Sweet Nothing

IMDb says that if I enjoyed “Sweet Nothing in My Ear” I will enjoy “Sound and Fury” – well, that’s pretty accurate, because the former is basically a fictionalized version of the latter. Yup, the old CI debate again, this time starring Marlee Matlin and Jeff Daniels.
Thoughts:

• It showed that some deaf people are very opposed to implants but didn’t really do a good job of explaining why. The deaf grandfather was obviously a strong supporter of deaf culture but they didn’t really say why he was against implants at all.
• Jeff Daniels did a better job signing than I was expecting. Plenty of flaws, obviously, but he was more fluid than I had anticipated, less stilted than I feared.
• They got the same guy who plays the interpreter on the L Word to play an interpreter in the courtroom on this movie. Marlee’s doing? Hmmm.
• They used voiceover instead of subtitles to explain what the signing was saying. Yuck! Somebody on the IMDb message board said they preferred that because it conveyed the emotions better. That makes sense if you’re a blind person watching the movie, but otherwise, can’t you see the facial expressions? Do you really need to hear someone to know how they feel?!
• Deanne Bray was in it! That surprised me. Phyllis Frelich was smashing as always. Is Shoshannah Stern only playing CI/oral characters now? Who was the grandfather? I couldn’t recognize him.
• Good discussion about the movie at Cochlear Implant Online here.
• I missed most of the “you were born hearing” discussion because the station interrupted for a tornado warning…for somewhere that is at LEAST two hours away. Come on guys, your signal isn’t that strong that they’re watching you out there! They broke in again a little later but I forget what part that was.

I always like watching Marlee Matlin but this movie wasn’t very good.