Contemporary 2021 Selection: The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2021)


 Michael Showalter's "The Eyes of Tammy Faye"


Michael Showalter's newest film projects finds him adapting the 2000 documentary "The Eyes of Tammy Faye" into feature film. The protagonist, Tammy, is played ingeniously by Jessica Chastain. Tammy's story is essentially a rise and fall story. We experience her rise to megachurch stardom, followed by her downfall brought about by her husband's money laundering. Chastain plays Tammy as being pure of heart - trying to find acceptance from others through accepting others themselves. Showalter demonstrates the negatives and positives that come with Tammy's unabashed acceptance. Through her acceptance of her husband and the church's deceptions, she ends up taking advantage of her viewers, funnelling their donations to afford her affluent lifestyle. However, her acceptance also allows her to be a good role model, as she fights for acceptance for the gay community suffering from the AIDs epidemic.

Michael Showalter does not do much to add visual meat to this rise and fall story. Because of this, the film can be swallowed up by the typical biopic structure that can often breed laziness. However, one important aspect of the visual storytelling comes in the accumlation of visual aesthetics upon Tammy's rise. Tammy starts out the film dirt poor, as her life is visually lacking any affluence. Here, Showalter uses very toned-down colors, like brown. As Tammy begins her metoric rise, we being to see the color spectrum really start to expand, as Tammy's life, body, and face begin to look more kaleidoscopic. Upon her fall, the colors on her face and body remain the same, but her environment starts to tone down in color. These scenes include the stark white of the prison visitor center and the hushed and gritty tones of her neighborhood. Even if the visual direction can be lacking in creativity, Showalter's use of color stands out.










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