Finding Home

This movie moved me in a very profound and subtle way. So much so, that I watched this movie twice, listened to the directors talk thru, watched every little snippet of the DVD. Finally, I tracked down the creators of this movie to share my experience. Never done any of that before! (& i don't know the writers, but would like too!)

First off, the location is magical. I was transported to a most amazing place in Maine. The beautiful scenery captured my heart right off. Then the characters. I loved that they were real actors, not Hollywood big names. I cared about Amanda and thru that empathy was able to very easily give myself over to her as she genuinely transformed thru her experience of returning home.

I cried, laughed and was transported to a place that smelled of a curious memory of moments long ago. Snuggle with some snacks, your favorite chair and a blanket...and enjoy! One of my top 10 favorite movies ever! Ignore any bad press and see this movie! It's so special!

Finding Home was shot on an island off the coast of Maine and the photography is superb. The music is also terrific. A young woman inherits her Grandmother's coastal inn and must decide whether to keep it or sell it. Along the way she unlocks a mystery from the past. While the plot and acting are interesting enough, the pacing is slow and the dialog trite. Some scenes become repetitious and at least 20 minutes should be cut. But Finding Home captures the elusive beauty of a remote New England island summer vacation that more famous films never did (A Summer Place, Cider House Rules, The Whales of August.) I'm guessing this will go straight to video... where it will become popular with people who love that romantic "downeast" coastal mystique. (I want that pristine modified lobster boat used to ferry people to the island! )

Four male writers couldn't hang any of this film together in spite of some great old stars (Louise Fletcher, Genevieve Bujold) who try their best with a leaden script and subversive fundamentalist messages.

Clichés? Let me count the ways. I believe I've never been privy to so many in this one loooooong contrived movie that must have gone straight to DVD. It wouldn't survive a Friday night at the local Odeon.

Traumatic event in childhood conveniently forgotten by the star - who by the way has to be one of the most irritating actresses ever, she ran the gamut of emotions from A to B to quote a famous critic. She squeaks her lines and does a lot of batting with the eyes. Awful to watch her.

The granddaughter is forbidden to see the grandmother as an eleven year old child but then makes no effort to see her as an adult even though she professes undying love for her? She behaves like a receptionist in her "high career" in New York, excited over her birthday and her new boyfriend, her "boss". The audience is not privy to what everyone does for a living. It is strictly so she can give up her career (in that "fundy" way) to settle down and get over that nonsense.

The caretaker-sculptor turns out to have invested in Microsoft when he was twelve (doesn't everybody?) and is now wealthy but living as a boatman/bum.

The secret was not getting worked up into a froth over. Fisticuffs a plenty and the oddest, strained dialogue. Squeaky clean too. She accuses her boss of travelling all the way to Maine so he could "jump her". Man that spun me sideways before I burst out laughing. "Jump"? Wha'? I've never heard a woman use that term. Guys, yes.

And it goes on and on and on and on and on. Each cliché heavier than the one before it until it collapses, whimpering, under the pro-life ending.

I gave it 2 out of 10. The scenery and the inn are truly lovely and so is the haunting music.

The photography is beautiful. The actors are attractive and their characters have moments of interest. I enjoyed the first half hour or so of a slowly unfolding story of family conflict, nostalgia for an interrupted youth. Frequent flashbacks enlivened the development of the backstory.

However, the slow unfolding became a plodding march from incident to incident more akin to the animation of a bulleted list than the representation of a maturing person.

The acting and cinematography talent are wasted on an overly long, contrived, unbelievable and trite plot. The writing is wooden to the point of embarrassment. My wife summed it up: This is the movie equivalent of a Good Housekeeping novel, in the worst sense.

How did this movie win an award and receive a four star rating? Was it four stars out of ten or what? It was so BAD, so unbelievably soap-opera predictable, that it had me mesmerized.

I found myself waiting desperately for the dog to return, since his acting outshone that of any of the human actors. The main character was ridiculous, her friend was so ill defined as to be non existent and her love interests were A) clichéd and B) wooden.

And what is with Genevieve Bujold? I could say that perhaps she has fallen on hard times, but her acting was as weak as the rest. I've been to high school plays with more believable characters than these.

How do movies like this get funding?