John Sayles

  • John Sayles – Return of the Secaucus Seven (1979)

    John Sayles1971-1980CultDramaUSA
    Return of the Secaucus Seven (1979)
    Return of the Secaucus Seven (1979)

    College friends reunite for a New England summer weekend in this low-budget first feature by accomplished independent filmmaker John Sayles. A predecessor of the well-paced, character-driven films in Sayles’ future, Secaucus Seven also looks ahead to the 1980s ensemble movies that it inspired, most notably Lawrence Kasdan’s The Big Chill, which arrived in theaters three years later. As each friend arrives at the house (or travels to the house), characterizations build, dialogue expands, and the house (and film) are full of people getting reacquainted and re-examining themselves and each other. Sayles builds the plot by testing the characters’ connections: Will these former radicals accept the uptight boyfriend of the well-loved politico? What happens when a couple splits up? How does the educated set treat the local blue-collars? Many critics cited Secaucus Seven in their decade-end list of the best films of the 1980s.Read More »

  • John Sayles – Silver City (2004)

    2001-2010DramaJohn SaylesThrillerUSA

    Quote:
    The discovery of a corpse threatens to unravel a bumbling local politician’s campaign for governor of Colorado.Read More »

  • John Sayles – Matewan (1987)

    1981-1990DramaJohn SaylesPoliticsUSA

    Independent filmmaker John Sayles creates one of his more artistic works with this period feature about a volatile 1920s labor dispute in the town of Matewan, West Virginia. Matewan is a coal town where the local miners’ lives are controlled by the powerful Stone Mountain Coal Company. The company practically owns the town, reducing workers’ wages while raising prices at the company-owned supply and grocery. The citizens’ land and homes are not their own, and the future seems dim. When the coal company brings immigrants and minorities to Matewan as cheaper labor, union organizer Joe Kenehan (Chris Cooper) scours the town to unite all miners in a strike. Read More »

  • John Sayles – Passion Fish (1992)

    1991-2000DramaJohn SaylesUSA

    29f7c043f76a2bde437fd0d52a185152

    Character and dialogue are the driving forces in writer-director John Sayles’ movies. In Passion Fish, Sayles delivers a quality screenplay, and Mary McDonnell and Alfre Woodard do his script justice with some of the most accomplished work of their careers. McDonnell — who also stood out in the director’s Matewan — brings surprising originality to the role of the haggard, self-pitying accident victim, and Woodard never becomes a stereotypical provider of “tough love.” Vondie Curtis-Hall and Sayles regular David Strathairn offer colorful supporting turns. Passion Fish was the director’s simplest, most elegant work since his second feature, 1983’s Lianna. McDonnell and Sayles would be nominated for Academy Awards, and Sayles would also be nominated for his screenplay. ~ Brendon Hanley, All Movie GuideRead More »

Back to top button