Ruby in Paradise

Ruby Lee Gising is an intelligent and thoughtful young woman who according to herself ''has managed to run away from Tennessee Hills without becoming pregnant or beaten black and blue''. She travels from the mountains up north towards the sunny south and the holiday resort Panama City Beach, where she once in her childhood spent an idyllic vacation. Ruby arrives during the off season. She begins to keep a diary to get to know herself better. The diary provides security during the winter when she is torn between the outgoing Ricky and the more introvert but confident Mike. When Ruby finally finds her way to ''Paradise'' the conclusion is both unexpected and hopeful.

COMMENTARY
To live in the present without being weighed down by the past is of fundamental importance to the freedom of the American Dream. The world is without memories,
and the ties to the past can always be cut off to allow for a fresh start. Victor Nunez is inspired by the neo-realists' ability to make a connection between the charactefs, the place of location and the action, a procedure which gives local problems a universal character. To Nunez, Panama City Beach in Florida is the perfect metaphor for the US towards the end of the century. Consciously or subconsciously this is a culture which chooses to live without a past.
This is where Ruby is heading when she
is running away from her old life and her future there. She visited the place as a child, during the only vacation that she can remember. She manages to find a job in a shop which sells memories and dreams of an artificial paradise.
Ruby won't make any plans for the future, her goal is to find herself and a framework in life which she can believe in and accept. Is there really any reason to live according to the rules you were brought up with without ever questioning them? Ruby tests the limits of society and tries to find answers by way of experimenting.
The film makes a break with the prevalent image of the weakness and vulnerability of a woman, where only the family and a man can provide safety and meaning. Ruby makes a cynical comment about how she has managed to leave Tennessee behind and avoid both pregnancy and beatings. Maybe Ruby is a new woman of the 90's, fair and gentle but at the same time determined and uncompromising. The main theme of the movie is her struggle to keep her soul and her independence.
Ruby in Paradise is a quiet and emotionally told story where the sensitivity of the direction manages to capture Rudy's search for depth and meaning within herself and her existence, without ever being too clear or exaggel-ated. ':'
Marina Dahlquist

Medverkande
Ashley Judd, Todd Field: Producent
Sam Gowan, Keith Crofford: Manus
Victor Nunez: Foto
Alex Vlacos: Musik
Charles Engstrom: Talat språk
English