You either love her or really, really hate her

For the second week in a row...I have outsourced part of my blog. Euan Kerr, arts editor here at MPR, got to go see Sally Potter's new movie "Yes" when I couldn't. So he agreed to tell us a little about it.

Years ago, Euan and I went to see Potter's "The Tango Lesson," which I think was unfairly maligned. It was really nakedly emotional in a way few films are and I feel like Potter's character was jeered at merely for being a woman over 40 with a crush on a younger man. No one else makes movies like Sally and we should celebrate that. Nonetheless, I was NOT really excited about seeing her latest film until I read what Euan had to say about "Yes."

Here's Euan:

I can make a confident prediction if you are going to see Sally Potter's new film "Yes." You will either love it, or you will hate it. Potter is the iconoclastic British director who made 'Orlando,' 'The Tango Lesson,' and 'The Man who Cried.'

She began writing 'Yes' the day after the September attacks. She wanted to make a film to counteract what she (rightly) predicted would be a time of hatred and outrage. Looking for an antidote she decided to write a love story.

The basic plotline follows a married woman's affair. But Potter piles on the complications. The woman is an Irish American, the man is Middle Eastern. She's an internationally known embryologist, living in London and married to a high level politician. Science is her religion. Her lover is a surgeon who has been forced to flee his Beirut home. Now he works in a kitchen.

As Potter's character fall in love, she throws complication after complication at them. In time there is hardly a single philosophical, political or cultural conflict of the last 10 years which doesn't get at least a mention. Ultimately the relationship reaches a crisis point where he challenges her Western sense of entitlement.

Joan Allen plays the woman with elegant poise, and Armenian actor Simon Abkarian, appearing in his first English speaking film, is riveting to watch on screen.

So why my prediction? Some people will find the whole thing contrived. The fact that much of the script is delivered in iambic pentameter, making the piece sound almost Shakespearean, will drive other people bonkers. I have tried to describe the movie to a number of people and they have almost invariably rolled their eyes and said they're not interested.

Yet the people can get beyond that, and I think that will be easy for many, will find a thought-provoking gem of a film. The first five minutes with Shirley Henderson in the Greek chorus role of the housecleaner is in itself worth the price of admission.

[See Kerr's interview with Allen: Joan Allen says 'Yes']

I am confused on the hole "crash" issue. Many people I have talked to loved it...a few have hated it. I am a fan of the movie maven and I listened to her opion of the movie and am really torn. Do I listen to the opion of freinds, some of whom have liked movies like Con-air and other flops or listen to the voice of the movie maven. Last thing I need to do on a hot summer nigh is drop a ten spot and lose three hours, neither can be returned.

What to do?

to kyle re 'crash'

i also generally trust the maven but don't agree with her this time. go see 'crash'.
maybe you can take in a matinee so you wont be out the entire ten spot if you end up agreeing with her.
Dan