 | |
List Price: $27.98 | | Label: IFC Films
Salesrank: 12963
Released: January 23, 2007 |
| Our Price: $5.36 |
| Used Price: $1.99 |
|
MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
|
Editorial Review:
Maggie Gyllenhaal is mesmerizing as a recovering addict in writer-director Laurie Collyer's feature-length fiction-film debut SHERRYBABY. Gyllenhaal stars as Sherry Swanson a troubled woman who has just been released from prison where she spent three years for robbery to support her heroin addiction. Determined to regain control of her life she moves into a halfway house and starts looking for a job being carefully watched by her tough parole officer (Giancarlo Esposito). At an AA meeting she is drawn to Dean Walker (Danny Trejo) a gritty older man who befriends her--but his ties to her dangerous past life threaten to pull her back in. Sherry's main desire is to reestablish a relationship with her young daughter Alexis (Ryan Simpkins) who is being raised by Sherry's brother Bobby (Brad William Henke) and his wife Lynnette (Bridget Barkan)--but Lynnette doesn't trust Sherry wanting to keep Alexis for her own. As Sherry struggles to get back on track she plays by her own rules with drugs and a return to prison waiting just around the corner. Gyllenhaal gives a raw bare powerful performance as the embattled and desperate Sherry who will do almost anything to regain her daughter's love. Loosely based on the story of one of Collyer's closest childhood friends SHERRYBABY which got its start in the Sundance Filmmaker's Lab is an emotional rollercoaster of a movie with realistic characters an excellent cast and plenty of surprising turns.System Requirements:Running Time: 96 MinutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: R UPC: 025193343628 Manufacturer No: 68033436
Description of Sherrybaby:
A disturbing film about a recovering drug addict trying to regain control of her life, Sherrybaby succinctly depicts what can happen when want and desire aren't offset by control. In this bleak indie film, Sherry Swanson (Maggie Gyllenhaal, Stranger Than Fiction, Secretary) has just been released from a three-year stint in prison. Dressed in her inappropriate uniform of a halter top and oh-so-high platform heels, she goes to brother's house to see her 5-year-old daughter, Lexie (Ryan Simpkins). Sherry is determined to be a mother to her child, but without a home, job, or any other form of stability, she grows frustrated and jealous of her brother and sister-in-law's roles in Lexie's life. Tall and willowy, Gyllenhaal brings a sad desperation and simmering sexuality to the role. Sherry's middle-class childhood was a blur of sex and drugs, and she seems incapable of breaking out of that destructive trap. While the script by first-time feature film director Laurie Collyer isn't wholly original, the picture moves at a good pace, giving insight as to why Sherry's resigned to using sex to get what she wants. While the family secret doesn't come as a complete surprise, it is somewhat perplexing that no one addresses it. Ultimately, it's Gyllenhaal who makes you care about a character that most people would've given up on. --Jae-Ha Kim
Sherrybaby Reviews:
a satisfying tale 
2008-09-24 - Sherry is a troubled woman who just got out of prison for drug related charges. While she was incarcerated, her brother and his wife help take care of her young daughter and are more or less like parents to her. The story focuses on Sherry changing her life so that she can be a mother to her daughter. Later in the film we see that Sherry is far from recovered... she relapses and she continues to make bad decisions.
It seemed a little cruel with how Sherry's brother and his wife told the child to call her mother "Sherry" instead of mom, but what happens later in the film makes it all the more understandable. We see that Sherry is mostly a child herself emotionally and came from a dysfunctional environment where she had been molested by her father.
The film was sad, but these kinds of stories are played out everyday in real life.
Satisfying, but in a "let's discuss" kind of way
2008-09-15 - The intelligent, engaging "Sherrybaby" probably reveals more about the people who watch it than it ultimately does about its own characters. As seen in many of these reviews, some viewers will empathize with Sherry, feeling bad that her kid is essentially being taken from her by her brother and his wife. Others will recognize and appreciate the sacrifice Sherry's brother and his wife are doing in raising a little girl who'd otherwise be subject to an unstable mother.
I related to both views. Sherry has a good heart and is a strong woman in many ways, but she's in a damaged emotional state that makes it all too easy for her to weaken and turn again to drugs. Sherry's brother Bobby and his wife just want Sherry's daughter to have a decent upbringing, but they can often be needlessly insensitive when discussing the little girl with her mother. In other words, these characters are genuinely complex and make for an interesting, thoughtful film. But you'll have to be open to a film that doesn't offer easy answers.
Myself, I saw a ray of hope at the end for these characters' futures. In the unlikely event that there's a "Sherrybaby II" (for better or worse, small, interesting art house movies generally don't get sequels), I like to think that we'd see that these characters had eventually reached a situation or accommodation among themselves where everyone has gained a little peace and a sense of being fairly treated.
"Sherrybaby" features an anamorphic widescreen image that looks great on a flatscreen TV, and the movie sounds great, too. There are no extras to speak of, except for a trailer that goes a little over-the-top in its praise of Maggie Gyllenhaal's admittedly excellent portrayal: the trailer actually uses the phrase "Oscar bait!" like those classic movie-parody skits on the old SCTV show. But don't let a few goofy moments in the trailer put you off. "Sherrybaby" is definitely worth a look.
Excellent and understated movie with a powerful message
2008-05-16 - This was a fascinating movie, with a first-rate performance by actress Maggie Gyllenhaal as an ex-con on parole, a woman trying to pick up the pieces of her life, including a daughter who has been raised in her absence by her brother and sister-in-law.
Sherry returns to the free world after spending years in prison, and she acts as if she's only been gone for a week. The core of the movie centers on her troubled relationship with her five-year-old daughter. I think there are a lot of women who will find something they can understand and relate to in this character, even though most of us have never lived this kind of a life.
"Tell me you love me..."
2008-02-11 - Sherrybaby starring the extraordinary Maggie Gyllenhaal is difficult to watch but it made a lasting impression on me. Gyllenhaal's fearless and childlike performance is what makes this film worth seeing, she plays Sherry who has been released from prison and is trying to rebuild her relationship with her young daughter. Her daughter is living with her brother Bobby and his wife and Sherry wants to do right for her daughter but obstacles and old habits creep back up again. This film isn't perfect and the ending isn't cut and dry but Sherrybaby doesn't sugarcoat or preach, it's raw and seething.
Gyllenhaal is astounding
2007-12-29 - Sherrybaby, starring Maggie Gyllenhaal, is a good film, but prepare to be rather depressed for a bit after seeing it. When we first meet Sherry Swanson (Gyllenhaal), she has recently been released from jail, where she served time for a drug-related robbery. Once she's released, she contacts her brother, Bobby, who has been keeping her child (Alexis) for her while she's been in the clink. The movie then follows Sherry as she tries to stay clean and put her life back together post-prison.
Gyllenhaal is AMAZING in this film. Really amazing. (I am a fan since The Secretary, but this cements it.) If anyone has any doubts as to whether she can act, this should answer them. The storyline is a downer, though, as nothing seems to go right for Sherry. The tension between her and her brother over the fate of the child, the vestiges of an abusive relationship with her father, her struggles with addiction, her desperate need to be loved - it all adds up to rather morose entertainment.
But it is charged with meaning and blessed with good performances, making it worth seeing in my book. FYI - there is LOTS of language and nudity.
