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" is a warm and touching story, the title being an apt metaphor for a story of many levels. The time elements are well-handled, going back and forth from past to present, in such a way as to make sense and not be confusing. The pace of the film matches the pace of the natural lifestyle of living on a Maine island. As a native Mainer I was pleased that the artists used a natural style of speaking rather than using fake-sounding Maine accents, which also reflects the current way of life on the Maine coast, as over the past decades more and more "people from away" have become Mainers making their livelihoods on the coast, so it is naturally less occurring to hear true "down-east" Maine accents in a tourist setting. And the different sounding accent of the inn keeper seems realistic for the Maine coast. The plot is interesting to me, of a young professional woman returning to Maine as an adult who has forgotten much of a significant childhood time that she left a decade or more ago. In that respect, it is one of the parallels that remind me of the movie "Dolores Claiborne". I have to honestly say that I didn't always find the quality of acting in "Finding Home" to be as sophisticated and experienced as I found in "Dolores Claiborne", but i did find it to be believable and genuine. The quality of the story, however, is heartwarming and very touching. There is enough intrigue to keep one's interest in wanting to find out what happens next. There is brilliant acting of some complicated roles and scenes, in particular those of the mother in the picture. The flashback scenes are believable, and while they lead to the unveiling of a traumatic event, that event is blessedly less horrific than the viewer has come to dread experiencing. And the quality of the movie, visual and auditory, is kinder on the senses, and a welcome relief from "too loud and shocking" that I find all too often in current films. At the end of the movie I felt peaceful and satisfied, and relieved with the honest depiction of characters. Most human beings are not all good or all bad, and some of the most difficult issues in the lives of the characters are treated sensitively and in a well-rounded, realistic and matter-of-fact way. I am grateful to have been treated to a really good story without jarring instances of violence, bad language, raw sex, or brutality. Very well done!

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! )

Being from Maine, I sure wanted to love this movie..but I didn't! The plot was contrived and in several ways, quite silly. The first half of the film dragged mercilessly, while at the same time facets of the plot were not fully developed, making the story line weak and non-sensical and the characters shallow. It makes no sense that this young woman who so loved and missed her grandmother would not have returned to see her as soon as she was old enough to be independent from her controlling mother, especially with the level of animosity she felt toward her mother. The film touts Amanda as being "an ambitious young executive" who has a "busy career," yet all we see of her at her job gives the impression that she is nothing but a receptionist with nothing on her mind but her birthday and her boyfriend. The false memory idea fails miserably, its "moment of revelation" totally lacking in energy and focus.

What should have been a good plot, fertile ground for a poignant and meaningful film, was sadly wasted. What a disappointment!

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.