A Death in the Family

The casting was great and includes a stellar performance by one of America's best actresses, Annabelle Gish, of Hollywood acting royalty. Eloquently written by, truly one of America's best writers, James Rufus Agee (1909-1955) who died fairly young but had much greater potential. Having only slight recognition in life, he was awarded a Pulitzer prize in 1958 for this posthumously completed piece. The movie deals mostly with young Rufus and his family growing up in Knoxville, TN. The period setting was true to the early 1900's. The cinematography was excellent. This motion picture is not an action thriller, so, if you're expecting that of course you would be disappointed. If you seek a dramatization that has an intimate feel and an good translation of life you will enjoy this film. Although some parts may not be suitable for very young children, this is a rare movie that you can watch with most all family members and not have to feel uncomfortable with certain scenes.

Those of us in law enforcement are well aware of the strange syndrome in which those who witness the same event give wildly differing descriptions. So it is with films. Based on other critiques I've read, apparently "A Death In The Family" is as underwhelming for some as it was overwhelming for me. I find that, as usual, Annabeth Gish delivers the goods. One of the best kept "secrets" in recent film history, Ms Gish performs with abundant warmth and intelligence. She wisely underplays a role that in lesser hands might have contained an overbearing flurry of emotions. Outside of James Cromwell I was not familiar with any of the other actors but mention must be made of those portraying Gish's brother and aunt. The very title of the project obviously implies it is not going to be a Sunday school picnic.You will witness a disparate but inter-related group undergoing a severely traumatic event. It was a quick 91 minutes for me, and if you love and miss the golden age of film-making this is a more than adequate fill-in.

This fine production is a beautiful and faithful adaptation of the classic novel "A Death in the Family" about a 1915 Tennessee family with an almost idyllic life that is shaken with tragedy. In the lead role as Mary Follett, Annabeth Gish gives an amazing and touchingly real performance showing all the facets of this sensitive but strong woman who is a wife, mother, daughter, neice and sister to the other characters who are also excellently portrayed.

I hated this from the first minute and it pained me to watch. I ended up turning it off thee-fourths of the way through because it was just so gratingly insultingly woefully bad. Anyone who's read the novel will probably feel the same. There is not even an inkling of the darkly poetic drama of the novel--it's all bright and obvious and without any nuance--and it's quite disloyal as an adaptation. James Agee is the OPPOSITE of this adaptation's Hallmark-Hall-of-Fame style. I'm sure he'd punch the director, Gilbert Cates, right in the face or break a whiskey bottle over his head. Cates's previous film Collected Stories (2002) is stellar so I just don't know how he could get this SO WRONG!

A simply beautiful, powerful, exquisite gem of a film superbly acted and directed by Gil Cates. Ordinary events of turn of the century life spawn deeply felt emotion as a family struggles to right itself when one member is killed in a car wreck. The acting has you believing these are not superbly drawn characters from the Agee masterpiece but real people coping with the injustice of mortality. Watching the ensemble interact was like being in a family living room over a hundred years ago and going through the gut-wrenching reality of life at its most complex turning point. I have no idea why it received such a low rating from viewers. There are only a handful of movies ever made that combine the elements of storytelling so perfectly as this one and have you saying at the end that it was perfect. This is one of them. I'm reminded of the first time I viewed Paths of Glory or To Kill a Mockingbird among others where every piece of the puzzle fit. Give this one a look and you will not be disappointed.