Synopsis:
For student Benita (Julia Mayorga), one of the few tangibles she took away from a mental hospital stay was the friendship she forged with fellow patient Diana (Katie Holmes, who directed and co-wrote). Falling into a sales position for a high-end antique dealer (Alan Cumming), will the new environs be enough to keep her from a seemingly inevitable backslide?
What We Thought:
Rare Objects is a perfectly fine film that I will completely forget about by the end of the year. There’s nothing wrong with the movie, but it’s just not a genre or story that I will revisit or even remember about.
It opens with a young woman named Benita in a mental hospital. Using flashbacks we learn she had been sexually assaulted. After leaving the hospital she returns home to stay with her mother. Her mother wants her to go back to school, but the mother also doesn’t know about the assault. Benita gets a job at an antiques dealership where she runs into Diana, someone from the mental hospital.
Diana is a socialite and brings Benita into her world of partying, events and her brother. Benita wants to fit in with this whole new world, but Diana has her own issues. Benita tries to balance work, her mother and this new life all while recovering from her assault.
It’s based on a book and I haven’t read the book. I looked it up and it looks like the book is much different. The lead character has been changed ethnically and the time period is way different. From what I saw the book takes place during The Great Depression and the movie is current day. Having not read the book I don’t know if the sexual assault is part of it or if it was added to the movie because it’s a hot hot button topic nowadays.
Rare Objects might have an audience, but I don’t think I’m part of it. Again there is nothing wrong with the movie, but it’s not something that wowed me or made me think about it after watching it. If you are familiar with the book you might be interested in the film.
The Nerds Templar 