A Walk On The Moon ***
rated R starring Diane Lane, Viggo Mortensen, Liev Schreiber, Anna Paquin, Tovah Feldshuh written by Pamela Gray directed by Tony Goldwyn
1969. The year has been explored numerous times, most notably(to me) in "The Wonder Years", which is the only T.V. show that I actually enjoy watching. In 1969, man landed on the moon, and Woodstock hit the world like no other musical event had before. Actor Tony(GHOST, NIXON) Goldwyn's directorial debut, A WALK ON THE MOON, tells the story of a family whose lives are turned upside down during the summer of '69 in a Catskills bungalow colony.
Pearl Kantrowitz(Diane Lane) is a Jewish housewife from the city who seems to be bored with her marriage to straightforward Marty(Liev Schreiber). She got pregnant at 17 and forfeited her young life to take care of her two children, Alison(Anna Paquin) and Daniel(Bobby Boriello). She seems to want to experiment more, to be young again, and there is no better time than the summer of '69. It is then that the blouse salesman(Viggo Mortensen) arrives at the bungalow colony. His name is Walker Jerome, and he is quite the hippie. He rides around in his bus full of blouses, and soon, the married Pearl is joining him. Pearl's psychic mother-in-law(Tovah Feldshuh) knows about her little outings with the blouse man and urges her to stop it for her family's sake. Meanwhile, the teenage Alison is coping with her first boyfriend, and her first period. She is also going through an experimental hippie phase, and it is not long before she catches her mom at Woodstock with the blouse man. Pearl's mother-in-law finally calls up her son and forces him to get up to the Catskills immediately to try to fix up the whole mess.
There is nothing especially groundbreaking about the story or the technique, but the story is told in such down-to-earth fashion that you can't help feeling intrigued by the coming-of-age of Pearl and Alison. Mortensen's Walker is never more than a caricature though, and the story is by-the-numbers, but the film does manage to capture the whirlwind of turmoil in the Kantrowitz family. Diane Lane is very good, and Academy Award winner Anna Paquin gives her character as much life as possible. All in all, Tony(grandson of Samuel) Goldwyn's A WALK ON THE MOON doesn't offer much insight into the lively 60's, but it does present us with a nice little slice of life that is sure to charm most viewers. No matter how much Miramax has sold out, the company still knows how to put out good movies year-round.
review by Akiva Gottlieb, the Teenage Movie Critic akiva@excite.com http://www.angelfire.com/mo/film watch me on TBS' "Dinner And A Movie" May 21, 8:05pm EST
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