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  Sunshine State (2002)
 
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price: US $22.95
 
 

SUNSHINE STATE, directed and written by John Sayles, takes a close-up and occasionally comic look at the fading community of Delrona Beach, Florida. A dozen local personalities are introduced, each with their own unique challenges. The town's dilapidated houses, its stale Buccaneer Days Festival, its sluggish economy, and the constant stream of developers trying to buy up the shore front, are making the natives think about moving on. However, the black residents of Lincoln Park refuse to let their land be bought and turned into a vacation resort. Dr. Lloyd (Bill Cobbs) leads the charge to stage a protest, and tries to get help from Eunice (Mary Alice) her daughter Desiree (Angela Bassett), who is visiting from Boston. On the other side of things, Marly (Edie Falco), a former Weeki Wachee mermaid, is the surly manager of the dingy Sea-Vue Motel who would like nothing more than to sell the joint and leave Delrona Beach for good.

With a dizzy, meandering camera and a documentary feeling, SUNSHINE STATE draws viewers into the daily life of Delrona Beach, developing each of nearly a dozen characters with detail and feeling. While the plotlines are sometimes depressing, the realness of the characters and their lives is endearing, and at the end of the film, the narrative gets a satisfying dose of closure.

 

 
   
cast and crew

genre: drama

country: United States

language: English

subtitles: English French

runtime: 141 minutes

dvd region: DVD Region 1

attributes: Widescreen

rating: Not Rated PG-13 (MPAA)

 
cast and crew

Michael Greyeyes:
Actor
John Sayles:
Screenwriter
John Sayles:
Director
Tom Wright:
Actor
Alan King:
Actor
Charlayne Woodard:
Actor
Miguel Ferrer:
Actor
Bill Cobbs:
Actor
James McDaniel:
Actor
Patrick Cady:
Director of Photography
Timothy Hutton:
Actor
McMurray:
Actor
Ralph Waite:
Actor
Jane Alexander:
Actor
Cullen Douglas:
Actor
Maggie Renzi:
Producer
Mason Daring:
Music
Perry Lang:
Actor
Richard Edson:
Actor
Mary Alice:
Actor
Alexander Lewis:
Actor
Gordon Clapp:
Actor
Mary Steenburgen:
Actor
Edie Falco:
Actor
Marc Blucas:
Actor
Angela Bassett:
Actor

Clifton James:
Actor
Perry Lang:
Star(s)
Edie Falco:
Star(s)
Charlayne Woodard:
Star(s)
Clifton James:
Star(s)
Angela Bassett:
Star(s)
Bill Cobbs:
Star(s)
Richard Edson:
Star(s)
James McDaniel:
Star(s)
Mary Steenburgen:
Star(s)
McMurray:
Star(s)
Michael Greyeyes:
Star(s)
Tom Wright:
Star(s)
Alan King:
Star(s)
Mary Alice:
Star(s)
Gordon Clapp:
Star(s)
Cullen Douglas:
Star(s)
Ralph Waite:
Star(s)
Alexander Lewis:
Star(s)
Marc Blucas:
Star(s)
Timothy Hutton:
Star(s)
Jane Alexander:
Star(s)
Miguel Ferrer:
Star(s)
Mason Daring:
Composer

 
   
festivals
  • NatFilm Festival: Film Festival of Denmark 2003 (Copenhagen, Denmark)
  • Atlantic Film Festival 2002 (Halifax, Canada)
  • Cannes Film Festival 2002 (Cannes, France)
  • International Film Festival Ghent 2002 (Ghent, Belgium)
  •  
       
    awards
  • Best Actress
    2003 Black Reel Awards (Online)
  • Best Supporting Actress
    2003 Online Film Critics Society Awards (Online)
  • Best Supporting Actress
    2002 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards (Los Angeles, United States)
  • Best Supporting Actress, Dramatic
    2003 Golden Satellite Awards (United States)
  • Golden Orange Award
    2003 Florida Film Critics Circle Awards (Florida, United States)
  • Outstanding Actress
    2003 NAACP Image Awards (Los Angeles, United States)
  •  
     
    "...The large ensemble boasts a number of vivid characters, embodied by a superb cast..."

    - Stephen Farber, Movieline's Hollywood Life

    "...Exquisite performances and strong atmospheric cinematography....The ensemble is aces -- the performances are what linger when Sayles has made his point....It's a film that stays with you..."

    - Sheri Linden, Box Office

    "...[Falco] is exquisitely vulnerable, and her scenes play well with Hutton, in his finest role in years..."

    - Robert Koehler, Variety

    "...Edie Falco sparks the film....You can feel the heat that ignites this gripping tale, and the humor and humanity that root it in feeling..."

    - Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

    "...SUNSHINE STATE has several potent performances in it....This remains a film about something, one that attempts and often achieves a level of connection and concern..."

    - Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times

    "...A spacious American epic....It creates a cinematic mosaic of American lives unprecedented in its range, balance, subtlety and even-handedness..."

    - Stephen Holden, New York Times

    "...Sayles has not tilted toward obvious political or social commentary, buts sees each character lovingly, as an individual whose present needs are more important than ideology..."

    - Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

    "No filmmaker evokes a sense of community more warmly than John Sayles..."

    - Bruce Fretts, Entertainment Weekly

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