Another Sundance has come and gone, and this year more than ever the festival has shown itself to be at the forefront of some of the edgiest and most diverse voices in the independent film. This year’s festival featured more than its share of surprises, from Macon Blair’s I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore to the highly experimental Manifesto.
One of the definite highlights of this year’s festival was Andrew Dosunmu’s dark drama Where Is Kyra? The Sundance favorite directs Michelle Pfeiffer as a divorced New York woman who has to find any means possible to avoid becoming destitute following the death of her mother. With no stable source of income, Kyra goes to dangerous lengths as a means of ensuring her survival.
Reviews for the film have been solid, with Where is Kyra? currently holding at 83% on Rotten Tomatoes. While some have cited a lack of dialogue (from a script co-written by Dosunmu) and the film’s pulsating score as the only elements requiring improvement, the highly stylized lensing by Bradford Young (recently Oscar-nominated for his work on Arrival) and the turn from the film’s leading lady have both received near-unanimous praise.
After spending the last ten years alternating between leading roles in films which came and went and parts in high-profile ensemble projects, Where is Kyra? has garnered Pfeiffer some of the best reviews of the last decade. Outlets from Time Out to Variety have labeled her work in the film as “utterly fascinating,” “heartbreaking,” “soul-searing,” and “subtly shaded.” The Hollywood Reporter proclaimed that Pfeiffer “disappears into her role,” while indiewire stated that the film is Pfeiffer’s most experimental on-screen venture to date and that the actress “tackles the assignment with palpable depth.”
While Where is Kyra? is indeed her most experimental film role, it isn’t the first time the three-time Oscar nominee has ventured into the world of the indie. Known for bringing depth and groundedness to such big-budget spectacles as Batman Returns and What Lies Beneath, the actress also made several somewhat unnoticed yet highly worthwhile trips into independent film. In celebration of her critical triumph with Where is Kyra?, I thought a re-visit of the times one of Hollywood’s greatest went indie was more than in order.
1. Love Field – The first project put together by Pfeiffer’s own production company, Via Rosa Pictures, Love Field featured Pfeiffer as a 1960s Dallas housewife whose obsession with Jackie Kennedy prompts her to travel to Washington in the wake of the President’s assassination. Love Field was financed by Orion (one of the more successful indie studios of the ‘80s and ‘90s), and it’s obvious why. The film is certainly a character piece, with its heroine’s journey from naive housewife to strong-willed individual front and center. Made for pennies, Love Field sat on a shelf for two years until its star’s success with Batman Returns prompted a late-in-the-year release in time for awards season. The move worked. Pfeiffer scored her third Oscar nomination as a result, and revealed yet another layer to her unmistakable talents.
2. To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday – It’s safe to assume Pfeiffer’s involvement in this project had to do with the fact that her husband, TV producer David E. Kelley, was at the helm. Kelley adapted and executive produced this film version of the successful stage comedy/drama about a widowed man who encounters the ghost of his dead wife on the weekend her family has gotten together at their beach house to celebrate her birthday. Pfeiffer takes on the supporting role, playing the titular Gillian as the mythologized creature her husband and daughter remember her to be. The character’s unending perfection resulted in a lack of complexity and showed in the actress’s somewhat stunted performance. However, her star power certainly helped the now-defunct Triumph Films ensure that To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday made it to theater screens.
3. A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Director Michael Hoffman’s adaptation was certainly one of the biggest projects that the mini-studio Fox Searchlight had ever taken on (budgeted at around $11 million). But the studio trusted the director who, by transporting Shakespeare’s ultimate romantic comedy to 18th century Italy, made for one of the most lavish and enchanting Shakespeare adaptations to date. The director also made fine use of some great then-character actors including Rupert Everett, Stanley Tucci, Anna Friel, Dominic West, and Christian Bale. His biggest coup was in the casting of Pfeiffer (re-teaming with the director following their 1996 collaboration One Fine Day) who, aside from providing a big Hollywood name, brought the right kind of loveliness and intensity to play Titania, Queen of the Fairies.
4. White Oleander – It may have been distributed by a major studio, but its small budget, muted, yet artistic style, and dark subject matter made White Oleander, the tale of a teenager (Alison Lohman) who drifts from one foster home to another when her mother (Pfeiffer) is sentenced to life in prison for murder, pure indie. Pfeiffer received rave reviews following the film’s premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, and it’s easy to see why. Watching her take on the persona of a woman who is a master at emotional manipulation and control (with her daughter being her primary victim), is incredibly magnetic. In the year of Chicago, however, Pfeiffer’s performance was absent from the Oscars; but it still remains one of the most powerful turns in her already-illustrious career.
5. Personal Effects – Pfeiffer tackled her most indie project to date with this little-seen drama starring opposite Ashton Kutcher (based on a short story from The Ice Storm author Rick Moody) as two individuals who meet outside a local courthouse where each is awaiting the outcome of a trial stemming from the violent death of a loved one. A mishandled distribution deal resulted in the film barely seeing a theatrical release before heading straight to DVD dumping ground. However, Personal Effects stands as a moving and cathartic character piece of damaged people finding peace through each other. It’s the kind of drama that the best indies are made from and the type of emotional setting that an actress like Pfeiffer thrives in.
6. People Like Us – Most folks would think a film from the likes of the duo responsible for the Transformers and Star Trek franchises starring Chris Pine would have endless studio dollars to spare. But the budget was mere peanuts for their drama People Like Us, which saw Pine playing a young businessman returning home to L.A. following the death of his estranged record producer father. A glammed-down Pfeiffer (still looking gorgeous of course) nails it as his bitterly resentful mother and sinks her teeth into each of her scenes, which are packed full of every kind of emotion an actress could want, from melancholic exchanges to shouting revelations. Only the coldest of moviegoers would find themselves unmoved at watching her and Pine’s final moment of peace and reconciliation, which works thanks to a fantastic screenplay and impeccable acting.
While the actress’s upcoming projects are all nestled in the warm arms of big studios, Where is Kyra?, as well as the above-mentioned films, isfurther proof, that Pfeiffer is that rare kind of performer whose work and talent possesses a universality with the ability to transcend any kind of film and bring it to stunningly powerful life.
