#44 - It's in the Water

Hmm....

I just finished watching It's in the Water, and before I say anything else about the movie, I think I must note that is indeed a generation and culture gap between me and this movie. It's in the Water premiered in 1997 and is about a rich southern town and a rich socialite, who contradicts everything that can ever be attached to that word, and who has bigger dreams and values than is considered proper in her home, her town, her life.

I think for it's time, It's in the Water was pretty good, and pretty groundbreaking. The 90's didn't exactly have a plethora of movies to base itself on, so the director did what she could with what she had. But alright, anyway, back to the actual movie.

It's in the Water was pretty amusing, there were a couple times I chuckled, but all in all, I found it chock full of stereotypes and all together rushed. There was a lot of things happening, but nothing was every really fleshed out. I feel like subjects were danced around for too long, and when they finally got to the action/conflict, most of the movie was already over. Too much time was spent setting up the setting, the time, the culture. And not enough on the heart of the movie.

Most of the movie, as I took it, is a satire on the "society" life, like the expectations and gossip that spreads like wildfire. And I appreciated the jokes, but I felt like it was just too much at once. The director did a good job at showing the bigotry and homophobia, but at the same time, I think she just drove the point in too hard. I mean, come on? HIV Clinic, water scare, etc. It was just too much.

I did not find the movie funny, instead I found myself more angry than anything else. The reason that I say this is because I don't think it should be a part of the positive lesbian movies list! Just because the ending was okay, and the main characters survived, it doesn't make it a good ending, or a happy film. In fact, you are just sort of left with this feeling that these characters are just going to have to live in this world with the judgments and everything else. No one learned anything. Hell, with so many people coming out as queer, it's no wonder that people thought there was something in the water. I don't know. I just wasn't impressed. The ending made it seem like the queer group were nothing but rebels with a cause.

Like I said, for it's time, it was a positive lesbian movie. No one died, no one went back in the closet, and the world did not end. But now... now this generation will not see it in the same way. It doesn't do the same thing that the newer movies do. It wasn't a comedy, not by today's terms. However, it did help in getting us to where we are now. Thanks for that.