Losing Isaiah (1995)

Beautiful.

It's a good movie.

I don't think I realized how good this film was at the time but then I recently tried watching 'Black and White' with Kevin Costner and Octavia Spencer. It can't hold a candle yo this.

Who gets the baby ?

R4 Jessica does.

Directed by Jake G.'s father.

Thanks, R5. Do you think this movie would be made today, with that ending? I don't.

R7 The baby is given to Halle but she ends up giving him back to Jessica. I think this movie would cause a reaction no matter what the ending is.

Halle Berry passed on the part of Robin in the film "Waiting To Exhale" to work on this film.

So underrated.

R6 Produced and adapted for the screen by his mom, Naomi Foner.

I recall a review of this film that compared movie star empathy. It said when Jessica cries you feel sorry for her, but when Halle Berry cries on a book you feel sorry for the book.

R12 I thought Lange and Berry were both exquisite.

R12 That's a fucked up review.

For a few years Stephen Gyllenhaal was a hot director and worked with Lange and Barbara Hershey and Debra Winger. Then he went back to TV .

R15 - I think it's called working R15. The TV shows credits are respectable.

"Nolan-esque"?? FUCK YOU, YOU DUMB CUNT!

R17 Suck my twat.

I actually thought Berry was much better here than in "Monster's Ball".

I need a box of tissues.

There there R20

"The baby is given to Halle but she ends up giving him back to Jessica."

That seems very lame and unbelievable. Berry's character fights to get custody of the child and gets it...and then gives it back to the white couple. Kind of reminds me of "Kramer Vs. Kramer." Didn't the same thing happen in that movie; Meryl Streep goes to court to get her son but ends up giving him back to Dustin Hoffman.

R22 She doesn't just give him back to her. She asks her if he can stay with her "for a while. Until he gets used to this. I want him to stay in this school and to be around his people."

It's a hopeful ending, which fits perfectly with the "...and a little child shall lead them." quote from Isaiah.

In Kramer vs. Kramer, it is clear that Joanne is giving Ted the child back permanently.

Liked it.

Amazing performances by Lange and Berry.

I wouldn't call "Nolanesque" a recommendation.

Does Halle Berry show her tits in this film?

Every time I think an actor is an actor because of their talent, I read things like Naomi F. Gyllenhaal and see who her kids are, and realize it really is who you know.

[Quote] That seems very lame and unbelievable. Berry's character fights to get custody of the child and gets it...and then gives it back to the white couple.

The child needed time to adjust. He wouldn't even sleep in the same room as Halle.

I agree that Berry is better here than in MONSTER'S BALL. Plus you get the quiet strength of my personal fave David Strathairn as Lange's husband as a bonus.

Honestly, I was surprised that the judge awarded custody to Berry - the whole "Black children need to be in Black families" is pretty damn racist, as if color-blindness is supposed to be only a one-way street. The baby was wrenched from the one real family situation he knew - PC trumps the child's emotional health.

I liked the ending

Underrated

Surprisingly moving and relevant

and THIS, again....

[quote]It's a hopeful ending, which fits perfectly with the "...and a little child shall lead them." quote from Isaiah.

Overall, it was a good film. The ending was hopeful. Both of the parents loved him and ended up doing what was best for the child. As someone else described it, it was a "hopeful" ending.

[quote]Every time I think an actor is an actor because of their talent, I read things like Naomi F. Gyllenhaal and see who her kids are, and realize it really is who you know.

I think after all these years, Maggie G has proven herself as a great actress. She was fantastic in "An Honourable Woman."

Maggie G. was also amazing in Sherrybaby.

Jake and Maggie are two physically unattractive actors. Do they have the same father?

Maggie has done excellent work in SECRETARY, SHERRYBABY, AN HONOURABLE WOMAN, and THE DEUCE.

Speaking of bad revivals of Chekhov, she was in a dreadful production of VANYA with her husband Peter Sarsgaard, directed by Austin Pendleton. This was at CSC, and was just as bad in its own way as the horrid Roundabout production mentioned upthread with Jacobi and Linney. The set was badly done - there were times when you couldn't see some of the actors while they were talking.

