Francine

Just OK
I rented this video for I like Melissa Leo's acting. Well, not too much acting in this. The story line is one that doesn't lend much too much to this woman's emotions. It is a simple movie about a simple woman, with a predictable ending.

Good film with a strong actor
This was a good film, fitting the micro budget ethos quite well. Melissa Leo does a great job showing the lives of the less fortunate. What was missing was a narrative thread ... the origins of Francine's incarceration, her overall treatment and the path back was very opaque. I also thought the sexualization of her situation, especially in the workplace troubling, but is was a mystery why she relented in one situation (at the Polo Grounds) but resisted in another, more romantic setting. All this points to a good deal of unexplained back story, whose absence while no doubt part of the artistic gambit, makes the final product a little too opaque.

Lost Soul
One of the most compassionate portraits of a lost soul I've ever seen. Of course there are overtones that most of us aren't that far away. Some great music picks help a lot. Powerful. See two other wonderful films "Vagabond" and "Smithereens."

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