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December2006

The Architect

by Kam Williams

The Architect


Distributor: Magnolia Pictures
Director: Matt Tauber
Screenwriter: Matt Tauber
Cast: Anthony LaPaglia, Isabella Rossellini, Viola Davis, Hayden Panettiere, Sebastian Stan, Walton Goggins, Paul James
Rated R for profanity and sexual content.
Running time: 82 minutes
   

 

 

 

 

Cross-Cultural Melodrama Contrasts the Fates of Blacks versus Whites in Chicago

Tonya Neeley (Viola Davis) is a single-mom struggling to survive in a crime-infested housing project. Since she’s already lost her son to suicide,
she’s allowed his twin sister, Cammie (Serena Reeder) to live across town with a bourgie black family. Meanwhile, Tonya remains mired in poverty in
the ghetto with her other daughter (Nicole Salter) who herself is an unwed mother.

Their plight stands in stark contrast to that of The Waters, who live beyond the reach of the slums in an upscale enclave on the North Side of Chicago.
Though Leo (Anthony LaPaglia), a renowned architect, keeps his kin comfortably in the lap of luxury, they still each are grappling with an
emotional issue.

His nearly-mute wife, Julia (Isabella Rossellini), a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown, wanders around the house in a semi-catatonic state
because she can’t stand the sight of her husband. 15 year-old daughter Christina (Hayden Panettiere) is a precocious post-pubescent intent on
losing her virginity ASAP. And her big brother Martin (Sebastian Stan) is a kinky college dropout who can’t decide whether he has the hots for his
sister or Jungle Fever for Shawn (Paul James), a homosexual hooker from the ‘hood. The only reason why the Neeley and Waters clans cross paths is
because Tonya is a community activist who is petitioning to have the projects where she resides demolished and replaced by more humane
structures. And wouldn’t you know that the place was designed by Leo, who considers his creation a masterpiece. So, their steely standoff sits at the
heart of The Architect, an inner-city-meets-suburbia melodrama based on the stage play of the same name by David Greig.

What makes the movie satisfying is the fact that its ethnic tensions are never overtly exacerbated, but rather subtly illustrated simply by the
comparison of the decadent malaise of the spoiled-rotten versus the neverending nightmare of the have-nots. A gritty, class-conscious picture
which dares to ask the tough questions guaranteed to make an audience squirm.

Excellent (3.5 stars)