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20 out of 26 people found the following comment useful :-
Glad I finally had the courage to watch this film, 22 January 2003
Author: pdianek from Virginia, USA

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Warning: Spoilers ahead!

"Sometimes I just wish I was a whole different person," Pearl Kantrowitz (Diane Lane) tells her friend in an unguarded moment of "A Walk On The Moon". The friend's reaction? "Yuck."

Exactly.

Long review coming -- so sit, already!

When this movie's trailers came out in 1999, I cringed, avoided the film, walked past its posters with my eyes averted. I had divorced the year before, within the years of my marriage had unfortunately been a deceived wife, and had no desire to re-visit that pain. Fast-forward to 2003: Having grown a great deal, I decided to rent what I had avoided. I'm so glad I did. "A Walk on the Moon" is a lovely, authentic film with a light-seeming yet solid screenplay, great direction, and fabulous acting by a talented cast. (Watch the expressions of Diane Lane and Viggo Mortensen, which subtly change to portray rainbows of emotions within a few seconds.)

The Kantrowitzes (culturally though not particularly religiously Jewish) have rented for the umpteenth summer one of many tiny lakeside cottages owned by a Dr. Fogler in the Catskills. Friends they've met over the years there also rent near them. Their children (Alison, 14 -- Anna Paquin in a totally believable performance -- and Danny, 6) stay there during the week while their father Marty (Liev Schreiber) drives back and forth from NYC and his job as a TV repairman. Caring for the children is their paternal grandmother, Lilian (Tovah Feldshuh -- wonderful!), and their mother Pearl (Diane Lane). Pearl is 32, we learn, and Marty perhaps a year or two older. It is the summer of 1969 -- culture, music, mores are changing, and the whole family is caught up in a loss of innocence.

Into their enclave of mah-jongg and Sinatra comes hippie-ish Walker Jerome (Viggo Mortensen), the new "Blouse Man" -- a relaxed-attitude businessman, he's bought the bus from the former blouse-man, and drives a circuit, making unscheduled stops at Dr. Fogler's to sell blouses and scarves, and later, at Pearl's suggestion (clearly she knows something about retailing, perhaps from her family-of-origin), sunglasses and jewelry. We learn very little about Walker -- who possesses the mannerly, shy diffidence and "that's cool" attitude which characterized some people of the late-1960s but was often used to disguise inner struggle and pain -- although he lives alone nearby, has a vegetable garden, and reads the book "A Place in the Woods" (still in print, this 1969 account by Helen Hoover details how she and her husband left their jobs in Chicago to pioneer back-to-the-land in northwoods Minnesota). We also learn that Walker's soldier-or-spook kid brother has been missing in Southeast Asia for four years.

Some reviewers below mention that Pearl leads a content, middle- (or even upper-middle-) class life. Not true. The Kantrowitzes do not have much money (why else would Pearl's mother-in-law live with them in what, judging from the neighborhood -- first minutes of the movie -- is an apartment? And did you see the car's interior on the drive up to Fogler's? The reason Pearl walks quite a way to the kosher butcher, getting caught in rain, is that Marty's taken their one car back to NYC.). Marty repairs TVs, but doesn't even own the business.

The back story, mentioned in passing by the grandmother and Pearl, is that one summer as a teen, Pearl visited one of the posh Catskills resorts with her family (recall the lakeside resort of "Dirty Dancing" or the even posher Grossinger's). Marty worked there that summer as a waiter, earning salary and tips to attend college, then perhaps med school. Marty spotted Pearl, was enthralled, they began to see each other over the weeks, she'd never had a boyfriend before, they made love, she got pregnant the first time. At 17. In getting pregnant then (remember how illegal and dangerous abortion was in the summer of 1954 -- when Alison would have been conceived, if she's now 14 in the summer of 1969), in deciding to marry a young man at whom her parents were probably appalled, given their hopes for the lovely young Pearl, in becoming a wife and mother so very early, Pearl has missed out on a great deal of life. (As has, of course, Marty, who gave up his educational plans to support wife and daughter.)

Now, this summer, Pearl's daughter has her first period. This is a major moment for a mom, as well. Put anthropologically, Pearl is no longer the only female of reproductive age in the house. Therefore, as happy as she is about her daughter's growth, she also feels older. (At a mere 32, an age when many women nowadays are just marrying.)

