Coisas de Família

We just returned from a showing of "The Thing About My Folks" at the Santa Barbara Film Festival, and couldn't help pondering why this film does not have national distribution. Peter Falk's performance of the father was sheer genius. Paul Reiser's script was insightful and very tender. The cinematography was breathtaking:What could be more beautiful than autumn in upper New York State with the the changing of the leaves. (Especially as seen from the seat of a 1936 Ford). If this finally does get national distribution, I'm certain Peter Falk will be up for some kind of acting award. His depiction of the 'father who worked too hard' was brilliant. My husband and I laughed and cried. At a time when war rages abroad, it's such a relief to see a film with no car chases, explosions, and senseless gun battles. This was a lovely film. Good luck to the creators.

Did I mention this film is wonderful? This is a buddy movie men and women will love. Congratulations to the multi-talented Paul Reiser for his beautifully crafted script and performance. And for casting that national treasure, Peter Falk as the father he never really knew. All of the performances are terrific and the fall foliage scenery is exquisite. This is a rich and resonate comedy that is not afraid to explore the real, confusing, painful and hopeful terrain of love. So take this hilarious and heartfelt journey with this son and father. The sold out crowd at the Santa Barbara Film Festival gave THE THING ABOUT MY FOLKS a standing ovation. You'll feel like standing and cheering too.

We saw the film this evening (not my first choice) and I was very pleasantly surprised. Kudos to Paul Reiser; this is not a made for TV movie, nor is it going straight to rental. Peter Falk should get an Academy Award nomination for his wonderful performance. The scenery of upstate NY is also beautiful and fits the movie. The film covers several tracks-father- son, mother- dad, and husband- wife. The whole family relationship thing is covered. You'll laugh, you'll cry and you'll recommend it to your 40 plus friends. Not a date movie. Peter Falk needs more work; his talent has been under utilized. Bottom line, the "Thing About My Folks" is I loved it and so will you.

So fortunate were we to see this fantastic film at the Palm Springs International Film festival. Upon entering the theater we were handed a small opinion card that would be used for our personal rating of the film. Looking at the card I turned to my wife and said, "How many movies in your life do you think you can rate as superb? Only about 5 for me." But then watching the interaction between Peter Falk and Paul Reiser while viewing the spectacular scenery in the film's setting of New York state, I slowly starting bumping the movie up a category at a time. Certainly it was good but the totally natural repoire of the actors and an award winning performance by a man who will unfortunately probably be remembered for a raincoat wearing detective rather than this film, the movie jumped to the excellent level.

By the end of the film there were few dry eyes in the house and my usually stoic and callous heart melted just like the Grinch's and I ended up giving this a superb.

This picture is a must for anyone who has parents. No violence or nudity but some strong language.

What a TERRIFIC film... so poignant and totally REAL!!! It's a compelling story of the relationship between father and son, father and daughters, and husband and wife as experienced by this family across 3 generations. The genius of the story is that almost anyone can identify with each character, even though one is sometimes a jerk. It is full of humor. We found ourselves laughing out loud frequently and also shedding a few tears. Peter Falk and Paul Reiser did superb acting in this film, and, in my opinion, could successfully compete for Oscars!!! "The Thing About My Folks" shows so compassionately how husbands and wives, or parents and kids, can have deep and sometimes very painful misunderstandings. It gives us hope for our own families because we see how some of these misunderstandings get worked out. It shows us that a real family can seize an opportunity for communication and start healing those deep psychological wounds. This is a beautiful and amazing work of art. The packed audience in Santa Barbara loved it and left feeling good.

I saw some similarities to the Oscar-nominated film "Sideways" in that both films were at times quite funny but also had very poignant moments in how they portrayed men's emotions, which are often not expressed. But I definitely preferred "The Thing About My Folks!" The situations and emotions between fathers and kids and husbands and wives will touch millions more of us than the central situation in "Sideways" of cheating on one's partner the day before the wedding.

We saw "The Thing About My Folks" at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. I hope it gets a distributor so many more people can enjoy it as we did. I've already emailed all my friends to watch out for it.