That Cold Day in the Park
by Robert Altman
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Product details
Actor: David Garfield, Luana Anders, Michael Burns, Sandy Dennis, Susanne BentonDirector: Robert Altman
Cinematographer: L?szl? Kov?cs
Editor: Danford B. Greene
Producer: Donald Factor
Producer: Leon Mirell
Producer: Robert Eggenweiler
Writer: Gillian Freeman
Writer: Peter Miles
Edition: VHS Tape
Audio: English (Original Language), Analog
Format: Color, NTSC
Running Time: 113 minutes
Release Date: 1998-01-01
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Publisher: Republic Pictures
Studio: Republic Pictures
VHS Movie Reviews of That Cold Day in the Park
Movie Review: A closer look at a lonely life
Summary: 5 Stars
Sandy Dennis is one of those remarkable "women/child" actresses. She always carries with her a naivete that is both believeable and sad. This film is no different. She portrays Frances Austen, a lonely spinsterish type living in her deceased mother's apartment. She observes a lonely boy in the park on a cold, rainy day and invites him in. It's obvious that she's attracted to him, and that physical desire is new to her. The plot unfolds before us, and this beautiful 19 year old mute becomes Frances' toy. Of course it wouldn't be a Sandy Dennis film if ALL ended happily or the way we wanted it to, but know that from start to finish this is a film containing an actress in her best form. The direction is fantastic, the cinemotography rivetting. All in all a great piece. I highly recommend it. Movie Review: Slow development, creepy content and dark lighting make for an occasionally dull movie
Summary: 3 Stars
This is a dark movie, both in content and in the degree of lighting. Sandy Dennis plays Frances Austin, a single 32-year old woman living alone. As you learn later in the film, her parents are dead and her only interaction is with a group of older people where, with one exception her actual relationship with them is left ambiguous. The exception is an older man that has "designs" on her. Looking out the window on a cold and rainy day, Frances sees a young man sitting on a park bench.
She invites him into her home and since he is a bit of a prankster, he pretends to be a mute, although we don't learn that until later in the movie that it is an act. Frances takes his wet clothes, lets him take a hot bath and feeds him. This begins an odd relationship as she buys him things and begins to treat him as a "kept man." She goes out and buys him a complete set of new clothes and tries to get him interested in other things such as music.
Frances is a woman whose loneliness had driven her to the very edge of madness, although it is clear that she is a disturbed personality, we have no idea to what extent she is unhinged. The movie moves very slowly in building the situation between Frances and the young man and there are also hints of bizarre behavior on the part of the man.
The young man goes back to a houseboat where he lives and finds a woman that lives there in bed with a man. The woman has very little modesty around him, so at first it appears that there is a two-on-one threesome. However, later he uses the word "Mom" to her in a context that indicates that they share a mother. This is especially creepy because the "sister" strips down in front of him and takes a bath and there is a strong hint that they engaged in a sexual act. The "sister" also makes a comment to the young man about not talking for extended periods of time.
At times early on you are uncertain who is the most disturbed between Frances and the young man but at the end it is clear which is sane and which is not. Due to the slow development of the story and the subject matter, this is one of those movies that some will detest and others will love. I doubt if there is a great deal of middle ground.
Movie Review: That Day in the Park -- chilling and DARK
Summary: 3 Stars
If i could, i would write a review about Michael Burns, but That Cold Day in the Park is about a lot more than his gorgeous mug and superb acting.
I read the book a long time before i saw the movie with MB and Sandy Dennis and almost nobody else. The book was disturbing, very dark, definitely R-rated, shockingly violent. So, for a very long time, i did not see the movie even though i knew it was my last chance to see Michael Burns in his acting career.
Well, guess what. The movie "That Cold Day in the Park" takes a step back from the intense noire nature of the book, and i must say the book is excellent reading if You LIKE the dark side of reality. The movie would not rate R in this new era. No full nudity of anyone. No blood and gore, honest, though i cannot promise no violence. There is a disturbing psychological malfunction in the main character portrayed wonderfully by Sandy Dennis. And there are whimsical moments that will make You smile.
Movie Review: Should of been titled "A Slow Day in The Park"!
Summary: 3 Stars
I'm not a proffesional reviewer and im not going to try to be!, simply put this is a slow moving picture that's not bad for the era, Youv'e seen the same premise many a time, i.e. psycho woman, unsuspecting male!, I't is an interesting drama but i wouldn't catagorize it as a thriller (except for one part at the end) that takes forever to climax!, I had a problem to with the ending as well, without giving it away it seems our victim could of easily avoided all this with a little testosterone! Movie Review: Upper middle-class solitude
Summary: 4 Stars
In this old film by Robert Altman, we discover how solitude for a young woman is a plague on her way to happiness and satisfaction. She comes to the point where she cannot even ask anyone for the contact she desires. She lives in a completely artificial and closed world. One day she brings into her world a stranger she finds in a park and she desires him but she treats him like a canaribird in a cage : she feeds him, she bathes him, she dresses him, she provides him with all comfort, she even provides him with a woman, but he cannot escape, he is a prisoner. It is only within that frame and after a long evolution that she finally finds the courage to ask for what she wants, and yet with no promise that the cage will be reopened. In other words, after a long life with her mother after the death of her father and among people who are from her mother's world, she is totally handicapped in society and unable to navigate properly among desires and obstacles. She can only take and possess. The other is no longer a human being but a toy, a doll in a way. A very sad picture of the loneliness of the solitary young lady in the upper middle-class....
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