Summer Under the Stars: Meryl Streep
Star of the Day: Meryl Streep
Silkwood (1983): "A laborer at a nuclear power plant risks her life to report unsafe practices."
Wow! I was initially going to watch A Cry in the Dark before I saw a Tom and Lorenzo tweet saying that if you've ever wanted to watch Silkwood to DVR it overnight last night because it's not available on streaming anywhere. Mind changed. I can watch the 'dingo ate my baby' movie later.
As it stood, I knew the basic gist: that Meryl played Karen Silkwood, an activist who was contaminated by a radioactive substance (learned it was plutonium!) and was suspiciously run off the road and killed just as she was about to whistle-blow on a national scale. That, and the concept of a 'Silkwood shower.' This was very powerful, not just in Meryl's performance, but in the tautness of Nora Ephron's script, the increasingly claustrophobic direction from Mike Nichols and the sterling supporting performances by Cher and Kurt Russell. I'm glad I saw the TLo tweet when I did!
(And don't worry, I'm not a pearl-clutcher bent out of shape that TCM dedicated a day to a 'modern' actress; I was actually pretty excited when I saw that Meryl was on the list. Who doesn't love Meryl? It's actually gotten me thinking about who of her ilk could be featured next year. Sally Field? Cher?)
Comments
Post a Comment