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I caught this film at RiverRun Film Festival in NC. I enjoyed Kirkman's earlier film, "Dear Jesse," and I was amazed at how his filmaking had matured in such a short time. This is one gorgeous film, and it was well received at RiverRun. I love Kirkman's writing, and I was impressed with how he balanced the complexity of the three story lines. He could have dumbed down the script to spoon feed information to the audience, but instead he chose to use sound and dialogue to reveal the time line of the three story lines to the audience.

The cinematography was well done and showed the beauty of Asheville and the Carolina coastline. The performances by Kip Pardue, Bonnie Hunt, and Tess Harper were excellent. Most of the reviews I've read have emphasized Hunt, perhaps because of her name recognition and the fact that this is a first dramatic role for her, but Tess Harper's performance was equally riveting, and I hope she gets more attention for it.

This isn't a tidy little movie with a predictable end, predictable characters nor script— rather this is a compelling, profoundly moving film refreshing in how delicate it is. The performances are nuanced and the dialogue and story lines have a verisimilitude that left me feeling touched by the characters. They felt "real." That is rare in any film— that quality where you stop watching actors and start watching characters and feel their pain, hopes, dreams. I only saw this movie by accident as my boyfriend and I got to the theater to see another film which happened to be sold out and seats were available for this film. Lucky for me.

Three stories start in this film-- 40ish Grace (Bonnie Hunt) is living with her mother (Michael Learned) but can't forget the baby she was forced to give up for adoption when she was 17; Mark (Kip Pardue) is a young man obsessed with saving loggerhead turtles--he falls for sweet, gentle George (Michael Kelly); a minister's wife (Tess Harper) misses her son who abandoned her because of her husband's (Chris Sarandon) religion.

These three stories are all absorbing with excellent acting--just look at that cast! They all slowly come together at the end and leads to a very moving and truthful conclusion.

This is a character study but a very good one. It was a little too quiet for me (that's why I'm only giving it a 9) but I was never bored. Also it was shot on location in North Carolina which helps a lot. There's some stunning, absolutely beautiful cinematography here (one sequence toward the end with Hunt and Harper took my breath away). This is not for everybody but it is quiet, intelligent, beautiful and very moving motion picture. Recommended.

I thought 'Loggerheads' was wonderful. I saw it at the River Run Film Festival in Winston Salem, NC. The director/writer attended the screening as well. Afterward, he talked about the making of the film and it was very interesting. He indicated that the film may not be released nationwide. He seemed to think that it would play on the Sundance Channel and then be released to DVD. What a shame. It should be released nationally, in my opinion.

The actors were amazing and the story was so interesting. I loved the overlapping, intertwined stories. Bonnie Hunt was GREAT. She should do more dramatic work, because her performance was beautiful. The film itself was slow and deliberate in its pacing (kinda like the South) but it needed to be that way to develop the characters. I was riveted the whole time. Check it out, if you get a chance.

By the way--contrary to what one poster said, I know no one involved in the making of this film. I paid the ticket price and got more than my money's worth.

Loggerheads are turtles, found along the coast of North Carolina, whose lives are unique in that the females always return to the beach where they were born to lay their eggs, hatch their young who in turn by moonlight go out to sea only to return to their origin to repeat the life cycle. The film by the name LOGGERHEADS relies heavily on this phenomenon: it is set in North Carolina and is guided by the young man Mark (Kip Pardue) who opens the story sleeping on the beach in Kure Beach, NC where he studies and protects the loggerheads.

A complex and challenging film, writer/director Tim Kirkman (The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me, Dear Jesse) calls upon a true story to bring up questions of adoption in all the permutations of the triad, homosexuality, religious intolerance, bigotry, AIDS, and the longing for love and forgiveness. Kirkman sets his story in three years - 1999, 2000, 2001 - a fact that can be disconcerting until the flow of the film reveals the need to separate the events in time.

Mark is befriended by George (Michael Kelly) who is a kind young man, owning a motel, and who provides a room for the beach sleeper Mark. Mark quickly informs George that he has AIDS, thinking that George's kindness is a barter. But George is a true friend and their relationship grows slowly and with mutual trust as they learn the secrets of their pasts: George's lover 'drowned' in a mysterious accident; Mark ran away from his adoptive parents when they discovered he was gay; both men are tender and vulnerable souls afraid of further commitment.

Simultaneously we are introduced to Grace (Bonnie Hunt), recently recovering from a suicide attempt who longs to connect with the son she was forced to give up for adoption at age 17, and who lives with her rather rigid mother Sheridan (Michael Learned) who believes Grace should not try to discover the son she never knew. We also meet the minister Rev. Robert (Chris Sarandon) and his wife Elizabeth (Tess Harper) who are fanatics about gay people and even resent their neighbor Ruth (Ann Pierce) who places a nude statue of David on her lawn. The couple's son Mark is never discussed and the adoptive parents never communicate with him - but Ruth does. Ruth finally confides that Mark is ill and the wounds of separation open for Elizabeth. Meanwhile Grace has paid a 'finder' to locate Mark but the finder gives her a sad report. The three years of the story line make exquisite sense at this point as we realize that Kirkman has allowed us to be voyeurs into a human drama of immense substance, one that inexorably binds these disparate characters.

The cast is genuinely fine, with Kip Pardue, Michael Kelly, Bonnie Hunt, Tess Harper all giving highly sophisticated performances. But the credit for the impact of this stunning film goes to the writing and directing of Tim Kirkman. He has a way with film that is unique: we can only hope he will continue to make films of this quality, films that tackle difficult issues and are molded into realistic, non-manipulated dramas. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp