And She Was. Wonderfully Strange
November 20th, 2009 | 
Author: 
MiamiMovieCritic asked:
“The world was movin’, she was floatin’ above it and she was.”
Any movie that takes its title from a Talking Heads song is alright in my book, but And She Was offers more than just good taste in 1980s hipster music. Like that 1985 New Wave hit (“hey-hey-hey-hey-hey-hey, hey-hey-hey-hey-hey-hey”), the movie is all about a girl, and what makes it such a pleasurable viewing experience are the colorful characters who come to visit said girl on her husband’s birthday.
Abby (Allyson Teed) is a Stepfordish housewife with rose-red lips and a pleasant but rather vacant way about her. She utters not a syllable as she bakes a birthday cake for her husband John (Scott Dewitt) and answers the door for three sets of strangers. The director, Bill Marchant, contrasts Abby’s domestic life (all pristine white surfaces: sterile, spotless and suffocating) with the eccentricity of the visitors. The movie is about the life Abby is missing on the outside.
The dramedy becomes wonderfully strange as soon as Abby opens that front door. Her first visitors are a pair of traveling salesmen who look like they’ve wandered in from an Off-Broadway production of The Music Man. They make some suggestive comments about how the Sucker 3000 vacuum cleaner will make Abby “very happy” before departing in a flurry of argument. Next comes three born-again Christians who caress each other and generally act like adult-film actresses as they spread the Good News. But the highlight is the orphans who show up begging for food. What’s refreshing is that they actually look like orphans; they’re all dirty and their lips are blistered from the cold. The three actors in this scene (Paul Ferancik, Raymond Wey-Ming Ho and Thomas Michael Dobie) have exquisite timing and chemistry; they’re so apologetic about being homeless you won’t believe it.
And She Was is not a happy movie. Abby ultimately feels trapped, and even those on the outside seem lost – a final glimpse of the orphans shows them huddled together in the rain. But, by showing us a world full of so much life and weirdness, the movie says something positive about the possibility of making meaningful connections.
“The world was movin’, she was floatin’ above it and she was.”
Any movie that takes its title from a Talking Heads song is alright in my book, but And She Was offers more than just good taste in 1980s hipster music. Like that 1985 New Wave hit (“hey-hey-hey-hey-hey-hey, hey-hey-hey-hey-hey-hey”), the movie is all about a girl, and what makes it such a pleasurable viewing experience are the colorful characters who come to visit said girl on her husband’s birthday.
Abby (Allyson Teed) is a Stepfordish housewife with rose-red lips and a pleasant but rather vacant way about her. She utters not a syllable as she bakes a birthday cake for her husband John (Scott Dewitt) and answers the door for three sets of strangers. The director, Bill Marchant, contrasts Abby’s domestic life (all pristine white surfaces: sterile, spotless and suffocating) with the eccentricity of the visitors. The movie is about the life Abby is missing on the outside.
The dramedy becomes wonderfully strange as soon as Abby opens that front door. Her first visitors are a pair of traveling salesmen who look like they’ve wandered in from an Off-Broadway production of The Music Man. They make some suggestive comments about how the Sucker 3000 vacuum cleaner will make Abby “very happy” before departing in a flurry of argument. Next comes three born-again Christians who caress each other and generally act like adult-film actresses as they spread the Good News. But the highlight is the orphans who show up begging for food. What’s refreshing is that they actually look like orphans; they’re all dirty and their lips are blistered from the cold. The three actors in this scene (Paul Ferancik, Raymond Wey-Ming Ho and Thomas Michael Dobie) have exquisite timing and chemistry; they’re so apologetic about being homeless you won’t believe it.
And She Was is not a happy movie. Abby ultimately feels trapped, and even those on the outside seem lost – a final glimpse of the orphans shows them huddled together in the rain. But, by showing us a world full of so much life and weirdness, the movie says something positive about the possibility of making meaningful connections.
Posted in 
Tags: