NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

ChampDavSlim The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Teddie Blake The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Quiet Muffin This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

damethewoolf I am one of those Dorothy Allison fanatics. Currently, I am working my way through the book for a second time. Unfortunately, this movie is but an eighth of the book, and in my opinion, a very poorly constructed eighth of a fantastic novel. Before watching any movie based on a novel by Dorothy Allison, you should read the book. Her books are highly emotional, and this movie is just emotionally confusing. These emotions are selfish, and geared more towards my own irritation, rather than emotions felt for the circumstances of the characters. Unlike my experiences with the novel, I could not develop any sort of personal familiarity with the characters. What does that mean? It means that this all-star cast of magnificent actresses and actors have wasted their time on an overall ineffective portrayal of complex characters with complex problems. The process of adaptation was a complete failure in my opinion, and if our lives were dependent upon it, we'd be dead!

Donald Singleton I was engaged by the movie. Thought the plot was believable enough, the direction good and the acting superior. One of my favorite sleeper films. Also the title song has remained with me, many months later.I thought the film dealt well with a number of real human situations involving sibling rivalry, sickness and death, the contrast between rural and urban lifestyles, the breakup of the nuclear family, etc. And I wound up caring about all of the main characters. I don't ask much more of a movie.It does have an indy feel to it, but I thought that added to the charm. I would definitely add it to my library and watch it every now and then.

jotix100 Dorothy Allison's excellent novel "Cavedweller" is the source of this film of the same title. Ms. Allison's novels are about real people going through tough times in their lives. This movie was adapted by Anne Meredith from the massive novel and the essence of it comes across under the sure direction of Lisa Cholodenko. Ms. Cholodenko's other films show she has an affinity to present characters that are always at crossroads of their lives.This film though, owes a great deal to the courageous performance of Kyra Sedgwick, who gets under the skin of Delia to show us what makes this woman ticks. We see Delia at the beginning in a desolated beach in Los Angeles. She is lost in thought, but evidently, at that moment she has made up her mind to make amends to her past. When she gets home she decides to leave everything behind and go to Georgia with Cissy, her youngest daughter.In flashbacks we get to see Delia's life go through her mind. We learn about the abusive husband, Clint. Also, we witness her betrayal to him and how she leaves her two young daughters for a musician, Randall. Their attraction is all physical; Randall is a man who can't be true to any woman, or remain in a loving relationship.Delia shows her courage in going back to the small town where everyone knows what she did. Her taciturn father takes her in, reluctantly. She goes to see her two daughters, who by now are teen agers; they reject her, as well as the paternal grandmother. But it's Clint, the dying man she left behind, the one that is able to reunite Delia with her daughters. It takes a lot for anyone to go back to that situation and Delia shows she is a woman that can see now where she went wrong, if only a bit late.The acting is first rate. Ms. Sedgwick, as Delia, has the best opportunity. Young Regan Arnold gives an amazing performance as Cissy, the younger daughter who is too wise for her young age. Aidan Quinn, as Clint, has good moments, but of course, the men in this movie are secondary characters. Kevin Bacon is seen in flashbacks and has little to do. Jackie Burrows, as the grandmother shows us a woman consumed in her hatred of Delia. Vanessa Zima plays Amanda, the oldest daughter who has turned to religion to compensate by what her young mind can't comprehend.This is not a film for everybody. Watch it because Kyra Sedgwick deserves to be seen and because it's a story that is original and unique in that is so anti Hollywood, made by a rising voice in film directing: Lisa Cholodenko.

shizz_27 The new film from Lisa Cholodenko (HIGH ART) is slow and uninvolving. A woman (Kyra Sedgwick) returns to Georgia seeking custody of the two daughters she abandoned years ago. She left their abusive father (played by Aidan Quinn), now ailing, for a rock star (Kevin Bacon, thirty seconds worth), with whom she has another daughter. None of the kids like her. Sedgwick smokes a lot, and sits around looking despondent. There are lots of close-ups of her driving, and reflecting on the past, feeling sorry for herself. And, numerous shots of sunsets. But, Cholodenko never decides what to do with any of it. There's no real direction, here -- just a series of depressing moments, with no hope in sight. What a friggin' drag.