Wie ein Staubkorn im Wind

After watching this powerful movie, I asked aloud why it wasn't nominated for any awards. It was only after I checked further that I discovered why: It is the product of a Christian movie production company and had limited distribution. The fact that I didn't know that, in itself, is a testament to the greatness of this movie. I'm a grown man who is usually not very emotional, but this movie had my tear ducts working overtime. I can't say enough about the cast, the script, the direction, the music and everything else. The story, about two sets of parents on the opposite ends of society, successfully avoids clichés and provides a realistic and painfully emotional story. This is a tour de force that came in completely under the radar. I highly recommend it.

A relatively low budget but extremely good drama. This could have turned into a standard melodrama but is elevated far beyond this by an intelligent and believable script.

The real stars though are the actors who are all terrific. Barry Pepper has always been a favourite of mine and he excels himself in this role but there are no weak links in this film. A special mention must go to the actor playing the little boy, Maxwell Perry Cotton who is utterly convincing as the frightened and confused little boy. It was one of the best performances from a young actor I have ever seen.

The film does flag a little towards the end but finishes on an emotional high. I rarely watch films twice in a short period of time but I did with this one and enjoyed it just as much second time round. Recommended.

After reading the Karen Kingsbury novel that the movie 'Like Dandelion Dust' was based on, I was very much looking forward to watching it. However, I was disheartened to see that there was no mention of Christ Jesus at all in the movie. The whole premise of the story in the novel was to show that faith in Jesus and prayer will overcome all odds. Instead, the movie portrayed Christians as righteous and overbearing. And that making wishes on dandelions works better than prayer. The movie also left out a lot of detail that although made it work, I felt that it rushed the story. I understand that when you sell the rights to your novel, the movie producer has the right to change certain aspects of it, but I'm disappointed that Ms. Kingsbury would allow the removal of faith in Christ.

On a positive note, I found the acting very good, especially by Mira Sorvino and Cole Hauser and I was impressed with Maxwell Perry Cotton as little Joey Campbell. I had a good cry throughout the movie. Would still recommend to others.

When the father is an alcoholic abuser and the mother can't stick up for herself, there's always hope that the son will get to a better home. "Like Dandelion Dust" explores that hope and the powers of wealth, love and family.

The strength of the film lies in its story-telling. The characters were all painted extremely realistically and even sympathetically, and every scene in the film advanced the plot. Written by Oscar-nominated writer Stephen J. Rivele and Michael Lachance, it certainly comes across as a film driven by the writing. But no matter how interesting the story was, they couldn't completely keep my attention. When we have gritty scenes, we get drab shots. The story really wasn't brought to life.

"Like Dandelion Dust" is less like a film and more like a novel. And unsurprisingly, it is a novel with the same name by Karen Kingsbury. As I have just learned, Kingsbury is known as a Christian novelist. Although religion is an element in this film, it's presented in a very subtle, questioning way. See "Like Dandelion Dust" because it's a novel, not because it's a Christian novel.

LIKE DANDELION DUST is a very small scaled film about a very large subject: adoption and the struggles that at times are associated between birth parents and adoptive parents. Adapted from Karen Kingsbury's popular novel by Stephen J Rivele and Michael Lachance and directed with sensitivity and fine pacing by Jon Gunn, the film succeeds primarily because of the exceptional acting on the part of the acting by Mira Sorvino and Barry Pepper.

Blue collar worker Richard 'Rip' Porter (Barry Pepper) is an alcoholic with anger management problems and as the film opens he is arrested for beating his wife Wendy (Mira Sorvino) and imprisoned for seven years. Simultaneously we meet the wealthy Jack Campbell (Cole Hauser) and his wife Molly (Kate Levering) who are playing with their six year old son Joey (Maxwell Perry Cotton) and interacting with Molly's sister Beth (Abby Brammell) and husband Bill (Kirk B.R. Woller) who are suggesting that Joey, being adopted, should be brought up in the church: there is conflict as Beth seems to feel Molly isn't caring correctly for Joey since he is adopted!

Rip is released form prison and is clean from his alcoholism and anger management problems and Wendy confesses that when Rip was incarcerated she had been pregnant and because of Rip's problems she put her newborn son up for adoption, having her mother sign for Rip. Rip is shocked with the news and at once wants to get his son back. An adoption agency is consulted in the person of Allyson Bower (L. Scott Caldwell) who is placed between the Porters and the Campbells in making the decision as to where Joey should be. Because of the forged adoption papers Joey is still the child of the Porters and they fight the Campbells for custody. Joey is in the middle and with Allyson's guidance tries to adapt to his birth parents on planned visits while the Campbells try every avenue to retain their beloved Joey. How the game is played includes errors on the parts of both sets of parents but the situation is finally resolved in a very touching manner.

Sorvino and Pepper are brilliant in their roles as the beleaguered Porters. The reason the film works as well as it does is the fact that the good and bad aspects of human behavior on the part of all the characters in the film is balanced. It is a realistic look at what appears on the surface to be polar opposite couples - and in the middle is the very finely tuned performance of little Maxwell Perry Cotton. This is a film that tugs a bit heavily on the heartstrings, but for anyone who has been involved in an adoption problem it will ring true.

Grady Harp