Released 1998
Stars Tobey Maguire, Reese Witherspoon, Jeff Daniels, Joan Allen, William H. Macy, J.T. Walsh, Don Knotts
Directed by Gary Ross

Pleasantville opens in the comfortable familiarity of the '90s, with a common '90s family - David and Jennifer are the twin children of a broken marriage. They live with a mother who's never around. One night, a mysterious television repair man (Don Knotts) shows up at the door and gives David a "special" remote control for the set. Later, as he's settling down to watch a 24 hour marathon of his favorite show, Pleasantville, he and his sister struggle over the remote. In the process, something very strange happens. Suddenly, they are no longer in their home. In fact, they're no longer in color. They have entered the black-and-white world of '50s television, where the temperature is always 72 degrees, it never rains, profanity is never spoken, sex is taboo, there are no toilets, and words like "swell", "gee- whiz", and "keen" are part of the regular vocabulary. Soon, David and Jennifer's "radical" ideals are bringing about changes in their environment. Perfection begins slipping away. Colors start to dot the black-and-white vistas. Jealousy, anger, and passion make appearances. The stale utopia of family values begins evolving.

The most stunning thing about Pleasantville is the film's look. Color is used purposefully and impressively; it's hard to describe the impact of seeing one red rose amidst the black and white, or one monochromatic person in a sea of green grass. Ross has a reason for every change in hue, and the way he gradually evolves the film from pure black and white to a vibrant cacophony of colors is stirring. According to the press notes, this movie necessitated a whole new type of digital special effects. The first "full color" scene in Pleasantville (when the local kids are gathering in a park) is stunning. The movie needs to be seen more than once to absorb exactly how the color scheme has been constructed and executed.

Summary by James Berardinelli