SERIES RUNS MONDAYS & TUESDAYS IN FEB. AT TRYLON MICROCINEMA
"Sissy Spacek: Seemingly Lost" is the name of a February film series at The Trylon in Minneapolis. The series of four films began this week with Terrence Malick's Badlands, and includes Brian De Palma's Carrie February 24th and 25th. "Best known for her disarming innocence," states the series' description, "Sissy Spacek boasts an amazing range. Conveying naivete and sadness, her performances reveal a woman who knows exactly where she’s going. The Trylon showcases four of her most complex and challenging roles." The other two films are Robert Altman's 3 Women and Costa-Gavras' Missing.Writing about the film series, Pioneer Press' Chris Hewitt reminds that "Pauline Kael famously described Spacek as 'a squashed, froggy girl who could go in any direction.' I disagree with Kael's choice of animal -- Spacek's half-formed quality in her early films is more tadpole- than frog-like, and anyway, I'd say her vulnerability has more in common with a baby bird. But Kael is right that one of the thrilling things about these early Spacek performances is that you have no idea what this strange creature is going to do next."
Hewitt states that "Carrie features Spacek's peerlessly sad/scary performance as the title character, a bullied high school student who lashes back after she's pranked at prom. Spacek, 25 when she shot it, has no problem convincing us she's a teenager. Director Brian De Palma's movie is a stylish, bizarrely successful experiment in tone. Piper Laurie, as Carrie's violently fundamentalist mom, behaves as if she's in a comedy, which somehow makes her even more frightening. It launched many a movie career, including Nancy Allen's, Amy Irving's and John Travolta's. But the reason it all hangs together is that you can't take your eyes off Spacek's timid-but-all-powerful Carrie, a victim who declines to be victimized."