MOVIES
B Y M O L LY T E M P L E T O N
CATE BLANCHETT
IN CAROL
THE PRICE
OF SALT
Todd Hayne’s Carol is a
distant and meticulously
observed coming-of-age
romance
W
indows. Lenses. Curtains. More windows.
There are layers between the actors and the
audience in Todd Haynes’ Carol, some of them
narrative, some literal. Haynes loves to show
the gently blurred image of Rooney Mara, elfin
and pensive, shot through glass. Mara, though the various
award nominations (and the title) might suggest otherwise, is
the star of Carol. As Therese, an early-1950s young woman
with a department store job, a well-intentioned beau and a
lovely little apartment, she floats through the film with wide
eyes and the occasional sharp glance.
Therese’s quiet, uncertain life changes when Carol (Cate
Blanchett) swings into her orbit. Haynes creates a gentle,
vibrant tension in their first meeting when Therese, behind a
glass counter at work, sees Carol from across the room. Carol
is blonde, elegant, poised, wrapped in fur (no one has ever
been as good at not letting a coat slip off her shoulder as
Blanchett is in this movie). She asks Therese’s opinion on a
gift for her daughter, then leaves her gloves behind. When
Therese sends them back, Carol invites her to lunch and,
slowly, into her life.
Haynes hasn’t directed a feature since 2007’s I’m Not
There, and Carol is a gorgeously put together return to
theaters. Every piece, as you expect with a Haynes film, is
precisely chosen, from Carol’s striking red coat to the
furniture in the Midwestern hotel rooms Carol and Therese
stay in when they take off on a road trip. Next to Mara’s
impossibly delicate features, Blanchett looks like someone
else, her face wider, her lips pursed just so, like she’s always
about to say something she shouldn’t.
Carol, which is based on Patricia Highsmith’s novel The
Price of Salt, is a stately dance, a studied exchange of
meaningful gazes that Haynes and screenwriter Phyllis Nagy
build with elegant restraint. Therese, an amateur photographer,
stares at Carol like she’s an answer to all life’s questions. The
pair’s long silences wrap them in an illusion of privacy;
they’re just two women, out for dinner, out for lunch, on the
way somewhere. Haynes evokes public isolation better than
almost anyone — all that glass, all the things you see but
aren’t really seeing — but this time, distance gets the better of
him.
Carol isn’t entirely a love story. In the end, it’s a story
about becoming who you are and stepping into the life you
need to live. For Therese, Carol is an integral part of finding
that life, but her arrival at that realization is so internal that it
keeps the movie’s emotional impact at arm’s length. A slow,
intellectual, coming-of-age romance, Carol is a stunningly
filmed piece of emotionally distant art. (Bijou Art Cinemas) ■
IMAX: STAR WARS: EPISODE VII - THE FORCE
AWAKENS3D (PG-13) ★
Fri. - Sat.1215 315 705 1010
TIX
$6
$2
$2 matinee $1 off
Sun Tues $2 stud/SEN
*N E W * A L L A G E S
FRI JAN 22 - THUR JAN 28
7 OSCAR NOMINATIONS
4:45, 9:25
5:20, 9:25
2 OSCAR NOMINATIONS
THE INTERN
7:15
13 HOURS:THE SECRET
SOLDIERS OF BENGHAZI
(DIG) (R)
11:55, 3:35, 7:00, 10:20
THE 5TH WAVE (DIG) (PG-13)
10:50, 1:35, 4:20, 7:05, 9:55
ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS:
THE ROAD CHIP (DIG) (PG)
11:25, 1:55, 4:25
THE BIG SHORT (DIG) (R)
10:15
THE BOY (DIG) (PG-13)
11:35, 2:15, 5:10, 7:55, 10:25
BROOKLYN (DIG) (PG-13)
10:55, 1:45, 4:30, 7:20, 10:05
DADDY’S HOME (DIG) (PG-13)
11:45, 2:30, 5:05, 7:45, 10:15
DIRTY GRANDPA (DIG) (R)
11:20, 2:10, 4:50, 7:35, 10:10
THE FOREST (DIG) (PG-13)
11:50, 2:25, 4:55, 7:25, 10:00
THE GOOD DINOSAUR (DIG) (PG)
11:40, 2:20, 5:00, 7:40, 10:10
STAR WARS: EPISODE VII - THE FORCE AWAKENS 3D
[CC, (PG-13) ★
Fri. - Sat.(1230 PM) 950 PM
Call Theatre for Showtimes
7:15
ALL AGES, ALL THE TIME
26
THE HATEFUL EIGHT (DIG) (R)
12:00, 4:05, 8:00
JOY (DIG) (PG-13)
7:00, 10:05
NORM OF THE NORTH (DIG)
(PG)
11:10, 2:05, 4:45, 7:50
REVENANT (DIG) (R)
11:05, 12:30, 2:35, 4:15, 6:15,
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RIDE ALONG 2 (DIG) (PG-13)
11:15, 2:00, 4:35, 7:10, 9:50
SISTERS (DIG) (R)
11:00, 1:50, 4:40, 7:30, 10:20
STAR WARS: EPISODE VII - THE
FORCE AWAKENS (3D) (PG-13)
12:35, 10:25
STAR WARS: EPISODE VII - THE
FORCE AWAKENS (DIG) (PG-13)
11:30, 2:45, 3:45, 6:10, 7:15,
9:30
January 21, 2016 • eugeneweekly.com
Times For 01/22 - 01/23 © 2016