EIFF Review: P.S.

Posted by: Scott Hayes  •  October 15, 2004 @ 11:59am

Filed under: Reviews

Laura Linney has an effortless acting talent to portray most of her characters with grace, charm, and ease. She becomes the light of the film. Other similarly talented actresses include Elisabeth Shue, Molly Parker, and Nicole Kidman. While these others tend toward challenging roles with occasionally darker themes, Linney stays mostly in the mainstream.

P.S. is a typical Linney film with some issues to be explored but not going too deep, plus it all gets wrapped up nicely in the end. No one leaves unhappy. She plays Louise Harrington, an Fine Arts Admissions Officer who can't seem to let go of the past. An application comes across her desk with her dead high school boyfriend's name on it. When she interviews him, it's him reincarnate.

Embarking on a fling with F. Scott Feinstadt (Topher Grace) opens up a whole world of undealt-with pain and bad memories. There is a central theme of how sex and desire cause different people to lose their reality. Characters have psychological problems, addictions, and unresolved issues that must be dealt with. Harrington herself seems pretty keyed up from the start as she stretches to regain her lost youth.

Like I said before, it isn't a real think piece but I still enjoyed watching Linney work.

P.S. is screening at the Garneau Theatre on Friday, October 15th at 7:00pm.