When you have talents like Jane Alexander, Winona Ryder, Jason Robards and Rob Lowe, you better have a good script because the words coming out of their mouth will reveal the truth. Ryder plays a young country girl from Texas who all of a sudden finds her long lost mother, Alexander, and after an argument with her grandfather Robards moves to Fort Worth to be with her. While she tries to maintain a Christian life, she's rather put off by her mother's free spirit and tries to bring Christianity to her which succeeds only moderately. Then comes along Rob Lowe, a sweet developmentally disabled young man, joyfully happy one moment and sad the next which makes him pull out his violin, a cure for a tortured soul.
For anybody who was ever doubted the talents of Lowe, all they need to do is see this movie, a Golden Globe nominated performance that is as thought-provoking and profound as what Leonardo DiCaprio would do later and What's Eating Gilbert Grape". He is a character that you fear for, that one wrong move will result in tragedy. When Ryder starts to square dance with him, he all of a sudden pulls away and reaches for his violin, and the change in his mood and demeanor really touches the soul of the viewer and brings out that fear all the more.
This was early in the career of Winona Ryder, and shows the powerhouse she already was as an actress and would become with later even more intense roles. You see every aspect of that character, tortured by the thoughts of a father she did not know, a mother she hardly knows, a stepfather she tries to accept but quickly comes to abhor, and a grandfather who only did right for her, and doesn't get he appreciation he deserves.
Don't expect a strong, linear story, just a series of related events and various character studies a very troubled people where perhaps being in the mind of Lowe is the only cure for a horrible world that these people have found themselves living in. Ryder gets to find out the real meaning of a balanced life as she sees the real world outside of the country in a way that disgusts her, realizing that most people can't live in the confines of a chaste life when there are so many temptations around and few answers.
Alexander, who could have been in the equivalent of Barbara Stanwyck or Jane Wyman with her ability to really draw you into her need to create real characters (without the dramatic trappings of other legendary actresses), gets to be both sinner and saint, attempting to be a good mother but too sexually free to let that side of her life go, and you can't take your eyes off her.
Robards doesn't have as much to do, but he is powerful and commanding and dynamic. He's played a variety of strong fathers and grandfathers before and after this, but he really gives this one a different type of compassion, and you think of him throughout the film when he is not there. It's the power of an excellent script, good direction and these excellent performances that makes you able to accept the fact that the story is minimal, and you end up rooting for these characters to find their way. That is what makes brilliant drama and why this sleeper film that did not do well in its initial release deserves to be discovered.
For anybody who was ever doubted the talents of Lowe, all they need to do is see this movie, a Golden Globe nominated performance that is as thought-provoking and profound as what Leonardo DiCaprio would do later and What's Eating Gilbert Grape". He is a character that you fear for, that one wrong move will result in tragedy. When Ryder starts to square dance with him, he all of a sudden pulls away and reaches for his violin, and the change in his mood and demeanor really touches the soul of the viewer and brings out that fear all the more.
This was early in the career of Winona Ryder, and shows the powerhouse she already was as an actress and would become with later even more intense roles. You see every aspect of that character, tortured by the thoughts of a father she did not know, a mother she hardly knows, a stepfather she tries to accept but quickly comes to abhor, and a grandfather who only did right for her, and doesn't get he appreciation he deserves.
Don't expect a strong, linear story, just a series of related events and various character studies a very troubled people where perhaps being in the mind of Lowe is the only cure for a horrible world that these people have found themselves living in. Ryder gets to find out the real meaning of a balanced life as she sees the real world outside of the country in a way that disgusts her, realizing that most people can't live in the confines of a chaste life when there are so many temptations around and few answers.
Alexander, who could have been in the equivalent of Barbara Stanwyck or Jane Wyman with her ability to really draw you into her need to create real characters (without the dramatic trappings of other legendary actresses), gets to be both sinner and saint, attempting to be a good mother but too sexually free to let that side of her life go, and you can't take your eyes off her.
Robards doesn't have as much to do, but he is powerful and commanding and dynamic. He's played a variety of strong fathers and grandfathers before and after this, but he really gives this one a different type of compassion, and you think of him throughout the film when he is not there. It's the power of an excellent script, good direction and these excellent performances that makes you able to accept the fact that the story is minimal, and you end up rooting for these characters to find their way. That is what makes brilliant drama and why this sleeper film that did not do well in its initial release deserves to be discovered.