The Cure (1995)

User Rating:

7.4/10   

Director:

Peter Horton

Writer (WGA):

Robert Kuhn (written by)

Release Date:

21 April 1995 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Two boys found a way to make one summer last a lifetime.

Plot:

Dexter, age 11, who has AIDS, and his next door neighbor Eric, a little older and much bigger, become best friends...

Plot Keywords:

AIDS | Boy | Friendship | River | Medical

Awards:

2 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Brad Renfro	...	Erik
Aeryk Egan	...	Tyler
Delphine French	...	Tyler's Girlfriend
Mona Powell	...	Tyler's Girlfriend
Andrew Broder	...	Tyler's Buddy
Jeremy Howard	...	Tyler's Buddy #2
Joseph Mazzello	...	Dexter
Annabella Sciorra	...	Linda
Diana Scarwid	...	Gail
Rosemary Corman	...	Elderly Woman in Street
Mychael T. Rambo	...	Garbageman #1 (as T. Mychael Rambo)
David Alan Smith	...	Garbageman #2
Delia Jurek	...	Angry Woman
Fran Korba	...	Elderly Women in Market
John Carroll Lynch	...	Skipper #1 (as John Lynch)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for emotional thematic elements, and for language.

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS

Certification:

USA:PG-13 (certificate #33731) | Australia:PG | UK:12 | South Korea:12 | Germany:6 (bw) | Spain:7 | Canada:PG (Nova Scotia/Ontario)

Filming Locations:

Divine Redeemer Hospital - 724 19th Avenue N., South St. Paul, Minnesota, USA

Company:

Island World

Trivia:

The opening credits feature the track 'My Great Escape' by Marc Cohn. However, this track was not released on any medium other than the movie itself.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: When Erik and Dexter arrive back home in Minnesota via bus, the city and state listed above the bus terminal says "River Falls, Minnesota." There is no such city or town called River Falls, Minnesota. However, there is a River Falls, Wisconsin which is only a 45 minute drive from the Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota area.

Quotes:

Erik: Why can't I go see Dad?
Gail: [thinks for a moment] Well, call him. If he says "yes," I'll put you on the next plane. You know, you and his little friend Cindy could go to the movies and get in for half price.
Erik: She's 23, Mom.
Gail: Oh, amazing. Old enough to drink.
Erik: Yeah, but she doesn't.

Movie Connections:

Features Medicine Man (1992)

Soundtrack:

My Great Escape

Stunning triumph of film-making and humanity

For unknown reasons this beautiful masterpiece didn't get well-deserved recognition and has been vastly under-appreciated by many American movie critics. So it's easy to understand that I've met lots of troubles trying to find this movie. Finally I watched it and it was so beautiful, sincere and poignant that for the first time in my life I watched one movie five times in one week after getting the tape. The story is focused on the friendship between two young boys Erik and Dexter, eleven and twelve years old, who are very different from each other but they are becoming the best (and only) friends. The beauty and sincerity of their friendship have been shown in the Cure so sincere and naturally as it has never been before. There are so many beautiful, heartfelt and poignant scenes (particularly on the river), which strike the heart and can't leave any human indifferent to them. The movie also is full of incredibly powerful and emotional symbolism, (particularly strong with Erik's shoe) which also greatly increases visual impression from such beautiful work. The story, written by Robert Kuhn, is well written and on the contrary to overwhelming majority of modern Hollywood's products practically every scene, every phrase and every sentence in the movie is meaningful and bring something important about characters and relations between them. Peter Horton, who as I know had no major experience in movie directing before, showed his great abilities and talents in this sphere. The cinematography is also superb with perfectly selected locations for the movie, but the most important is perfect acting, which with all above mentioned makes The Cure one of the best movies ever. Both Brad Renfro as Erik and Joseph Mazello as Dexter created wonderful atmosphere of sincere friendship and magnificent chemistry between two main characters. Only one this movie (I haven't seen most of their other works) is enough to name them as one of the best actors of their generation. Annabelle Sciorra also give a terrific performance as Dexter's mother. It's terribly sad that such talented actors didn't get wide recognition, while numerous overrated stars enjoy enormous publicity and huge salaries. Finally it would be unfair not to mention amazing soundtrack written by David Grusin, and terrific Mark Cohn's song (one of the best songs that I've ever heard in the movies) My Great Escape. So all that I can say about The Cure is one simple word – great. At any point of view this movie is a beautiful, heartfelt and inspiring work of all people involved in making of this masterpiece. I have to credit all those people who put their hearts and souls into the movie and Universal Pictures, which among numerous formulaic commercial projects has found a way to make such a beautiful movie. But such movie so rarely come to movie theaters that very often studios themselves don't realize what gem they have made that they're unable to provide respective marketing campaign. The only one minor drawback about The Cure for me is its short length (only 97 minutes).

I don't want to write more about the movie because it's simply impossible to put its beauty and sincerity into words, so if you have any opportunity for watching The Cure, rent it or buy it and you wouldn't be disappointed.

10 out of 10. Sorry for my bad English.