bkruse

Between Ms. Duke and the Hallmark people, I had every expectation this would be a decent version of a story that's been near and dear to me for over 30 years but when I stumbled across this on TV I lasted about 2 minutes. It made me cringe. It really did. There was no hint of the characters from the story. Where was the wispy Sook that Capote described? Where was the sense of innocence in Sook and in Buddy? Where was the feeling of having that one special friend where you felt safe in a world where everything else was strange and threatening in an unspoken sort of way?

It could well be, as someone else commented, that it stands on its own very nicely. In that case, they should never have invoked Mr. Capote's name. They should have just made up their own story. Then they could do whatever they liked with their characters and their dialogue. And then I would never have been tricked into watching it.

Bah, humbug.

The fact that the young people who put this short together decided to set it in 1973 surprised me at first, and then I decided that just made the universality of the feelings involved that much more touching along with the fact that Ireland is a long way from where I grew up. The girl who plays Heather comes across very naturally. You can read all her feelings on her face, and there's a lot of subtle nuance to convey in just a few minutes.

Taken all in all, in terms of the themes handled, the ability to speak at multiple levels simultaneously, holding the interest of different age groups at the level they are able to appreciate it, the perfection of the recreation of a small southern town (California hills in the backgrounds notwithstanding), the performances of the principals, and some superb supporting performances that are so good as to likely go unnoticed, this has to be THE BEST MOVIE OF ALL TIME.