We enjoyed the film "The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio" last weekend. It was a touching story, with good acting and well-written dialog. However, I had a bone to pick with the sets and costuming. We've seen several movies that were set in the 50s and 60s, and I'm beginning to wonder how old the set and costume designers are, who work on these films. The colors are so brilliant and the clothes so fashionable and coordinated. In my memory, clothes from that era came in grey, brown or navy. The walls had ugly, flocked wallpaper on them and the cars were kind of beat up. Poorer families, like the one in this movie, didn't have nice set of Fiestaware plates (enough for 10 kids!) - they had a chipped collection of mismatched plates.

The beautiful vintage stuff that they collect to give "the 50s feel" to a movie don't make the movie feel like the 50s. They make it feel like a retro shrine to the 50s, like a tacky giftshop that caters to folks who collect James Dean coffee mugs and poodle skirts. Just once I'd like to see a movie that really looks like MY childhood - it might not win any prizes for beautiful sets, but it would win the nostalgia prize, hands down!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 08, 2005 at 11:14 AM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.