Having personally experienced what infidelity does to a family and to the betrayed spouse from a vantage point similar to Marty's, I'll say right now that the decision to be unfaithful is a poor one. (Cliche but true: You can't solve problems within a marriage by going outside it.) It's clear, however, that Pearl has been trying to let Marty know that there IS a problem. It's just that she doesn't know how to bang him over the head with it, and, like most wives, wants to preserve peace. (What's the price of peace? Oh, yes, eternal vigilance.)

Several reviewers below (male, I think) sound puzzled: what makes Walker seem so attractive to Pearl? Okay, guys, here's a partial list: Walker Jerome is: handsome and Aryan-looking (in the 1960s, Jewish girls were still taught that sex was the only thing Christian boys wanted); blond, long-haired and semi-bearded, therefore exotic to Pearl; soft-spoken; polite; gracious; good-humored and smiles easily; listens to Pearl; clearly admires her physically; takes her suggestions and thanks her for them; more relaxed than Marty; a man who seems to genuinely like women; courtly; sensual (watch his hands, and his intensity when he and Pearl finally make love); kind to others (e.g., his resolution of the blouse argument between Lilian and Selma), including kids; helpful (as with Danny's wasp stings -- the irony here! since "Walker Jerome" is an incredibly WASPy name, and he's certainly "stung" Pearl). Even Lilian, Marty's mother, displays a certain amount of respect and gratitude toward Walker when his wasp-sting techniques turn out to be better than hers. In fact, Walker really does embody many Boy Scout virtues. (No one in this film is obviously given to evil -- though good people can certainly do unhealthy things.)

Walker wants Pearl, but she has to make the first move. As he gets to know her, his feelings for her grow -- they're mainly visible through his eyes and mouth. He can't offer her marriage, nor children -- she has the one, and would clearly prefer not to have more kids. He does offer something new: making love outside, sleeping under the stars, a bodily connection and sensuality she's never known. But he knows it's Pearl's decision. Will she remain in her marriage, or not? If she does, will it be from love -- or from obligation? If she doesn't, will she come with him out West? (When he suggests that they take her kids, too, she looks close to melting.)

Although Pearl feels attracted to Walker from the first time their eyes meet, she does not act on that by phoning to meet him until AFTER:

-- She asks her husband Marty to request more time off from his boss, so she can be with Marty more this summer at the lake, but Marty refuses even to ask;

-- She suggests to Marty that they "experiment" a little in their lovemaking, but instead of rejoicing in a sexually-interested wife, he asks what's "wrong with the way we've been doing it", and then, childlike, dresses up in their son Danny's cowboy hat and pistols;

-- Alison reveals that her first menstrual period has begun, and then that she has her first date;

-- Marty calls from New York to say that he can't come up this weekend, he'll be fixing TVs for people who want to watch the Apollo moon walk;

-- Pearl experiences the really yucky part of being a mom (Alison, told she's not permitted to camp out at Woodstock, screams, "I hate you!"), and naturally wants to be perceived as lovable.

As Marty asks later, was Pearl thinking when she began with Walker? Was she thinking of anyone but herself? Probably not. Yet for her, infidelity is so big, so cataclysmic, that it's the accumulation of little hurts that finally turns her toward Walker.

Marty finds out from his mother, and the earlier confrontation between Pearl and her mother-in-law is fascinating. Picking blueberries together, Lilian says to Pearl, "You're shtupping someone....the blouse man." Yet she doesn't try to dissuade Pearl so much on the simple basis of betrayal, her son Marty's prospective hurt feelings, "how could you do this to us?". Instead, she challenges her to act ethically, to be a mensch. Lilian tells Pearl about Marty's dreams, too, so that Pearl will know she hasn't been alone in setting aside her own desires for Alison and Danny. It's a wonderful scene, very mature.

Whether you prefer typical American film conclusions (up) or typical European endings (down), this ending is so bittersweet that, really, you can have it both ways. Pearl and Marty have passed the crossroads. Perhaps they're on a new footing, perhaps they'll learn to be more open with each other. Perhaps not. But they've begun to recognize the truth of their marriage, and how staying stuck in each of their roles has meant the marriage hasn't grown for a while.

Ten years from now, in 1979, perhaps they'll regard this summer as a terribly painful time -- that led them to rekindle their love and attention to each other.

