Cast: Barbara Barrie, Bob Dishy, Edie Falco, Aaron Harnick, Bette Henritze, Madeline Kahn, Julie Kavner, Anne Meara
Director: Eric Mendelsohn
Producer: Rocco Caruso
Screenplay: Eric Mendelsohn
Cinematography: Jeffrey Seckendorf
Music: Michael Nicholas
U.S. Distributor: The Shooting Gallery
Judy Berlin is an unforced meditation on the pressure of monotony in suburbia. It is a completely non-melodramatic look at how easily the so-called American Dream can slip a few gears into the American Nightmare. Utilizing a vastly different style and approach, it illustrates the same point brilliantly presented in one of 1999's best films, American Beauty. However, whereas Sam Mendes' debut was rife with satire, Eric Mendelson's picture uses a surreal setting to emphasize the true-to-life qualities of his characters.
Judy Berlin is filmed in glorious black-and-white, which is the perfect choice for the subject matter. The film opens with scenes of late-'90s suburbia - a local elementary school, houses lined up neatly in rows with cars in driveways, electric meters, and street lights winking out as the day begins. If not for the black-and-white look, all of this would be familiar (bordering on banal), but the monochromatic approach lends a quality of timelessness and unreality to the setting. Events, to the extent that things happen, take place during a September day in the community of Babylon, Long Island. It's the second day of the new school year, but, more importantly, it's the day of a total solar eclipse. However, once the sun disappears behind the moon, it never re-emerges, so more than half of Judy Berlin takes place in the Twilight Zone of a pitch black summer afternoon.
Against this backdrop, we meet and spend time with a small group of characters. 30-year old David Gold (Aaron Harnick) is a failed Hollywood director who has returned to Babylon in despair. As the film opens, he is crying in the bathroom. Later, he wanders outside and encounters an old high school classmate, the irrepressible Judy Berlin (Edie Falco), who is about to embark on the journey David just came back from - a trip to California, which seems to her like a land of milk and honey. She's a wannabe actress (and, by all accounts, not a very good one) and has dreams of "making it big." Meanwhile, Judy's mother, Sue (Barbara Barrie), a grade-school teacher, is not coping well with her daughter's impending departure, and a run-in with a former colleague afflicted with Alzheimer's disease deepens her depression. She turns for comfort to the school's principal, Arthur Gold (Bob Dishy), David's father. Like Sue, Arthur is going through a bad time. He is sick of the tediousness of his life, of his son's listlessness, and of the whining of his wife, Alice (Madeline Kahn). So, as David and Judy spend the day walking around Babylon, revisiting the past and wondering about the future, Sue and Arthur try to define their feelings for one another. And Alice seems to be the only one taking notice that the eclipse is lasting far longer than it should be.
Judy Berlin demands a commitment of attention that many viewers will be unwilling or unable to give. For those watching it in the right mood, the film exudes a hypnotic quality. Other, more restless audience members will find it to be long and slow. To be appreciated, Judy Berlin has to be savored - accept that nothing will happen and simply enjoy the experience exploring the interaction of characters who seem as three-dimensional as anyone you might meet in everyday circumstances. Or, as critic Harlan Jacobson put it, "You can believe these characters existed before the film started and that they'll continue existing after it ends."
Judy Berlin is about the paralyzing power of inertia. With the exception of the title character, everyone in this movie is trapped - and they all know it. They have small moments of rebellion, but they mostly survive to the end of every day by relying on two timeless methods: self-delusion and rigorous adherence to a soul-sapping routine. Sue and Arthur find a moment's respite by confiding in one another, but they lack the innate courage to move further. Alice takes refuge in a fantasy land as a way of ignoring the basic facts of her life - that her son pities her and her husband no longer loves her. Meanwhile David looks on in horror at the people around him and recognizes that he will share their fate. Then there's Judy, who has the energy and courage to get out of Babylon to make a life for herself - if not as a actress, then as something else. Failure brought David back; we sense that the same will not be true of Judy. In a town full of zombies, she is the only animate being, and her glow is like that of a too-bright light bulb in an otherwise dark, murky room.
For a small, independent film, Judy Berlin boasts a distinguished cast. The title role belongs to actress Edie Falco, who is exceptional at expressing Judy's boundless enthusiasm. Since filming Judy Berlin, Falco has become a celebrity of significant status as a result of her role in the HBO TV series, "The Sopranos." Veteran actors Bob Dishy and Barbara Barre transform Arthur and Sue into real people. Relative newcomer Aaron Harnick acquits himself well in distinguished company. And, for Madeline Kahn, this represents the final performance in a career that spanned 30 years (she died in December 1999). Although best known for light roles in Mel Brooks comedies, Kahn shows here that, given the right role, she is a capable dramatic actress.
Films about the suffocating, stifling power of regimented suburban living are becoming increasingly popular as we approach 2001 - the first year of the new millennium. David Lynch has been doing it for years, but many others have joined the chorus. What makes Eric Mendelsohn different is that he uses a distinct voice, and the result is a motion picture with familiar themes but a different way of presenting them. Following its debut at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival, Judy Berlin was not picked up by a distributor. Now, more than a year later, The Shooting Gallery has elected to include it as the opening feature in a special, limited-run package of neglected indie movies that will play in select cities across the country. While this will not reap huge financial rewards for anyone, it will do something infinitely more important: allow viewers a chance to see a motion picture that otherwise would have been overlooked.
© 2000 James Berardinelli