House of Cards (1993)

The great things about this film make me forget the obvious concessions to box office: the uselessness of Tommy Lee's over dramatic character, or the cheesy ending.The beauty of this is all in the multiple structures presented to us, both physically and metaphorically, and how they are layered in such a way that moving one affects all the others, like a house of cards. How they are put together is flawed, and it lacks the subtleties and hooks of any Medem script. But it's a glorious try, a world of connections of all sorts.The first gate to this world are the Maya pyramids, so carefully photographed in the clever initial sequence in Mexico. There we are given key concepts to interpret the whole thing: The ascending dynamic of this (highly spiritual) shape, the tragedy of the father's death, which triggers the whole plot, and the moon – introduced in a clumsy way, as the cosmic witness to the tragedy and as some old folk Indian tale.Later we fold the idea of the abstract structure that is the "key" to our girl's mind into the idea of a physical shape, that of a spiral, conceptually close to the conception of a Maya pyramid. The girl actually builds the thing, using common cards and some Tarot cards, providing us another key to another abstract structured cosmic world: metaphorical links between cards and several realities; a whole cosmology of its own.In between you get hints at other parallel, strong structures: 1 – before becoming an autist the girl spoke three languages; 2 – trees… she climbs them, repeating the ascending movement, and she disguises herself as one… she becomes it!; 3 – the construction site and the crane, an obvious reference, as it is the fact that the mother is an engineer, a designer of structures (the 3d stuff does sound middle- aged to our BIM days…)The spiral is replicated in a greater scale by the mother, she actually builds her own gate to her daughter (building up for the obvious climax). What you get is the beautiful idea of a physical structure as the metaphor for a spiritual link, and the act of building as a symbol of reaching for someone. This is underscored by the seemingly shared dream between our girls, which i found pretty lame. So the result is a sort of maternal built love. You have to love it!

How do you make a movie about a child with autism while basically dodging all information about subject? Just take a look at 'House of Cards' and you'll see. Here is a movie that tries to softsoap this disease with lame visuals, overcooked dialogue and an ending that left my attention focusing on the digital soundtrack of 'Jurassic Park' which was bleeding through the walls from the theater next door.Kathleen Turner (one of my favorite actresses) plays a woman whose husband has died and whose autistic daughter has retreated into her own private world. She seeks the help of a professional to break through the barrier. So desperate is Turner to help her daughter that she begins construction on a spiral plywood ramp so that the girl can get to the moon (don't ask).The girl who plays Turner's daughter is not autistic and we can clearly see that. Every time there was a scene at the clinic where Tommy Lee Jones works, I kept wishing that the camera to move past him and start focusing on one of those real autistic children behind him.The mystery of autism is a good subject for a drama, just look at Rain Man. But that film was about the relationship between two brothers. Every time this film needs to settle down and uncover the mystery it would come up with some lame scene so that the writer won't have to think. The lamest being the one where the girl takes finger paints and covers her entire body green so that she can't be seen when standing in front of a tree (again . . . don't ask)

Having seen 'House of Cards' a number of times now, I never fail to find this film a involving and intriguing on every viewing. The film revolves around the Ruth Matthews, whose husband dies in a fall and who risks also losing her six-year-old daughter Sally when she retreats into her own world falling the death of her father. As child psychologist Jake determines that the best way to treat Sally is to use therapies similar to how he counsels his autistic patients, Ruth resorts to more eccentric methods of reaching out to her daughter.A number of people seem to dislike 'House of Cards' because they feel it portrays easy cures to autism. However, like other fans of the film, I never believed Sally was autistic but instead was deeply grief-stricken and mentally withdrew from the traumatic world around her, taking on autistic-like traits, so she could try to devise ways to contact her dead father. This theory meant that, for me, this film was not about autism but rather a family coping with loss and grief in different ways and that was what made it both touching and engaging.The adult actors-- Kathleen Turner who played Ruth and Tommy Lee Jones who played Jake-- were both brilliant and you genuinely felt that they both loved this child and were determined to do to whatever it took to help her, albeit in different ways. However, it was the child actors who were truly excellent. For such a young child, Asha Menina was perfect in portraying Sally's emotional distance as she retreated into her own little world. And Shiloh Strong delivered a strong performance as Sally's teenage brother, who was fiercely devoted to his mother and sister and determined to be the man of the family.This film truly succeeded in reminding us that young children can view death very differently from adults and in showing us that there tradition psychological treatments are not always right for everybody. Combined with the haunting soundtrack, 'House of Cards' is enjoyable and will keep you thinking.

During the setup of the story I thought that I knew where this one was going. I nearly gave up, disgusted by what I thought was coming. Then Ruth made some comments on specialists and I knew that we were dealing with something special. This is not a movie for those intent on convincing themselves that their self-protectiveness is the ultimate virtue. If you measure life's success by things that are amenable to counting, such as the number of breaths drawn, or by how one can arrive at the point of death having avoided as much pain as possible, stay away. This movie is a celebration of life, not an attempt to glorify the suburban Stepford zombie imitation that most people so zealously seek. Share this movie with philosophical friends. It should provide a springboard to much pleasurable conversation.