Amish Grace

Sometimes the Lifetime Movie Network is irresistible. A few weeks ago I started watching Amish Grace which I DVR'd. It seemed like it had all the important and necessary elements we have come to expect from Lifetime movies. It was pretty good/bad in the way you want.

I learned also that my DVR is clearly smarter than I am, because about a third of the way through, it stopped recording, which was really just fine. After the major plot points are laid down, you kind of know how these movies tend to play out: loss of faith (in this case, literally), redemption, etc. so I probably didn't miss much. If I were really curious, I could watch the entire movie online. So could you if so inclined.

Tammy Blanchard was in this movie. You remember how she blew our minds as the young Judy Garland in the TV biopic from 2001? (I'm amused that the contributor to the Wikipedia article mentions the "verisimilitudinous impressions of Garland by Tammy Blanchard and Judy Davis". Who uses the term verisimilitudinous in a sentence except at a spelling bee?). Well she was pretty underutilized in this film, just toting children around, looking tear-stained and beleaguered, but I'm glad she's getting some work.

Anyway, what really bugged me about this film was that, in spite of being set in Pennsylvania, it was very clearly filmed in LA and it was totally distracting me the whole time. Now I know they were on a budget, and lots and lots of films are made here, so I can deal. Since I've lived in LA however, my TV and movie watching has been forever changed.

The main thing is this: there is something about the angle of the natural light here that is really distinctive and when you see outdoor scenes that are filmed in SoCal, you can kind of tell. So it was distracting and annoying. I think they filmed in Whittier, a peculiar historically Quaker enclave outside LA, so they were trying to approach authenticity, but no dice, it still looked like Baywatch. There is a scene early on where the shooter goes to a hardware store, and it's so obviously LA. There's this chain link fence with spirals of razor wire that just screams southland. I don't think I've seen a hardware store with that kind of prison-level security anywhere in the east.

But enough complaining. I'm grateful for all the mindless entertainment I absorb.