{"id":29330,"date":"2013-01-10T13:47:13","date_gmt":"2013-01-10T20:47:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=29330"},"modified":"2020-12-22T19:35:11","modified_gmt":"2020-12-23T02:35:11","slug":"melanie-1982","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=29330","title":{"rendered":"Melanie (1982)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;You are not fit to raise a son in this world.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Melanie-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Melanie-Poster-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-29334\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Melanie-Poster-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Melanie-Poster-85x128.jpg 85w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Melanie-Poster.jpg 580w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nWhen her husband (Don Johnson) takes off with their son (Jamie Dick), an illiterate southern woman (Glynnis O&#8217;Connor) follows them to California, where she befriends a troubled musician (Burton Cummings) and begins to build a new life for herself, while attempting to regain custody of her son.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Glynnis O&#8217;Connor Films<\/li>\n<li>Musicians<\/li>\n<li>Romance<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nGlynnis O&#8217;Connor&#8217;s fine lead performance is the primary reason to check out this well-meaning but ultimately disappointing character study about a young woman struggling to overcome the stigma of illiteracy. While there&#8217;s potential here for a fascinating glimpse into the world as experienced by someone denied the opportunity to read or write, the script places Melanie (O&#8217;Connor) time and again in situations designed for dramatic potential rather than realism. We learn far too little about Melanie&#8217;s background in rural Jasper, Arkansas before she&#8217;s off on a road trip to California, conveniently following up on an invitational postcard from a friend (Trudy Young) living in Hollywood with her drug-addled musician boyfriend (Burton Cummings). Before you can blink an eye, the sack-dress-clad Melanie has undergone a dramatic physical transformation, and manages to so thoroughly impress Cummings&#8217; manager (Paul Sorvino) with her motherly instincts (by treating his son nicely for a few minutes) that he immediately offers to let her come and live with him (!). <\/p>\n<p>Will romantic entanglements ensue? Absolutely &#8212; though again, the script is too undeveloped for the situation as played out to feel anything but contrived. With that said, the performances by O&#8217;Connor, Cummings, and Sorvino are all top notch. Cummings &#8212; an enormously popular Canadian rock star who I&#8217;ll admit I knew nothing about before watching this film &#8212; gives a refreshingly natural performance; while his character isn&#8217;t anyone we feel sympathy for, he&#8217;s at least highly believable. The scenes in which he struggles to compose new songs come across as particularly authentic &#8212; and it helps that the score is filled with his catchy ballads. Fans of his music will certainly want to locate a copy of this film, the only one he made &#8212; but it&#8217;s otherwise only must-see for O&#8217;Connor fans.   <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Glynnis O&#8217;Connor as Melanie<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Melanie-OConnor.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Melanie-OConnor.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"696\" height=\"472\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-29333\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Melanie-OConnor.png 696w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Melanie-OConnor-128x86.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Melanie-OConnor-300x203.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 696px) 100vw, 696px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Burton Cummings as Rick<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Melanie-Cummings.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Melanie-Cummings.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"696\" height=\"472\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-29332\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Melanie-Cummings.png 696w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Melanie-Cummings-128x86.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Melanie-Cummings-300x203.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 696px) 100vw, 696px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Paul Sorvino as Walter<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Melanie-Sorvino.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Melanie-Sorvino.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"696\" height=\"472\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-29331\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Melanie-Sorvino.png 696w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Melanie-Sorvino-128x86.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Melanie-Sorvino-300x203.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 696px) 100vw, 696px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>A fine score (by Cummings)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo. Listed as a Sleeper in the back of Peary&#8217;s book. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0084318\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;You are not fit to raise a son in this world.&#8221; Synopsis: When her husband (Don Johnson) takes off with their son (Jamie Dick), an illiterate southern woman (Glynnis O&#8217;Connor) follows them to California, where she befriends a troubled musician (Burton Cummings) and begins to build a new life for herself, while attempting to regain custody of her son. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Glynnis O&#8217;Connor Films Musicians Romance Review: Glynnis O&#8217;Connor&#8217;s fine lead performance is the primary reason to&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=29330\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29330"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29330\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59109,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29330\/revisions\/59109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}