cherish is about a girl named zoe, stuck in the world of new wave 80's music, an outcast from her peers, who accidently gets framed for a police officer while driving drunk and has be put under house arrest, constrained by her electronic bracelet. robin tunney plays zoe, and let me just say right off the bat that sometimes she bares an amazing likeness to alexis bledel, "rory" on the gilmore girls. i've seen tunney in a few other movies such as
end of days (1999),
the craft (1996) and
empire records (1995), and i think she has a quirky, distinctive look to her.
it's hard to put a finger on this movie. it's part comedy, part romance, part thriller. my favorite parts was when she used the grocery delivery boy as an escort service, the various ways she tries to increase the boundaries of her electronic bracelet, and the bracelet repairman, played by tim blake nelson (delmar, the dumb one of the trio in o brother, where art thou?), who comes to visit her and the flirtation that goes on between the two. i also loved the way she sort of decorated her living space (her dilapidated probation apartment), how over time it really took on her personality, it became her home. i like her sense of interior design, but unlike her, i would never throw a meat clever at the tv, no matter how much wolverines upset me.
for a theme song, the movie went with the association's "cherish" instead of madonna's "cherish." i guess madonna would be too mainstream and besides, rights to her songs are probably expensive.
talk about freaky coincidences: i went to go see cherish with eliza jones, and she recognized one of the bit actors as somebody she went to college with, and then later, at the house of the mystery man, she recognized it as the street she use to live on when she lived in san francisco. and since we're on the subject, eliza is one of those super reactionary filmwatchers, laughing when it's funny, groaning when it's disgusting, and jumping when it's scary. like a film response barometer, i know how to act appropriately by following her lead!
jason priestley has a cameo as the office lothario andrew, playing up to his good looks for some serious laughs. his career has sort of been in limbo since beverly hills 90210, but he was in a movie called coldblooded (1995) where he played a withdrawn assassin that i thought was pretty good (movie also had kimberly williams, janeane garafalo, and michael j. fox). liz phair also has a cameo in cherish, and i think she plays a bitchy boss to perfection. i believe this is her very first movie role, maybe she's trying to make it as an actress.
spoiler: is it just me or is that radio deejay stalker following zoe really hot? i mean, sure he's violent, but at least you know you're the object of his sick obsession so you'll never have to worry about him straying.
the ending was weird. why did zoe smash her ankle with a mallet to free herself from the electronic bracelet? the real culprit was just minutes away from being captures, why did she have to run then? maybe she didn't think she'd be able to get a fair shake at her trail, but that still seems like a lame reason for bolting. besides, wasn't she secretly in love with the electronic bracelet repairman? or was she just lonely, and he was one of the few people who visited her regularly?
i think once you fall in love with the character zoe, you just sort of follow her for the ride, curious to see what she'd do next. it's a nice little independent movie, if you like the premise of the film, then it doesn't disappoint. the music's not bad either, and if you lived during that decade, it's fun trying to remember the artists.