jean Piatt Across the country, Julia is receiving rave reviews. After viewing this exceptional film I commend the taste of so many critics, for Julia is a film with all the combinations that make a movie something special. To begin with, we have the story, taken from Pentimento, Lillian Hellman's memoirs. It is the story of a childhood friendship between two females that blossoms and grows throughout their lives. Such valued friendships happen to many people, but few reach that intensity of these women. There is a certain comraderie between these two women, a psychic understanding, that, in and of itself makes the film a rewarding emotional experience. But, added to this, is the fact that Lillian and Julia were exceptional women themselves, caring passionately for their own beliefs and personal causes. Neither is your run of the mill housewife calling her best friend on the phone. These are two women who would risk failure and death for one another because they can believe in each other's judgement and beliefs. The weaving of their drifting and flowing friendship makes fascinating viewing as it is intermingled with the emotional makeup of such a friendship. Cinematically, the film is a joy to watch.. The colors are rich and dark, foreboding yet realistic, offering a contrast of light and dark few filmmakers have the eye to perceive, much less capture. Each shot is carefully composed, offering frame by frame a masterpiece in photography. There are no slop shots, no glimpses of footage that has been thoughtlessly filmed. Each segment is tightly photographed, each feeling pervading the footage. Few recent films have been so well photographed, offering pleasing composition that fluidly moves the action and story. And, of course, there is the acting. Jane Fonda is an actress of depth and feeling that few people in her field can match. She has a naturalness to her, an ability to make each emotion so real that we believe her as every character she plays. As Lillian, Jane Fonda has matured into a woman of very real, very intense emotions. As she portrays the frustrations of a writer struggling to complete her play, we are not watching that histrionics of pacing, we are not subjected to cute camera angles to reveal that passage of frustrated time, but we are watching a woman who, with simple intensity, gives us that exact feeling of frustration and yearning. Jane Fonda has proven herself a capable actress on numerous occasions, but in' Julia she offers her finest role to date, and it is a landmark. The supporting actors in the film are exceptional as well. Vanessa Redgrave has the same understated intensity that makes us understand her actions and her strong beliefs. Jason Robards, as Dash, brings to life a man of understanding, intelligence, and love that could offer some hope to a woman of the stature of Lillian. Julia will stand out as one of the best films of the year. But, beyond that it will become one of those films remembered in time, a beautiful look at two women who loved each other as few people can and do, a film lovingly made, finely honed, and reaching a height of flawlessness few films reach in a decade, much less a year. |