Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		2.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		2.5

A Thousand Acres Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf September 10, 2018

Make no mistake, Jocelyn Moorhouse is a very talented filmmaker. She’s proved herself with pictures such as “Proof,” “How to Make an American Quilt,” and the recent Kate Winslet dark comedy, “The Dressmaker.” Most helmers have rough patches, and Moorhouse finds hers with 1997’s “A Thousand Acres,” which not only gives her an impressive cast to manage, but there’s the source material, with the feature an adaptation of a 1991 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Jane Smiley, which originally attempted to rework the characters and themes of Shakespeare’s “King Lear,” moving the setting to a family farm in the 1990s. I doubt few directors could successfully carry the pressure to realize a beloved, respected book, but Moorhouse stumbles particularly hard here, showing uncharacteristic ineptitude with performances and basic editing, making a laborious soap opera that’s loaded with half-baked drama and characterization.

In the heart of Iowa, Larry Cook (Jason Robards) has worked to maintain a sprawling farm he built with his father, ruling the land with limited patience for others, including his family. Daughters Ginny (Jessica Lange) and Rose (Michelle Pfeiffer) have remained on the property, maintaining their position as submissive wives and children, with Ginny in charge of taking care of Larry, giving him routine. The youngest is Caroline (Jennifer Jason Leigh), who’s now a lawyer in Des Moines, refusing to join the rural lifestyle. One afternoon, Larry brings his three daughters together to inform them that he’s giving the women equal shares in the farm, offering them control over their future. When Caroline momentarily resists, Larry cuts her out of the plan. Marching ahead with what she’s always known, Ginny’s life is soon turned completely upside down when Larry begins a slow descent into senility, with Rose reacting harshly to her father’s repeated rage, keeping the family on edge as it experiences numerous challenges to what they once wrongly considered to be a peaceful existence.

The one section of “A Thousand Acres” that comes through with any clarity is the Iowa setting, with Larry showing immense pride in the work to create the Cook Farm, with blood, sweat, and tears used to clear and prepare the land, not mechanical miracles. Family history isn’t prioritized in the story, but the screenplay by Laura Jones gives Larry a few choice scenes of remembrance, especially when he drops control of the property, leaving him without purpose, burdened with memories of masculine rule and the thrill of hard work. Unfortunately, there’s not enough true grit in “A Thousand Acres,” which doesn’t expand on farm labor, preferring to take a look at the inner workings of the family that’s been raised there, with Ginny the narrator for the story. Her hand-holding ways of detailing emotions that are not present in the movie is a good clue that the production was seriously maimed in the editing room.

“A Thousand Acres” explores an unusual power play with little understanding of legal and business details. Larry decides to give his farm to the next generation and blammo, it’s done, with a few scenes going by before the audience is clued into the fact that the matriarch has been retired out of a job he still loves. Other story avenues aren’t explored with any certainty, finding Rose dealing with a breast cancer diagnosis she’s hopeful to beat, while her husband, Peter (Kevin Anderson), goes from a supportive spouse to a wife-beating, beer-sucking monster without warning. There’s Ginny’s husband, Ty (Keith Carradine), who’s eager to take command of the farm with his love, only to openly betray her trust midway through the movie when legal action enters the tale, siding with Larry over Ginny for no apparent reason. And there’s Jess (Colin Firth), a neighbor boy who returns to town after a 13-year-long absence, commencing an affair with Ginny and, apparently, Rose as well, though the particulars of this triangle are almost ignored entirely, introduced with a sting, only to be immediately discarded as Moorhouse struggles to pack as much of Smiley’s story into the endeavor as possible. Connective tissue is nearly impossible to find.

There’s a lot more to the overall short-sheeting of “A Thousand Acres.” For example, what seems to be a key confrontation between Ginny and Jess to sort through her fertility and medical complications (with their paring blossoming into one-sided love) quickly becomes a diagnosis from the wandering spirit, who chastises Ginny and Rose for drinking poisoned well water. That bomb is dropped but, like everything else in the movie, it’s abandoned before it can become something dramatically substantial. Caroline is basically a non-character in the feature, positioned early as an introspective member of the clan, only to disappear for long stretches of screentime, with periodic acts of passive-aggressive behavior bizarrely unchallenged by her siblings. “A Thousand Acres” eventually lands on sexual abuse, which is given some time to marinate, dealing with repressed memories and childhood scars that turn into chains binding the women to a man they loathe. Cruelly, such a delicate topic isn’t dealt with in a profound manner, worked into the tale as an artificial boost of villainous action from yet another male character, joining a secret club of bastards in a story that’s not at all interested in having a decent man around.

A Thousand Acres Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The AVC encoded image (1.85:1 aspect ratio) presentation doesn't offer a fresh scan of "A Thousand Acres." What's here is older, with a general muting of visual elements, including detail, which is softened in close-ups and smoothed out the rest of the time. Textures aren't welcome for the most part, leaving farmland decoration and distances disappointing, while costuming also lacks touchable fabrics. Colors are flat, finding some skintones learning toward bloodlessness, along with clothing and greenery, which doesn't have the natural snap it should. Delineation isn't strong, with crush periodic. Source is in adequate shape, with the rare chemical blip and speckling.

A Thousand Acres Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 2.0 DTS-HD MA mix doesn't have a massive sonic challenge to share, remaining simple but effective, leading with fullness of scoring efforts, which support emotional and dramatic turns, doing so with clear instrumentation and respectful position. Dialogue exchanges are defined to satisfaction, preserving thespian broadness without triggering distortive extremes. Atmospherics are agreeable, delivering a taste of farm expanse and group play, while city visits offer some vehicular activity.

A Thousand Acres Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary features director Jocelyn Moorhouse.

• And a Theatrical Trailer (2:08, SD) is included.

A Thousand Acres Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Not even cinematography from the great Tak Fujimoto and a decent score from Richard Hartley can do much of anything with "A Thousand Acres." It's a mess in its current state, with characters entering and exiting the picture randomly, subplots floundering without proper care, and performances are difficult to endure. Considering this is Lange (who's wearing a dreadful Midwestern homemaker wig) and Pfeiffer, it's rather amazing how many poor choices are made by Moorhouse, who goes broad as much as possible, ruining the insidious nature of betrayal that slithers around the story. There's no nuance here, just blunt edges of trauma, and nothing ties together as intended. "A Thousand Acres" plays like a trailer for a longer, more organized cut of the film, and perhaps it is, with Moorhouse doing fine work before and after this endeavor, making this trainwreck the odd man out.