Sorry, got confused and thought I was in the Worst Revivals thread...

C'mon! Yes, Maggie's a fine actress but you have to give Jake his props too. He's getting rave reviews for his stage work, including a musical, and his acting on film has been damned good, even if his choices aren't always that exciting. I thought Nightcrawler was very good, and his work in Southpaw was good even if it was a cliche' plot. This latest one about the guy with no legs was surprising, because he did some incredible acting and the movie was actually different than I expected. The cop movie was good but it was a made for TV movie in every respect. If anything I think the parents were helped by the success of Maggie & Jake.

Oh jesus. The minute I read the OP's post I knew it was Tori Amos's and Jessica Lange's biggest fan.

RAW! HUMAN! POTENT! REDEMPTIVE!

Sweet Jesus

I have problems with the movie a a lot of levels. Yes, it's a race thing. If that movie were being made today, they'd need to make the Jessica Lange character Black. Make it be a class thing. Or make the Halle Berry character a white druggie. Because at this point I think we have evolvd socially enough to know that would be just as realistic as what the original movie purported to show.

Christ, I couldn't even make it through the trailer.

Has this ever happened in real life?

Isn't this movie one of those flicks that tells liberal white people how bad they are?

Sort of like "Get Out."

Should we just give up and join the ranks of the Trumpkins, and grab our tiki torches? Asking for a friend.

[Quote] Has this ever happened in real life?

Is this a serious question?

No, R44, this is a movie that panders to the notion that being a Black drug addict is commonplace and a benevolent White nurse "rescues" the baby and his mother. I know. There are nuances I'm missing in my synopsis, but that's about it.

Maybe r46 but I remember at least one scene where the script has Jessica say some racially insensitive thing and then Halle is given a big gotcha moment.

R47 Langes character says, all you people ever think about is color

So underrated.

Lange and Berry are PHENOMENAL.

Might I add, the score for this should've received an Oscar nomination.

Mark Isham's work here is timeless and relevatory.

*revelatory

Underrated.

Didn’t Halle state in an interview that Jessica stayed in character for the entire shoot, I.e. iced her out?

That sounds like our Jessica.

[quote]Isn't this movie one of those flicks that tells liberal white people how bad they are? Sort of like "Get Out." Should we just give up and join the ranks of the Trumpkins, and grab our tiki torches? Asking for a friend.

This film was made 24 years ago and the book was written 26 years ago? Furthermore, if a movie depicting white people in a negative light (which this film didn't and Get Out was a commentary on the racial history of the United States & don't even get me started on how many times black people have played the crackhead, the drug dealer, the thug / criminal in movies) then you were never a Democrat in the first place "Boris."

[quote]I have problems with the movie a a lot of levels. Yes, it's a race thing. If that movie were being made today, they'd need to make the Jessica Lange character Black. Make it be a class thing. Or make the Halle Berry character a white druggie.

I agree but it was still progressive for the time period for which it was written.

Jessica's character has issues and misconceptions about race but she is a good parent and she does love him.

Halle's character is a drug addict that cleans herself up and still recognizes that while she wants to be a part of her son's life, she shouldn't make the other family her enemy for raising him. They're good people.

In the end you're left with the idea that they both love the child and they'll work together to raise him.

I saw this once at some dude's house when we were coming down from meth. It's kind of TV movie right? Then he played Barbra Streisand singing with herself on a two story stage. I was 21.

Halle is the ish in Losing Isaiah though. Liked her a lot. But I think that Sissy Spacek and Mary Jessica Parker did it for TV. Some baby had Aids, but it's the same deal.

I think Music Box is Lange's unappreciated film. She goes full Meryl in it, with a bit of Jane Fonda monotone quaver. She's so much better than both of them. I love a plot. Ishtan Boday. Jessica vibrates like a cello and her eyes are like the dark Danube.

R56 were you on meth when you wrote this??

Such an underrated gem with top-notch performances by Lange and Berry. Surprisingly good.