Sunshine State

Writer and director John Sayles returns with another multi-layered look at an American community, subtly exploring how race, class, economics, and both national and regional history come together to shape people's lives. Plantation Island is a community on the coast of Florida; the island was once a ...more

John Sayles' Sunshine State is an intricate multi-character family drama with political undertones. While the film has its share of sharply written dialogue and strong performances, it's a little fuzzy around the edges, and doesn't approach the power of Sayles' previous two films, Lone Star and Limbo. Sayles' points about real estate development and race relations are well taken, but the speechifying by certain characters, including Ralph Waite as patriarch Furman Temple, and Alan King as an ...more