I took two whole pages worth of notes for SUNSHINE STATE when it aired on Reel 13 on Saturday. There a couple of reasons for this: 1) the film is about two and a half hours long, so I had the time and 2) the film is very slow and boring, so I wasn’t lost in the film and could focus on my notes without fear of missing anything. What’s most surprising about the failure of SUNSHINE STATE is that director John Sayles is usually pretty reliable and (as we were oft-reminded by the Reel 13 hosts) is a legend in independent cinema. He has at least two masterpieces (Orson Welles used to say you only needed one) with EIGHT MEN OUT (1988) and the frequently forgotten Spanish-language MEN WITH GUNS (1998) (Some people might include LONE STAR (1996) on that list, but I am not among them). He might even have a few more with MATEWAN (1987) and CITY OF HOPE (1991), but I haven’t seen them yet, so I’ll have to abstain. The point is: how did such a prolific auteur miss the mark so badly?
Ambition, for one thing. While he has had success with gambles in the past (EIGHT MEN OUT was awfully ambitious too – an independent period piece about baseball???), Sunshine State seems to bite off more than it could chew. Critics often say that any film with lots of characters is a wannabe Altman, which is often unfair, but this film actually fits that profile. Not only does it have a schmorgasbourg of protagonists, it also adopts Altman’s penchant for zooms (particularly in reveals) and blocking criss-crossing conversations. For some inexplicable reason, however, these techniques are not as successful for Sayles. The zooms are awkward, stilted and poorly timed. The criss-crossing dialogue doesn’t work as well because the characters should be in the middle of a conversation when the camera comes toward them – not starting a new conversation – that’s contrived and forced. If anything, SUNSHINE STATE makes you appreciate the mastery of Altman that much more – he had this amazing ability of making those techniques work seamlessly. Altman also uses his time efficiently managing to fill each scene with enough character detail that he is able to juggle all his characters. Unfortunately, for Sayles, only a handful of the characters are very interesting or developed (some storylines are just downright abandoned), resulting in what feels like a lot of wasted time.
There are also several Fellini-esque moments scattered throughout the film that substitute local Florida iconography (alligators, mermaids, pirates) for the religious imagery often utilized by the Italian master. Additionally, Sayles seems to have adopted Fellini’s pre-occupation with processions/parades, even choosing to end the film with one. These moments are okay and do fit in with the tongue-in-cheek tone of the film, but the basic character work, normally a forte of Sayles and the foundation of any film, wasn’t done and so the extra touches have less impact.
Possibly the most annoying part of the film is its social commentary, chiefly represented by Alan King and his group of senior citizen golfers who appear in random scenes interspersed throughout the film as a sort of Greek chorus, who offer observations on Florida and also the human condition. Highly unnecessary! If John Sayles weren’t his own editor, these scenes would be the first to go. And then to add insult to injury, the overarching storyline (that thing that affects all the characters – like the earthquake in SHORT CUTS or the murder in GOSFORD PARK) involves the big bad developers (an easy villain) trying to buy up land in town to create shopping malls and luxury apartments, etc. Needless to say, almost all the characters have a thing or two to say about this and they aren’t subtle about it. It’s almost groan-inducing.
Among the actors (there are many), most of the cast is fine (I didn’t love Ralph Waite – he overplayed his hand…), but Edie Falco is the one who stood out the most to me. In many ways, her character is the voice of reason in the picture, but she and Sayles (he always been good writing female characters) add layers of complexities - self-doubts, desires and contradictions. Timothy Hutton and Mary Alice are also very good in much smaller roles. They weren’t as developed as some of the other characters, but I couldn’t help but thinking that both of them needed to work more.
Throughout his career, Sayles has had the remarkable ability to do a wide variety of styles and genres. His body of work is very eclectic: THE BROTHER FROM ANOTHER PLANET is a far cry from LIMBO and PASSION FISH. With SUNSHINE STATE, he tries to expand the parameters of his oeuvre even further, experimenting with the sprawling, mutli-protagonist, episodic format. While I am very impressed by Sayles’ versatility and interest in trying out different ideas, it must be said that his latest foray into new territory didn’t work as well as some of his other efforts. But, for what it’s worth, I can’t blame him for trying.