Todd Haynes’s FAR FROM HEAVEN reveals the dark underside of suburbia
FAR FROM HEAVEN (Todd Haynes, 2002)
Museum of the Moving Image
35th Ave. at 36th St., Astoria
Saturday, November 30, free with museum admission, 4:00
Series runs November 29 – December 1
718-777-6800
www.movingimage.us
www.farfromheavenmovie.com
Douglas Sirk and Thomas Mann would be proud. In Todd Haynes’s wonderfully retro Far from Heaven, Oscar-nominated Julianne Moore is amazing as 1950s housewife Cathy Whitaker, who thinks she has the perfect idyllic suburban life — until she discovers that her husband (Dennis Quaid) has a secret that dare not speak its name. Mr. & Mrs. Magnatech they are not after all. When she starts getting all chummy with the black gardener (Dennis Haysbert), people start talking, of course. Part Imitation of Life, part Death in Venice, and oh-so-original, Haynes’s awesome achievement will have you believing you’re watching a film made in the 1950s, propelled by Elmer Bernstein’s excellent music, Edward Lachman’s remarkable photography, and Mark Friedberg’s terrific production design. Far from Heaven is screening at the Museum of the Moving Image on November 30 at 4:00 as part of the weekend series “Julianne Moore,” which pays tribute to the award-winning actress known for taking on challenging roles by showing six of her films, including the Coen brothers’ The Big Lebowski, Steven Spielberg’s The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Paul Thomas Anderson’s Boogie Nights, Haynes’s Safe, and Lisa Cholodenko’s The Kids Are All Right.