Monday, August 13, 2018

Cleopatra Music And Films Looks To Sept. 25 For The DVD Debut Of Writer/Director Deborah Haywood's Pin Cushion


DVD & Blu-ray Release Report, Ralph Tribbey
Cleopatra Music and Films, with sales and distribution expertise provided by MVD Entertainment Group, has selected Sept. 25 as the domestic DVD debut date for English writer/director Deborah Haywood’s Pin Cushion.

After nearly a decade of writing and directing a series of short films, Haywood stepped up her game and went the feature film route with this impressive tale of a mother and daughter who are cast adrift in society, but willing to give it one more try in their new home.

Lyn (played by veteran English writer and actress Joanna Scanlan) and her daughter, Iona (Lily Newmark — Solo: A Star Wars Story), move into their new digs in Swadlincote (Derbyshire) with the intention of starting a new life.   By any standard the pair are strange, with Lyn sporting something of a humped back and her daughter looking every bit that of Sissy Spacek’s Carrie White character. 

Now before you get sidetracked into thinking that Pin Cushion is another take on DePalma’s Carrie, you’d only be half-right, or maybe even just a quarter righter.   Lyn is not a crazed religious freak, nor is Iona gifted with any supernatural powers.   What they do have in common with Margaret and Carrie White, besides living in a strange little house, is their alienation from society … like Carrie, both Lyn and Iona are just trying to fit in (Carrie’s mom, forget it).
DVD & Blu-ray Release Report, Ralph Tribbey


Iona, who seems naïve beyond her teen years, arrives at her new school eager to make friends and is soon the target of the local “Mean Girls,” Keeley (Sacha Cordy-Nice), Stacie (Saskia Paige Martin) and Chelsea (Bethany Antonia).  Their initial insults and digs seem to go right over Iona’s head, but soon they up their bullying game and begin to hit their target.

Meanwhile, Lyn, who never seems to be quite right, is making her own efforts at making friends with little luck.   When she notices that Iona has shown an interest in a local boy she cautions her against going too fast (perhaps from experience).   It is this change in tone in their relationship that comes full circle when the bullying at school arrives in their home.

DVD & Blu-ray Release Report, Ralph Tribbey
Pin Cushion is never what it seems.   Part Carrie, part Mean Girls, part fantasy world … but always a tale about being left on the onside by either your looks, or actions or just because you seem alien.   They are desperate to fit in, but that goal always seems to be just a step away.

It is a bittersweet film, as you are drawn to the characters that Haywood has created, especially Lyn.  Iona, less so, as she still has a future in front of her … these school years will be, at some point, just a memory.   And beside, Iona soon gets wise to the ways of Keeley, which only serves to up the meanness of their bullying. 

DVD & Blu-ray Release Report, Ralph Tribbey



No comments:

Post a Comment