The Ballad of the Sad Cafe (1991)

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Having seen the "definitive" stage version of this, featuring Colleen Dewhurst and Michael Dunn, I wasn't hopeful for this film holding a candle to it. I came away feeling that this particular piece does not translate to film. Vanessa Redgrave is a wonderful actress and seeing her beautiful, expressive face with no makeup and her hair cut short is quite startling, but effective. I found myself focusing on her big blue eyes most of the time, as they told the mood of her character throughout. I doubt they could've found anyone better for the role. It's simply that the entire production didn't quite gel. It truly works better in the theatre. I'm still not entirely decided on whether I completely disliked it.

This movie was ridiculous from the start. Let me save you all time from watching this movie. A woman who sells corn liquor to the locals takes in her cousin or nephew and he convinces her to open a café downstairs from her home. She does and she and the cousin become close. There is a scene later where she is locking lips with him. Later, the woman finds out an old boyfriend is coming back from jail and its tense between them, leading to a down and out fist fight in the café. The woman's cousin/nephew is enamored by the man. The ending was awful, the story was awful, and if I could get back the time wasted on this movie, I would appreciate it. A definite skip.

I just purchased this through the Merchant & Ivory DVD collection. I must admit I was unaware of who Carson McCullers was until I realized that she also wrote "A Heart is a Lonely Hunter". True to her style, this is a dark tale with the edge of by-sexuality in the main character (as McCullers was also). The movie it self is less than imaginative with some scenic wonders and yet with placid and flat acting. Simon Callow is not a good director and I definitely love the man as an actor more. Some scenes are memorable and the color red is used beautifully as a dress and a shirt - when you see it you will know how and why. Definitely put in the rent category for a somber afternoon.

Very good adaptation of Carson McCullers' incredible novella. The highly versatile Vanessa Redgrave is superb, as usual. I did not really know what to expect from Keith Carradine in his role, but was not disappointed. I was very happy to see that the filmmakers stayed very close to Edward Albee's stage adaptation; it was nice to see filmmakers not screw around and ruin something that works just fine in its original form. Fans of Southern literature will enjoy how true this film is to what McCullers' actually wrote, unlike most film adaptations of great literature. And the actors' performances are very strong, not pretentious like so many mediocre actors who know that the content is greater than they are. Redgrave and Carradine are honest and magnificent in their roles, especially as the intensity builds to the culminating fight at the end.