Pleasantville

What might you call a movie about a pair of teenagers transported into the hyper-emoting parallel universe of Mexican telenovelas? (Un-pleasantville?)

In this case the pair end up in the suburban sub-reality of sixties sitcom Pleasantville. This set-up gives writer-director Gary Ross (Big) some great opportunities for gentle comedy that throws light (actually colour) on the handicaps of wholesomeness. But it only works up to a point, because ultimately the satire (especially the political kind) isn't really penetrating enough to justify the accelerated dramatic intensity of the second half.

Main Street, Pleasantville loops back on itself and the whole notion of the 'outside' seems incomprehensible to the town's inhabitants: Just like our own cosmos, but smaller.

The gradual imposition of colour on this monochrome microcosm looks forward to the accomplished digital effects in Robert Rodriguez's more recent Sin City.