Where the Heart Is (1990)

Stewart McBain (Coleman) is a real-estate mogul who spends his living blowing up old buildings to make room to erect new buildings. All goes as planned for a new subdivision, until a group ... See full summary »

Director:

John Boorman

Writers:

John Boorman, Telsche Boorman

Stars:

Dabney Coleman, Uma Thurman, Joanna Cassidy

2 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Dabney Coleman	...	Stewart McBain
Uma Thurman	...	Daphne McBain
Joanna Cassidy	...	Jean
Crispin Glover	...	Lionel
Suzy Amis	...	Chloe McBain
Christopher Plummer	...	Shitty
David Hewlett	...	Jimmy
Maury Chaykin	...	Harry
Dylan Walsh	...	Tom
Ken Pogue	...	Hamilton
Sheila Kelley	...	Sheryl
Michael Kirby	...	Lionel's Father
Dennis Strong	...	Marvin X
Timothy Stickney	...	Marcus
Emma Woollard	...	Olivia

Storyline

Stewart McBain (Coleman) is a real-estate mogul who spends his living blowing up old buildings to make room to erect new buildings. All goes as planned for a new subdivision, until a group of protesters object to the destruction of one lonely, ugly building, called the Dutch House. Typically, the media is sent to the scene of the protest, and McBain appears on TV in a bad way. His children - Daphne (Thurman), Chloe (Amis), and Jimmy (Hewlett) - ridicule him for appearing on TV, and as a reward for their remarks, he drops them off at the Dutch House with $750 apiece, and tells them they're on their own. They must find jobs if they expect to make money to stay warm. McBain and his wife, Jean watch from afar as their children adapt to their new lifestyle, meeting new friends, and inviting others into their new home, including a decrepit bum.

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Plot Keywords:

bare breasts | pretending to be gay | homelessness | nude model | male nudity | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 February 1990 (USA)

Also Known As:

Ahol a szív lakik

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Gross:

$1,106,475 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Touchstone Pictures, Silver Screen Partners IV, Where the Heart Is

Technical Specs

Runtime:

107 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

Jimmy: You never said we'd have Bang-fucking-kok in the hallway!
Lionel: That's an unprovoked racist slur.
Porna: Excuse me, we are from Bom-fucking-bay!

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Soundtracks

"A Song Of India"
Written by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Performed by Tommy Dorsey

User Reviews

Ravishing to the eye or as Suzy Amis put it: Menschen malen Illusionen

This film brought out the barracuda in most of the major critics. And did the public take one bit of notion? It did and flocked elsewhere.

But I still remember the overall impact this forgotten little gem had on me when I watched it some 14 odd years ago in one of these little arthouse cinemas that had all but vanished as multiplexes became the latest rage. 'Breathtaking' was the word for it. This reaction was caused by the picture's extraordinary visual beauty: cinematography as an art form has never been more ravishingly demonstrated as in the composition of light, shade and colour. I remember a series of scenes so beautiful I wanted to stop the moving pictures occasionally and just be a picture.

But like other visual masterpieces, its triumph did not extend to the screenplay and dialogues that were often boring, sometimes even downright foolish.