HOW TO MAKE AN AMERICAN QUILT
A film review by Ben Hoffman
Copyright 1995 Ben Hoffman
Different women love men for varied reasons. Some may not call it "love" but by whatever name, they are happy or unhappy. accept their lot or fight back. Bringing the stories of each of the women together is accomplished by the writer of the screenplay, Jane Anderson and director Jocelyn Moorehouse with the help of a cast, led by Winona Ryder, that is outstanding.
Finn (Ryder) has graduated from Berkeley and is spending the summer at the home of her grandmother, Hy (Ellen Burstyn) and great-aunt, Gladys Joe (Anne Bancroft) in California. She is there for two reasons: her boyfriend, Sam (Dermot Mulroney) has proposed marriage and she wants time to think about it. The second reason is she is trying to finish a thesis on the rituals of women's handiwork in tribal cultures.
A group of women, led by Anna (Maya Angelou) long ago started a quilting bee at Hy and Gladys Joe's home where she once was a maid but is now the expert on the quilting. Others in the bee are Constance (Kate Nelligan), Em (Jean Simmons), Sophia (Lois Smith) and Marianne (Alfre Woodard) who is Anna's daughter.
As the quilt is being made, Finn is unaware that it is for her wedding whenever that should happen. Meanwhile, through flashbacks, the stories of the women are revealed; a husband's death, another husband's infidelity immediately after marriage but is always forgiven by the wife because "that's how he is." Each has her own tale to tell. There is even a discussion about whether marriage is still a useful convention. Finn hears it all.
Others in the cast include Kate Capshaw and Rip Torn. What further enhances the film is the mood, the tone, the unhurried pace and, for me, the surprise ending.
3 Bytes
4 Bytes = Superb
3 Bytes = Too good to be missed.
2 Bytes = So so.
1 Byte = Save your money.
-- Ben Hoffman
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews