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April 02, 2003
Movies: A Walk on the Moon vs Unfaithful
I just watched Unfaithful for which Diane Lane was nominated for the Oscar and found it interesting how similar it was to a movie I watched a few weeks ago, 'A Walk on the Moon'.
In both movies, Diane Lane plays (and does so wonderfully) a housewife who is unfaithful to her (good looking and loving) husband. However, the two movies handle this very differently and I found 'Walk' to be the much better movie.
Quick descriptions of the two movies, focusing on the connections and
differences between them.
Unfaithful: modern-day, absolutely gorgeous lover, the relationship appears to be entirely about the sex and escapism of the affair. Also, the movie jumps the tracks midway through. It should have focused on the effects on the relationship (as Walk does) and instead becomes something very different and not very interesting. The affair is presented well and Lane and her lover are both gorgeous but the movie just isn't that good. **
A Walk on the Moon: set in 1969 at the time of Woodstock and the Apollo 11 mission (both of which play a major and relevant role in the movie). Here the issue is about the times and the restrictions placed on women and how Lane is looking for something different from her life. Her husband is kind and loving but an extreme square and her mild efforts to expand her life and their relationship haven't worked. Meeting a gorgeous and interesting man (played by Viggo Mortensen who also plays Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings films - in both he is excellent), she ends up in an affair where she can explore her sensual side and the changing times (as they go to Woodstock for a day). When her husband discovers the affair, the movie only gets better with real explorations of reasonable reactions from all three characters. Lane's character still loves her husband but doesn't want to return to the same old life and must make a hard choice. Her husband is of course extremely angry but comes to realize why she did what she did and eventually forgive her enough to try again. He also realizes his own weaknesses and determines to make what effort he can to try to make things better (very well shown in the last seen). Mortensen's character is well handled as well. He really loves Lane and does not disappear as a used and now thrown away character when the affair is discovered. Instead, he actually meets the husband in a very believable scene for both men. Lane's daughter has a side-story that is also very well done. The Summer of Love music (Grateful Dead, Simon & Garfunkel, Hendrix, etc...) also is wonderful and blends perfectly. Every character in this movie is believalbe, a rare thing. Highly recommended. ****1/2
Posted by aarondf at April 2, 2003 12:46 PM
Comments
I saw "Unfaithful" first and then saw "A Walk to rember", I was quite suprised at the similarity in the two movies, it was as if the same person wrote both screenplays. I thought "A Walk" was a much better movie.
Posted by: Henry Fletcher at June 2, 2003 05:21 PM
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