Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #30916 in DVD
• Released on: 2002-11-19
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 141 minutes

Amazon.com
Writer-director John Sayles weaves together the beauty, grime, and history of Florida in Sunshine State. The rumbling approach of real estate developers on a sleepy island sets the leisurely paced plot in motion. Sayles takes his time introducing his characters, gradually revealing how their lives intertwine, and, as always, teases magnificent performances out of his actors. Edie Falco is quietly brilliant as Marly, running an old-guard motel as progress marches on, and regarding the men in her life with a wry practicality. Mary Steenburgen gifts a small role with marvelous, spoiled humanity in a deft comic turn, and Angela Bassett slowly unfurls her character's depth with the elegance of a true pro. Sunshine State is a simple story, but never clichéd, possessing a glow worth basking in. --Ali Davis

From The New Yorker
The writer-director John Sayles will never be a natural filmmaker: he doesn't love and trust the camera enough. But this leisurely, ruminative movie about real-estate mischief and transiency in Florida has some of the most witty and large-spirited writing he's ever done for the movies and some of the best acting he's ever coaxed out of his performers. The movie chronicles the attempt of developers to take over a couple of decrepit beach towns north of Jacksonville and the ambiguous response of the locals-some fighting, some selling out. Edie Falco has the best role of her career as Marly, one of those Americans who possess more intelligence than they can use in an unsatisfactory job. Marly looks for men and makes bitter jokes that her listeners don't always understand. Angela Bassett is a failed actress who returns to the black middle-class beach town she left when she became pregnant at fifteen. The good talk swirls around these two, and the talkers include Alan King, Ralph Waite, Jane Alexander, Bill Cobbs, Mary Alice, Timothy Hutton, and Mary Steenburgen. It's a shrugging, life-goes-on movie about a state in which people pull things up by the roots, including themselves, and move forward. -David Denby
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Another wonderful Sayles creation
Author/screenwriter/director/editor--John Sayles is unique in the film industry. After a slew of odd jobs, he became a novelist, then a screenwriter and, ultimately, the winner of a MacArthur "genius" grant to finance his own films. His Return of the Secaucus Seven was the beginning of a series of highly individual films that include Brother From Another Planet, the wonderful Eight Men Out, Lone Star and now this bittersweet film about Florida. The cast--particularly Edie Falco and Angela Bassett, who both give shining performances--is wonderful, with a winning turn by Ralph Waite (remember The Waltons?) as Falco's blind father.

This is a film about history, about pride, about mother-daughter turmoil, about land development (and greedy, conniving developers) about the human condition. It is funny and touching, irreverent and fundamentally true; it is also well-conceived and sometimes hilarious. Mary Steenburgen (with one of those amazing facelifts that leaves her expressionless) nevertheless is great as what amounts to a middle-aged cheerleader, trying to pump civic pride into a place that has precious little of it. There are a number of small, golden moments: a scene between Waite and young Alex Lewis as Terrell is understated and lovely.

A fine, fine film with a splendid cast, and some messages that are delivered without a single heavy-handed moment.

Don't miss this one!

All You Ever Wanted to Know About Florida...
...or so it seems. "Sunshine State" concerns itself with the natives of two Florida beach communities, one white and the other black, who find themselves being wooed by luxury condo developers. Some are for it, and some are less so. While all the haggling is going on, we get to see the minidramas in various people's lives.

For instance, on the white beach, there's a young woman bored out of her mind by running her blind father's motel ( a different take on the Norman Bates charatcter if you will). Dad is a curmudgeonly old guy, while mom Jane Alexander is the local drama teacher queen who prefers to forget that the motel is somehow connected to her family. Daughter is starting up a romance with Timothy Hutton, who is designing the landscaping for that new community. He's a decent enough fellow, apparantly.

On the black beach, there's tension between an older woman and her daughter, who has just returned after an absence of many years, evidently to introduce mom to her new doctor husband. This daughter was once a drama student of Jane Alexander's, so there's a bit of overlap in the two communities. Daughter is none too happy to see that her old high school boyfriend has resurfaced, especially since he fathered the child she had to leave town to have.

From time to time, we also see Alan King and his golfer friends who just comment on the need to bring nature under the control of man, "Nature is overrated", King says flatly at one point, while teeing off.

Seems some of the other reviewers found "Sunshine State" overly long or soap opera-ish. I didn't find it either thing. I thought the story lines were all interesting enough, and that it was just long enough. Perhaps it's not the best movie I've seen this year, but I'm not sorry I saw it or anything.

Sayles produces another winner
John Sayles, who wrote, directed, and edited Sunshine State, is one of the finest directors working today. He is able to take seemingly unrelated stories and create a wonderful film. His work, including Limbo, Eight Men Out, Lone Star, and Matewan are all movies that make you think. I would have liked more extras on this DVD, but Sayles commentary is interesting and does provide some insight into the movie making process. The movie, about developers moving into a little town in Florida and the effect on the town, looks at class and race differences and provides a different look at Florida, much like Limbo did for Alaska. The cast is really good, led by Edie Falco, who provides a Oscar worthy performance as a "motelier" who wants more out of life but doesn't seem to want it enough to leave, and by Angela Bassett, who did leave and maybe is wondering what she got of life by leaving. Bill Cobbs and TYimothy Hutton also provide solid performances in this movie. As I indictaed, the lack of extras is disappointing, but the movie itself is a gem. John Sayles, whose body of work stands with any director working today, has produced another film that will leave you thinking about it long after you view it.