"Love doesn't just sit there like a stone; it has to be made like bread, re-made all the time, made new." -- Ursula LeGuin.

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17 out of 21 people found the following comment useful :-
the best movie I've seen in sometime, 9 August 1999

Author: Tom Black (tomtblack@webtv.net) from Austintown, Ohio

A Walk on the Moon was Tony Goldwyn's directorial debut,

and all I can say is MORE! This is an excellently constructed film. The script was written by Pamela Gray is

fantastic. If you like a film with characters who could easily be real in believable situations that you come to care about, then you will love this film. Set in upstate New York in the summer of '69 the movie focuses on the choices and the resulting consequences made by a young woman who feels trapped in her role as wife and mother. That setting with the Vietnam War, social unrest, Woodstock, and the manned moon landing is arguably one of the most interesting times of the 20th Century and woven seamlessly into the film. The soundtrack with songs from the era fits perfectly and is great. The casting and performances were flawless. After seeing the film, I can't imagine anyone else in the roles. This was the first time I had seen Liev Schreiber who plays Marty, the husband, and Viggo Mortensen, the carefree lover. Both were terrific. Tovah Feldshuh, the perceptive earthy mother-in-law, and Anna Paquin, the rebellious daughter, were perfectly cast as well. And Diana Lane as Pearl, the lead, plays her multifaceted role well. I believe this film to be worthy of Academy consideration. The category that comes to mind (and there are others) is best supporting actor for Liev Schreiber. This film is a must see for the baby boom generation. Four stars!!!!

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18 out of 23 people found the following comment useful :-
Realistic, well-acted, character-centered drama and romance, 7 November 1999

Author: Gary Murphy (glm@hilbertinc.com) from Olathe, KS, USA

I like movies with a good character-centered plot and this certainly qualifies. So many Hollywood movies have a distinctly evil antagonist and a pure protagonist. There is no "bad guy" in this movie. All of the people have a side that I could relate to, but they make mistakes along the way.

In all a very good film

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15 out of 20 people found the following comment useful :-
Unfulfilled expectations…?, 4 November 2002

Author: mjmarkic from San Francisco, CA

A touching look at life, human weaknesses, missed dreams, and opportunities.

Having read all of the posted reviews, what I find most interesting is the overall male consensus that the film portrays the husband as the guilty party for his wife's dissatisfaction. Being male, I find it hard to believe that so many of my gender feel so weak and betrayed.

Pearl, doesn't blame her husband and only learns to value and understand him better as also having missed out on some of life's potential. Also, I find it hard to accept the moralizing in the reviews. The film is not condoning the illicit relationship, the idyllic couplings and temporary `escape', are photographed as what we dream we've missed. Are acted out fantasies, to be moralized? Pearl knows, the fantasy can't last and a price will be paid.

Haven't we all missed out from time to time? How many men have fantasized (and acted out) Pearl's actions and expected to be forgiven. Why because they're men??? A well acted, beautifully filmed, and nicely scored remembrance, of the period of self exploration and human frailty.

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9 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
The way we were, 29 March 2003
Author: savoir from Durham, NH

The sixties were a time of great transition. At their beginning was the Peace Corps: a way to help those in need of a better life. At their end it was the me generation: how high can I get or how can I satiate my senses to the fullest. This movie is one of the best "encapsulations" of those events that I've seen.

The moral overtones of the movie are overwhelming. Wrongs occur. Do we run away from them? Do we trash our lives because of them? This movie attempts to address these questions. It does it well.

Finally, what brings it all together? In two words: Diane Lane. She possesses a deep but quiet beauty that makes it work. Her character asks, "I'm approaching middle age. I have children and a good but somewhat boring husband. Is this all there is?"

All ask this question as youth begins to fade. The answer this movie purports makes it exceptional and even classic. A hundred years from our descendants will look at this movie and appreciate its incite in human existence.

