Wildflowers

This is a beautiful film about real people spanning two generations -- that of the counterculture of the sixties, and the children they bore, and then reared or abandoned. There is a refreshing absence of sixties-bashing, stereotypical characters, phony hippie artifacts, false emotion, and all the other trappings of Indie or Hollywood films desperately searching for an audience. This is a novel on film. I'm grateful to the film-makers because I had despaired of ever seeing the lives we led ever portrayed realistically on film.

Wildflowers was a film with a simple but moving story. The characters made sense - they were eccentric but down to earth and convincing and the dialogue was realistic and engaging at the same time. Cally and Sabine are wonderfully acted and their relationship is truly fascinating to watch. The peripheral characters, too (Cally's friends and some of the commune members), were great to watch - they had their own personalities and some good lines. One of the best features of the film was definitely the camerawork - stunning shots of Pacific scenery and really evocative lighting in the scenes with people.

However, the movie did get slow at times - don't expect anything truly exciting. And maybe it's just me, but there did seem to be some plot holes that never resolved themselves; i found myself wondering "how does Cally know so-and-so?" and "how did she get from point A to point B?" sometimes. Also, I would have liked to find out more about Cally's past, what life on the commune was like, and other details about the characters that were never revealed. That would have given the events a lot more context.

Overall, "Wildflowers" was thought-provoking and simply a good film to watch. If you concentrate on what is is rather than what it could have been, I predict you'll love it.

Cally (Clea Duvall) is a girl that was raised only by her father because her mother abandoned her. She lives an ok life up until she meets gorgeous Sabine (Daryl Hannah), an older woman that lives alone, could be her mother, lives as a free spirited painter and to which Cally feels strongly connected. With some help from her former boyfriend Jacob (Eric Roberts) she will manage to enter Sabine's life in an unexpected way.

WILDFLOWERS is a curious experiment in a way as it shows some sort of aftermath of the hippie movement of the 1960s. Overlooking this, is a decent drama about a girl in search of her true identity and origins. Hannah gives a very nice performance other than looking gorgeous, and Roberts plays a friendly drug dealer (a role unusual for him). Duvall steals the scene in a good way and the soundtrack is cute, nothing special.

In substance, a unique film that is even better than I was led to believe considering its rating of 5,4 and only 17 reviews. Not to be missed especially by folks who sometimes love to see something different.

Below average drama that had good cinematography but was not up to par regarding script and screenplay.The story was promising though and the directing was almost good.The two lead actresses were average as well but still,this movie will satisfy big fans of the Marin county/San Francisco area culture and the subject matters regarding the Hippie culture from there and their New Age offspring.This movie should have been a TV or made for cable movie.Big fans of Darrly Hannah will likely tolerate this one as well.......

From the opening moments, this film promises to be unlike any of the slick, commercial "product" being made today. The style of the film harkens back to the turbulent, adventurous, somewhat dangerous times of the 1960s and the movie itself reveals how the events of days gone by continue to reverberate through the lives of the following generation. The photography is breathtaking; the editing is masterful; the performances far more than memorable. This is possibly one of Daryll Hannah's finest character portrayals. The story is a very private one -- yet it reaches out to touch the experiences of many who were swept up by the events of a certain time. It has the startling ring of truth throughout. The beautiful ... the sublime ... the tragic ... the heart-breaking. For those whose lives have spanned this period, this is an unforgettably compelling film journey.