Le choix d'une vie

Okay, so I'm surfing the 63 movie channels on my new digital cable......and I hear a voice... It's the loudspeaker of the Catskills bungalows project announcing some esoteric occurrence... You simply had to be there...And I WAS... Forget the glamour of that upscale Catskills resort on "Dirty Dancing"... This was REAL LIFE circa the 1960s...as I, and I'm sure many others remember it from our childhood... (I won't go much into the plot here...that's been covered...it's the FEELING of the movie--the LIFE--that hit me...) Now, I am certain this whole atmosphere will seem bizarre, fairly off kilter to most...But as a Jewish kid born in NYC in 1953, this movie was SO REAL, it was incredible... I swear I was there...no, not in the movie...but in one of those bungalow colonies somewhere in the Catskills in the Summer of '69...close enough to Woodstock to breathe it... And I have never seen a film completely capture the setting as well as this one... Trust me, folks, this is a snapshot in REAL TIME...The characters are right out of my family, my friends...the "resort" is what real life was like for most "working class" NYC families who could squeeze out just enough cash to escape the sweltering NYC summer... There was a point in the "mountains" where my Zayde used to announce "This is as far as the car goes"...He never in his life drove farther from the Bronx than those bungalows... I've watched the movie through twice now and it's just as real every time.

A WALK ON THE MOON as written by Pamela Gray ("Music of the Heart") and directed by actor Tony Goldman conjures up more atmosphere for the year 1969 than any film to date. Remember Woodstock, the Jewish summer retreats in the Catskills, hippies, face and body painting, threats from the Vietnam era and promises of space habitation by the famous first walk on the moon? It is all faithfully created here as the background for a lovely little sentimental tale about family and fidelity.

The Kantrowitz family - Pearl (Diane Lane), Marty (Liev Schreiber), Alison (Anna Paquin), Daniel (Bobby Boriello) and Marty's mother Lilian (Tovah Feldshuh) - are spending their usual summer away form New York in a Catskill settlement bungalow along with other Jewish families of the same ilk. All seems swell, except that Marty must spend the weekdays returning to his job as a TV repairman, leaving the family under Pearl's and Lilian's care until his weekend visits. A hippie blouse salesman Walker Jerome (Viggo Mortensen) peddles his wares to the settlement and casually but inevitably Pearl feels an attraction to Walker, the man of adventure who represents all the lost dreams of becoming a mother and wife at the too early age of 17. Life has slipped her by but feels salvageable in Walker's advances.

Woodstock is close by and Pearl and Walker spend a day of hippie love-in in the crowd, not knowing that teenage Alison is also there observing their free love antics. This crisis event affects the family's unity and the way Pearl faces her moment of indiscretion with Marty and her children builds to a terrific climax.

Diane Lane, Viggo Mortenson, Liev Schreiber and Tovah Feldshuh completely inhabit these simple characters and pull us into accepting all aspects of the predicament of this family crisis. The confrontation among Lane, Schreiber and Mortenson is a trio of acting not to be forgotten. Tony Goldwyn has paced his film beautifully and proves that he has as great skill as a director as well as an actor. The cinematography by Anthony B. Richmond is as recreative of a special time on our history as has been captured. This little film will stay with you long after the credits are over. Grady Harp

The sixties were a time of great transition. At their beginning was the Peace Corps: a way to help those in need of a better life. At their end it was the me generation: how high can I get or how can I satiate my senses to the fullest. This movie is one of the best "encapsulations" of those events that I've seen.

The moral overtones of the movie are overwhelming. Wrongs occur. Do we run away from them? Do we trash our lives because of them? This movie attempts to address these questions. It does it well.

Finally, what brings it all together? In two words: Diane Lane. She possesses a deep but quiet beauty that makes it work. Her character asks, "I'm approaching middle age. I have children and a good but somewhat boring husband. Is this all there is?"

All ask this question as youth begins to fade. The answer this movie purports makes it exceptional and even classic. A hundred years from our descendants will look at this movie and appreciate its incite in human existence.

I have been waiting to see this movie for some time. I was not disappointed. As a woman, from a woman's perspective, I found this to be uncomfortably accurate. I was floored by Diane Lane's performance as a bored "yet not, not in love with her husband" woman who was willing to find new love, to fully be loved by the "blouse man". The love scenes were incredibly truthful and believable, and I just thought this movie was absolutely flawless in it's portrayal of what would have really happened between "Marty" and "Pearl". I thought Diane Lane was awesome, as well as the understated acting feel of the beautiful and beyond sexy, Viggo Mortensen. I cannot say enough how authentic and beautiful I thought this movie was. I give it a 10+. I thought it was a masterpiece, perfect and breathtakingly beautiful, it was human imperfection at its best. It truly made me feel love for each man, I felt sorrow for her decision.

I was 16 years old in 1969. This movie caused a lot of memories to come rushing back. I want to thank the director Tony Goldwyn and writer Pamela Gray for recreating some of the vibrations of the time so beautifully. The movie is really about the cultural clash when a young couple trying to live out the 1950's ideal realize that time has passed and they adopt to the new world of personal growth, peace, Moon landings and Woodstock Festivals.

Some people are complaining that the lead character, Pearl, was a bad role model, being unfaithful or indecisive, not knowing what to do; however, that was the way things were back then. To me the film was incredibly believable and faithful to the times and setting.

My only complaint is the scene where Ross rejects Alison's request to "go all the way." Being 16 at the time, I had only one desire, to "go all the way" with every teenage girl who would let me. I spent nearly every moment I could trying to convince them and I did find three or four who said yes. If anyone who looked like Anna Paquin had said to me when I was 16, that she wanted to go all the way, I would have been out of my clothes in 10 seconds flat.

The only other thing perhaps that the movie missed were all the crazy, repulsive, hateful, violent conservatives who were around then threatening and terrorizing progressive, loving, peaceful people. That actually hasn't changed much since 1969. They're still doing the same thing.

This movie also has a terrific soundtrack and uses popular music from the time better than any movie since "Easy Rider." For those who grew up in the 60's, see it to remember, for those who grew up after the 60's, see it to learn.