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10 out of 13 people found the following comment useful :-
Same working print, 28 February 1999

Author: david-47 from Los Angeles

Apparently I screened the very same working print in Santa Monica, and perhaps the gentleman confused a mechanical soundtrack problem in the first reel with a bad movie. While there were a few script problems, the direction was fine, and the performances uniformly spectacular. Diane Lane's finest work. Anna Pacquin was a gem. Liev Screiber delivered a perfectly controlled and nuanced performance as a man struggling under difficult circumstances. Viggo Mortensen was fine as the hippie blouse man. Have you forgotten the sixties? He was a time capsule of the generation. I felt the film started out trying a little too hard, with artificially created moments to identify the era, but then it took on a life of its own. Women don't stray because of monumental events, rather as perfectly captured by Lane, because of a years-long accumulation of small events, of missed opportunities, of incomplete communication, exactly as she did here. All men who've caught their wives cheating don't slap them around and leave. Some struggle and forgive, exactly as happens here. Not a perfect film, but of the dozens and dozens I've seen at the AFM, it was among the top handful. No doubt Miramax won't have nearly as much faith in it as they did in Paquin's other offering, the miserable She's All That. Her fans will do themselves a disservice to see her only in the teen dreck and miss this little gem.

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9 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
A Tasty 'Period Piece' from the 1960s!, 20 May 2005

Author: gradyharp from United States

A WALK ON THE MOON as written by Pamela Gray ("Music of the Heart") and directed by actor Tony Goldman conjures up more atmosphere for the year 1969 than any film to date. Remember Woodstock, the Jewish summer retreats in the Catskills, hippies, face and body painting, threats from the Vietnam era and promises of space habitation by the famous first walk on the moon? It is all faithfully created here as the background for a lovely little sentimental tale about family and fidelity.

The Kantrowitz family - Pearl (Diane Lane), Marty (Liev Schreiber), Alison (Anna Paquin), Daniel (Bobby Boriello) and Marty's mother Lilian (Tovah Feldshuh) - are spending their usual summer away form New York in a Catskill settlement bungalow along with other Jewish families of the same ilk. All seems swell, except that Marty must spend the weekdays returning to his job as a TV repairman, leaving the family under Pearl's and Lilian's care until his weekend visits. A hippie blouse salesman Walker Jerome (Viggo Mortensen) peddles his wares to the settlement and casually but inevitably Pearl feels an attraction to Walker, the man of adventure who represents all the lost dreams of becoming a mother and wife at the too early age of 17. Life has slipped her by but feels salvageable in Walker's advances.

Woodstock is close by and Pearl and Walker spend a day of hippie love-in in the crowd, not knowing that teenage Alison is also there observing their free love antics. This crisis event affects the family's unity and the way Pearl faces her moment of indiscretion with Marty and her children builds to a terrific climax.

Diane Lane, Viggo Mortenson, Liev Schreiber and Tovah Feldshuh completely inhabit these simple characters and pull us into accepting all aspects of the predicament of this family crisis. The confrontation among Lane, Schreiber and Mortenson is a trio of acting not to be forgotten. Tony Goldwyn has paced his film beautifully and proves that he has as great skill as a director as well as an actor. The cinematography by Anthony B. Richmond is as recreative of a special time on our history as has been captured. This little film will stay with you long after the credits are over. Grady Harp

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9 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
This movie is bull$#%&!!!, 5 February 2002
Author: al666940 from Auckland, New Zealand

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

(Minor spoilers ahead) I just love it. Another movie that tries to justify infidelity, AND not only that, but tries to pin it on the responsible spouse. He's depicted as square, but responsible, caring and hard working (he's forced to spend the whole week from dawn to dusk working uptown to support them). And the wife isn't exactly abandoned: she's got relatives and friends all over the place! From the beginning the movie does nothing but to try to tell us all she missed for marrying at 17 (ever care to mention what the husband missed? He's not exactly bad looking, get my drift?), like she had done it at gun point. So when the hippie wanders into town, we all understand the "obvious": she getting it on with him. And the best: the husband is shown as the one "responsible", the one who provoked this and the one who has to adjust in order ro repair the marriage!!! If he had been one of Joe Pesci's characters (Goodfellas, Casino), I would understand, but boy, is only "crime" is to be square and not to look and think like the hippie!!

I can't stand the people who like this and justify it "all her yearnings unfulfilled", "the lost freedom", and stuff like that. I mean, there are worse things than that. Want to see a wife for whom cheating and abandon home is really justified? Beth Heke in Once Were Warriors. Now that's a troubled life!! (what wouldn't she do to switch places with the wife in this story!!).

I wonder how the audience would react if the roles were reversed (the husband running off with a hippie girl and the movie trying to justify it and blaming it on the faithful wife). Just a thought.

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7 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
A Walk on the Moon, 22 July 2005

Author: melanielellis from United States

I really enjoyed this movie. I think the soundtrack is amazing and appropriate although "Helplessly Hoping" is a cover of the CSNY classic. Still, we have Jefferson Airplane, Jesse Colin Young, Joni Mitchell, Judy Collins, and Richie Havens to drop a few names. Listen to the lyrics in this movie...apply them to how Pearl, Diane Lane's character is feeling... Diane Lane does a wonderful job of portraying a 60's housewife who, like so many other women of the time, found herself in a life she fell into. She meets a man who reminds her of who she wanted to be...of feelings she forgot she had. Movies aren't obligated to be lessons on morality, rather they are slices of the lives we all lead or dream of leading or hope to never lead. Some of the scenes in this movie are so powerful-they really rattle the soul. The love scene at the waterfall is wonderfully scored with the amazing "Cactus Tree" by Joni Mitchell. One can feel Pearl's guilt and confusion coupled with an excitement and verve for life she truly deserves. We see Pearl come of age metaphorically as she searches her heart to find out who she truly is. I recommend checking this one out and watching with an open heart and an open mind...the music alone is worth it.

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7 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
Houston, We Have A Problem..., 11 March 2001

Author: jhclues from Salem, Oregon

The universal theme of coming to terms with the loss of youth and accepting a life of unfulfilled hopes and dreams is explored in `A Walk On the Moon,' directed by Tony Goldwyn. Diane Lane stars as Pearl Kantrowitz, a thirty-one year old mother of two, the oldest of whom, Alison (Anna Paquin), is fourteen; her husband, Marty (Liev Schreiber), is a square shooter who loves his wife and family and provides for them by working long hours in a shop repairing television sets. It's the summer of ‘69, and while on the family's extended vacation-- during which Marty must return to work for the week-- Pearl falls into discontent, and with Woodstock about to happen a mere stone's throw from the campground/resort at which they are staying, she soon succumbs to the siren's song of the ‘60s: The inhibition, freedom and free love-- all of which have been denied her since giving birth to her daughter at age seventeen. There's an honesty to Goldwyn's film, and though he captures the sense of the times in which the story is set fairly well, he nevertheless fails to elicit much sympathy for his leading lady, Lane. Perhaps it's because, though there is much about Pearl with which to identify, her story is just too familiar; her situation is far from being unique, and she has a decent, upper middle-class life, with a loving husband and two great kids. The fact that she started young and that her dreams were never realized is a shame, but it's not like she's the only one to whom such a fate has befallen. And her futile attempt at regaining her lost years comes across as somewhat shallow and decidedly unsympathetic; and without that sympathy the film sputters and finally stalls, even as Neil Armstrong is beginning his historic walk on the Moon. There's no question that Lane is attractive, and physically she fits the role of Pearl perfectly. But she simply doesn't possess the wherewithal to sell her character in this film. The emotional turmoil of what Pearl is experiencing seems restricted to the surface, and she never manages that depth of feeling that would've made the necessary connection with the audience. It's not that Lane is bad in this role, it's just that she's not that good. There are just too many gaps in credibility and too many false moments to be overlooked. It's as if the character throughout remained just beyond her grasp. Liev Schreiber, on the other hand, is outstanding as Marty. You have no trouble believing he is exactly who and what he is supposed to be. This is a character to whom most people will be able to relate, and if only Lane had been able to evoke the same kind or response as Schreiber, it would've made a tremendous difference in the overall aspect of the film. Anna Paquin gives a noteworthy performance as well, successfully capturing the angst of puberty while coping with an ever-changing world. The supporting cast includes Viggo Mortensen as Walker Jerome, the traveling salesman with whom Pearl attempts to reconcile her lost youth; Tovah Feldshuh (Lilian Kantrowitz); Bobby Boriello (Daniel); Stewart Bick (Neil); Jess Platt (Herb); Star Jasper (Rhoda) and Julie Kavner (Voice of the Social Director). There are some poignant moments in Goldwyn's film, and it does generate a certain sense of loss and longing; but overall, `A Walk On the Moon' is at best a momentary diversion that comes across like a finger painting on an impressionist's canvas. That is stays afloat at all is due mainly to Schreiber and Paquin's performances. Other than that, this is-- unfortunately-- a rather forgettable film that never quite attains the level of drama to which it aspires. I rate this one 5/10.

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