Paradise

I remember Siskel & Ebert giving this film a thumbs down. However, I was pleasantly surprised when I saw it, and how moved I was by the story. Don & Melanie are wonderful together. A bit slow moving in the story department but more than makes up for it with emotion and heart.

I fell in love with this movie the very first time I watched it on cable. Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith were perfect in this tale of grief in the aftermath of the loss of a child. Elijah Wood, Thora Birch, and Sheila McCarthy round out the cast and make this a poignant tale.

Melanie Griffith was never as vulnerable and powerful as she was in this movie - and I liked her in Working Girl and A Stranger Among Us. This was by far her most affecting role. And the almost always underrated Don Johnson turns in another versatile and incredibly touching performance. And the emotion between their two characters is clearly palpable throughout their estrangement in this film.

'Paradise' truly is a gem! If you haven't seen it, do so. You won't be sorry.

I wrote a short essay after watching this movie, not because it affected me, but that it left such a great impression. To me, the use of 'Paradise' as title is apt, as the movie goes to show how many people continue to live in their private hells, when all around them is a place which seems like paradise. These people, though socially interactive at times, seem more preoccupied with the ghosts of their pasts rather than the blessings of the moment. Only when these characters are able to let go of the demons that haunt them are they able to once again experience the joys of love and intimacy.

This film can help us to evaluate the things that we allow to control us, and help us to understand that instead of examining our lives under a microscope, we should allow ourselves to look up and out sometimes, and maybe discover all those things missing in our lives but which were right by us all the time.

I was surprised and touched by this film, starring two actors I do not normally enjoy. The on-screen chemistry between Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith, as grieving parents, isolated in their grief, was amazing. Elijah Wood is convincing in his role as a friend's child, visiting the couple, and going through his own family turmoil. Also excellent is Thora Birch, one of the most gifted child actors I have had the pleasure of watching. A wonderfully touching and uplifting film about hope and risk and coming home. One of my top five movies!

Remember "The Good Son" with Elijah Wood and Macaulay Culkin? Well McCauley was already famous, but Elijah was just starting. In this film, Elijah has a similar and very believable personality when he is stuck with a couple going through some rough times. It seems everybody seems to learn from his caring and honest manner as much as he learns from his life in the simple south. Melanie Griffith also does a good job in a very tough role, being hurt and numb after a very dramatic event in her life. Everything fits well in the plot and you can never really tell what the end will bring. Just a great all around film.