Shoot the Moon

SHOOT THE MOON is an unbelievably heartbreaking movie. I saw this as a kid, by myself, in my local theatre in 1982. I love movies - then and now - particularly adult-skewing films, even when I was 13. I don't know what I was thinking, but at 13 I wanted to experience everything... from RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK to REDS.

Like Alan Alda's serio-comic THE FOUR SEASONS the year before, this was an introduction to how complicated relationships could be in my future. I came from a happy family, and my parents are still happily together. But my reality is that I lived around this exact movie with my school-aged friends: parents' separations, divorces, the anger and the selfishness, and the confused kids caught in the middle.

The film captures the subtle reality of divorce and the demolition of a relationship through the screen writing of the legendary Bo Goldman and the beautiful direction by Alan Parker.

To this day, the combination still floors me as a viewer. Albert Finney and Diane Keaton have never been better, as a couple going through a separation, a divorce and yet a difficult familial uncoupling, and are perfect for this film. Their performances are stunning. Dana Hill as their child caught in the middle of this separation is phenomenal, that nails the confusion and conflict of forced-adaptation brings.

SHOOT THE MOON helped me understand at a very young age that this is how relationships collapse, and illustrated that people are imperfect. It showed that hubris, loneliness and expectation come with exceptional price-tags - it was a shocker at an early age.

This is one of the lost "great" movies of the 1980s, and I am glad it is on DVD. It's just a movie that is so difficult to embrace, but I am pleased that it exists. It is an amazing movie.

Well done, realistic film. Though Keaton gives her usual strong performance. And Finney does a good job of acting as the man coming apart (he reminds me of Richard Burton in Night of the Iguana). But the real story here for me was between Dana Hill's character and both her parents. I am not too familiar with Dana Hill, though I somehow recognize her from something. But in this film she does a marvelous job of showing the pain felt by children from parental separation. Another thing about this film is that it somehow really manages to remind me of the late 70s/early 80s. A side note for compaction equipment fans: check out that Dynapac roller!!! No idea which model is being used to compact the tennis court. But it looks like a great machine.

Honest drama about the breakup of a 15 year marriage that is brought to the screen with brute intensity by acting giants Finney and Keaton. Director Alan Parker arrives at some striking revelations about what keeps people together and what drives them apart. There are moments that are exceptionally moving and the supporting cast should also be commended for their work.

The title "Shoot the moon" refers to a move that can be made in a card game where the highest possible outcome can be obtained by the risky strategy of achieving the lowest possible score. This description symbolises the events that happen as the story unfolds.

Director Alan Parker (Midnight express, Angel Heart) made one of the most haunting movies about human reaction to a domestic crisis ever done with "Shoot the Moon." Featuring a beautifully written script by Bo Goldman (one flew over the cuckoo's nest) and well measured performances by a solid cast.

The film begins with George Dunlap (Albert Finney) and his wife Faith (Diane Keaton) attending an awards dinner. It is clear from the outset that the marriage is in trouble. George is sarcastic and snaps comments at his wife, whilst Faith is distant and preoccupied. The early scenes, brilliantly underplayed by the two leads, show a couple who keep up appearances for their children and colleagues but who privately have lost their way.

When it is revealed that George is having an affair with another woman, the ensuing sequence of events depict a complete breakdown in the family unit with each member of the house reacting differently to the drama.

The scene where Diane Keaton is soaking in the bath and manages to convey a dozen different emotions with her facial expressions whilst singing "If I fell" is incredibly moving. Perhaps even more powerful a scene though, is where George turns up to the family home unannounced to give his eldest daughter her birthday present, only to be shut out of the existence he used to be a part of and treated as an unwanted outsider. It is a sequence shown with characters displaying desperate and raw emotions completely without sentiment as the gravity of what George has done becomes evident.

Finney and Keaton are on top of their game here as is a young Dana Hill (who tragically died prematurely from diabetes) whose scenes with Finney are heartbreaking. Peter Weller also gives good support with a subtle performance as the new man in Faith's life.

A scene where the two leads have a fight over dinner in a hotel feels a bit out of place with the somber tone of the rest of the movie and was probably added to give some comic relief to the audience after so much depression. The film makers also seemed to go "Hollywood" with the ending which seems out of sorts with the rest of the story.

When Oscar time came around in 1982, "Shoot the Moon" was ignored. The film's depressing story was certainly out of character with the main stream features of the day, but more significantly a factor perhaps was that Robert Redfords "Ordinary People" had already covered the family falling to pieces story in 1980 and the academy had honoured the film heavily. There was likely a reluctance by the academy voters to recognise a similar film in the same way so soon.

"Shoot the Moon" is a harrowing tale of how decisions have tragic consequences for others and how sometimes you only realise what kept you going in life, after you've thrown it away.

A writer in California's Marin County leaves his wife (and four young daughters) for another woman. I'm not quite sure who the audience is for a picture like this. Obviously it's an R-rated film intended for adults, but some of the silly levity--with kids spilling hot chocolate and so on--is so broad that I think it would make most adults uncomfortable (indeed, the film failed at the box-office). As a showcase for the leading actors, Diane Keaton and Albert Finney, it's an erratic mood piece which allows them to blow off emotional steam, but I didn't buy a screaming-match sequence in a restaurant (again, too broad) nor a climactic battle on the tennis court which will leave most viewers cold. No, the best thing in "Shoot The Moon" is the young Dana Hill, who died a few years back of Diabetes-related causes; she was not a natural kid actress (in some of her big scenes, you can feel a mechanical rhythm at work), nor was she adept at subtle emotions (she often zips through at warp speed from A to Z). However, she has a perceptive quality that is rare, and she's very intense. The sequence where she holds her father off with scissors is extremely moving and unsettling, and it's to Hill's credit that a scene like this works at all. "Shoot The Moon" tries for bared emotions and a kind of pent-up, married hostility that few films have explored (maybe Harold Pinter or Ingmar Bergman). It's simply not as entertaining per se as something like "Kramer Vs. Kramer" because of its claustrophobic atmosphere and underpopulated environment. Director Alan Parker tries too hard to liven things up--mostly with crassness--though his joshing isn't in tune with the emotional decay, and the picture leaves you with a peculiar unease. **1/2 from ****