Peter Blood files his first SXSW report 19990317 02:45:25
http://www.aint-it-cool-news.com 
      
--- Review ---

The Sky is Falling, the directorial debut of Florrie Laurence, stars
DeDee Pfeiffer (who was Rachel on "Cybill" and is currently on "For Your
Love" on the WB ) as Emily Hall, a 28 year old writer who's still dating
the same guy she did in high school, and lives alone with her dog. Teri
Garr plays Madame Mona, her mother, a new age psychic who has a regular
zoo in her house with cats, birds and a big iguana. The story opens as
Emily sends out her first novel, a story of the last day in the life of
an 80 year old woman. She gets rejection after rejection, beginning a
downward spiral that continues with a breakup with her boyfriend, an
invitation to her High School reunion, and the sudden appearance of her
long lost father whom she thought was dead (in a great low-key
performance by Howard Hesseman.) Throughout all this, Emily fantasizes
of various ways to commit suicide, with usually comic results. (The
death by Chocolate was especially amusing.) 

Her grandmother's unexpected trip to the hospital inadvertently results
in Emily joining a hospital outreach program that brings pets to
terminal patients. Here, and in other aspects of her life Emily meets
and deals with a plethora of eccentric characters that both help and
hinder her. Standouts include Chris Elliot in a cameo as a Christmas
tree salesman and Howard Hesseman as her father, Yogi Cook, a
photographer with a checkered past. 

This is essentially a comedy about life spiraling out of control and how
people deal with that. It's a chick flick, but one that only the most
boarish of men can't identify with. The main reason the film works so
well is that it deftly walks a couple of mighty fine lines. It succeeds
in showing the humor in Emily's situation without ever making fun her
and it allows the audience to feel some of Emily's pain without ever
playing straight to their emotions. With this subject matter, a film can
easily become melodramatic, preachy or downright treacle, but Sky is
Falling steps around those pitfalls and presents it's audience with a
highly entertaining story. The only change I would make is to tighten up
the third act a little, to keep the pace constant. It's a very high
quality film, with solid performances, a good soundtrack, extremely
competent special effects and titles (something unexpected, by me, at
least) and as of right now, no distribution. I sincerely hope we'll be
hearing of a deal by the end of the festival; I really can't imagine
everyone letting this one get away. It's a great small film that
deserves to be seen. 

----End Review---