Julia: Funny or not, that is the question

Julia is a 2008 drama/thriller film
directed by Erick Zonca with Tilda Swinton


shot in California and Mexico.

The film was inspired by:

* Gloria (film) (1980), a film directed by John Cassavetes
* Gloria (film) (1999), a remake of John Cassavetes' Gloria by Sidney Lumet
* Gloria (TV series) , an All in the Family spin-off



Julia is a confusing film with gender at center stage. The academy award winning actress Tilda Swinton did an outstanding performance in her role as Julia, an attractive alcoholic woman, who in her superficial effort to stop drinking by attending an AA meeting meets up with a scam maker who deals in money for a kidnapped eight to ten year old boy.

What ensues is a series of chase scenes and schemes replete with guns drawn and even used when the moment seemed ripe. This masculine driven behavior is contrasted with Julia's maternal striving that seem harshly hidden in the beginning of the film.

I am not as disturbed by women dressed up in clothes and behavior and general speech and demeanor to seem like men but the lack of any character in the film for me to identify with is a serious problem. I didn't like anyone and I doubt if any viewer could. What I did like was the contrast in life style between the rampant poverty in Mexico , the barren harsh desert and the affluent American life style that is afforded to even the downward mobile citizens.

Men seem to like this film, perhaps they feel titillated by it (as will some woman) because there is a playful element to the interactions.

Putting children into an intensely disturbed adult setting often yields awkward juxtaposition and amusing moments in contrast to the harsh authoritarian rule.
Julia is a case in point.

But
For a film like this to "work" there has to be a reason to care, to feel a positive emotional involvement with someone on screen and that didn't happen. Not for me.

Linda Zises
WBAI Women Collective