Word: sissel
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...Boynton, 37, should be out working too. But he is perched in the wheelhouse of his 50-ft. Sissel B, entertaining his six-year-old son Lars. Sam LoGrasso's boat, the 71-ft. Italia, sits at its dock while he, just as idle, soaks up the warm summer sun outside the St. Peter's Club...
...wonderful blues and reds which fade into and out of one another as he traverses the line between sleep and consciousness. Additionally, some of the symbolism inherent to the filming works particularly well. Frequent images of a Fisher Price record player serve as a continual reminder that Joey and Sissel are themselves merely children, prematurely throwing themselves into an adult world. And the reflections on the their window which just barely mask some rather gratuitous full-frontal nudity reinforce the suggestion that even in their purest states, something about these characters will continue to remain concealed. All in all, pains...
Needless to say, Sissel sees her father's manipulative tendencies all over this proposed business scheme, and she emphatically disapproves. But as Joey becomes more and more involved in his work, she draws further away, choosing to take a job at a local sugar factory rather than wait for him at home. Their relationship deteriorates to the point that conversation becomes more painful than meaningless sex, and an inevitably passive confrontation over their situation looms just in the distance...
...most alluring features of the movie is the complete character reversal Joey and Sissel appear to undergo as the story progresses, a reversal which is very well effected both by director Peretz and writer David Ryan (who, along with Peretz, adapted the screenplay from a short story written by Ian McEwan). As the movie opens, Joey comes across as naive and impressionable, perhaps even numb to outside sensation. His lack of worldly perspective is as present in his eagerness to embark on a business venture about which he knows nothing as it is in his coy admission to Sissel that...
Part of what makes this development so compelling is the very effective performance of Natasha Gregson Wagner as Sissel. She brings a wonderfully devilish aspect to her character when she wishes to warm up to Joey, a quality that is polite and playful at the same time it is slyly calculated. And possibly even better is her withdrawal, acted with a cool removal and detachment from her surroundings that translates both mentally and emotionally. Giovanni Ribisi is good as the young Joey, but probably more so because of Peretz's and Ryan's adaptation of the story than anything else...