THE MYTH OF FINGERPRINTS
A film review by David N. Butterworth
Copyright 1997 David N. Butterworth
Rating: ***1/2 (Maltin scale)
The imposing New England homestead that serves as center stage in "The Myth of Fingerprints" also serves as an obvious yet apt metaphor for the dysfunctional American family that was raised there. In long shot it's strikingly handsome, but up close its cracked and peeling paint indicate the need for repair.
In a wintry November setting writer/director Bart Freundlich weaves his discriminating, multi-layered story of a family reunion that's wrought with angst and grief. On the surface, "The Myth of Fingerprints" might seem like any old home-for-the-holidays scenery chawfest in which the central characters get toasted and roasted along with the bird. But Freundlich's take is a little different.
Why do people subject themselves to such familial hostility each and every year? What causes grown children to revert to infantile behavior in the presence of their parents? And do you have to have had a healthy family life in order to have a successful relationship?
While "The Myth of Fingerprints" is bigger on questions than it is on answers, it challenges its audience to think.
Bigger, perhaps, and more intimidating than the ancestral centerpiece is Hal (Roy Scheider), the impassionate, detached patriarch. He's a little odd and visibly wrestling some deep, dark secret. It's Thanksgiving, and Hal and his faithful, nurturing wife Lena (the dependable Blythe Danner) are welcoming their four adult children home after a three year absence. Eldest daughter Mia (Julianne Moore, who's a hot property these days) and son Jake (Michael Vartan) are bringing along their significant others, causing Dad to comment "There's more of them than I remember."
The film is almost perfectly cast with performances to match. Noah Wyle, who brings the discontent son Warren to life, is a quivering mass of brooding sensitivity. Laurel Holloman plays the pesky younger daughter Leigh to coquettish perfection. Moore, too, is especially good. Mia's bitterness almost single-handedly makes the tensions run high.
First-timer Freundlich resists the easy temptation to bring these tensions to an explosive, emotional head and instead develops the characters slowly and with subtlety, drawing us in, exploring their motivations, their weaknesses, and their desires.
But there is laughter among the tears; the director balances the drama with humor and pointed observations, lightening the mood with a flurry of eager bedfellows. In addition, the film has a palpable sensuality; you can feel the cold of the New England air and smell the antiquities, the wood smoke, the oil on a gun stock. "The Myth of Fingerprints" shows us how families interact, collide, kiss, and maybe even make up. It's about lovers and friends, and how interchangeable these sometimes are. And how mistakes can turn a family inside out.
Family gatherings are often fraught with stresses and anxieties and "The Myth of Fingerprints" skillfully demonstrates that you don't have to use bombast--just high-caliber acting and introspective writing--to make these things interesting.
-- David N. Butterworth dnb@mail.med.upenn.edu
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