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With this week's box office totals dipping even further than last week's tepid take, I thought it might be more useful to look beyond the top ten in this Film Forum, turning attention to smaller releases that have either grabbed headlines with wins at recent awards ceremonies or grabbed the attention of Christian reviewers as subjects of debate.

Hailed as the year's best film by the New York Film Critics Circle, Topsy-Turvy has also garnered praise among Christian critics. Director Mike Leigh delivers this comic biography on the lives of British playwrights Gilbert and Sullivan and their creation of The Mikado. The Phantom Tollbooth's J. Robert Parks calls it a "rare creature that both tickles the funny bone and stimulates the gray matter," especially the way Leigh's stylized script "forces us to contemplate how each man used the theater to modify, appropriate and escape from the outside world." John Adair of Preview was also impressed with the script, particularly how it "cleverly intersperses musical numbers from rehearsals and performances to show how The Mikado came to be, instead of showing the whole musical at the end." And while Adair thought the movie was "a fun and enjoyable experience for music lovers," he also liked the acknowledged reality that "all of life's problems do not go away, even when you the hottest entertainers in all of England." Movieguide, however, felt that this darker side of the story wasn't well executed. "Cutting out most, if not all, of such material would not only make this 160-minute movie more moral and historically accurate, but also more entertaining and better paced." It did agree, though, that the film was "quite entertaining."

Janet McTeer won a Best Actress trophy at the Golden Globes for her role in Tumbleweeds, but Christian reviewers didn't look kindly on her character, Mary Jo, a promiscuous mother caring for a teenage daughter. "She imparts no genuine lessons on love or matters of faith, because she is quite shallow," writes Movieguide, adding that "Mary Jo remains largely deplorable for her weak will, her sexual proclivities and lack of discernment." Preview's Mary Draughon also objects to the "mom with an immoral lifestyle, and a 12-year-old's dirty mouth." Movie Parables was disappointed in Mary Jo for discarding her marriage like "a pair of old shoes," but felt that the movie is otherwise successful. "Tumbleweeds is an intimately personal film about two extraordinary people and the strong bond which exists between them. … For all her faults and failings, it is clear that Mary Jo loves her daughter deeply, … [and] Ava is very much aware of her mother's weaknesses."

This is another Golden-Globe winner (for Best Foreign-Language Film) that's received middling praise from Christian reviewers. The Spanish import tells the story of a woman who searches for her son's father in Barcelona after the child is killed. The U.S. Catholic Conference warned against the film's "deviant sexual situations," which include "a transvestite prostitute, a lesbian actress and a pregnant nun," but notes that the film at least "reflects on the positive qualities of this sorority of characters." Movieguide, too, disliked "the sexual immorality [which] is accepted throughout the movie," adding that "there isn't enough substance in this movie to make it worth seeing."

Christian reviewers found much more to like in this true story of a dog who helps his young master (played by Frankie Muniz of TV's Malcolm in the Middle) through his youthful struggles in the small town of Yazoo, Mississippi. Paul Bicking of Preview calls it a "feel-good story" that works for both kids and adults. "While older viewers may reminisce warmly about growing up in family friendly neighborhoods, young viewers will also identify with Willie's struggle to be accepted." Movieguide seconds that notion, saying "children and adults will love [this] elegant tale with great character studies. It also has positive references to faith and everyday concerns." The Movie Reporter's Phil Boatwright, who compliments the movie's "lessons in friendship, loneliness, and death," was most impressed with the title character, who "could give Snoopy charm lessons!" But the dog's cuteness proved problematic for Matthew Prins, guest reviewer for Christian Spotlight, who felt the canine antics took him out of the story. "I started focusing more on what was happening outside the frame. 'Hmmm,' I thought on one early occasion, 'How did those trainers get the dog that plays Skip to jump up on the toilet like that?' "

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January (Web-only) 2000, Vol. 44