Fierce People (2005)

A massage therapist looking to overcome her addictions and reconnect with her son, whose father is an anthropologist in South America studying the Yanomani people, moves in with a wealthy ex-client in New Jersey.

Director:

Griffin Dunne

Writers:

Dirk Wittenborn (book), Dirk Wittenborn (screenplay)

Stars:

Diane Lane, Donald Sutherland, Anton Yelchin

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Diane Lane	...	Liz Earl
Anton Yelchin	...	Finn Earl
Donald Sutherland	...	Ogden C. Osborne
Chris Evans	...	Bryce
Kristen Stewart	...	Maya
Paz de la Huerta	...	Jilly
Blu Mankuma	...	Gates
Elizabeth Perkins	...	Mrs. Langley
Christopher Shyer	...	Dr. Leffler
Garry Chalk	...	McCallum
Ryan McDonald	...	Ian
Dexter Bell	...	Marcus Gates
Kaleigh Dey	...	Paige
Aaron Brooks	...	Giacomo
Jeff Westmoreland	...	Whitney

Storyline

Trapped in his mother's Lower East Side apartment, sixteen-year-old Finn wants nothing more than to escape New York and spend the summer in South America studying the Iskanani Indians, or "Fierce People," with the anthropologist father he's never met. But Finn's dreams are shattered when he is arrested in a desperate effort to help his drug-dependent mother, Liz, who scrapes by working as a masseuse. Determined to get their lives back on track, Liz moves the two of them into a guest house on the vast country estate of her ex-client, the aging aristocratic billionaire, Ogden C. Osbourne. In Osbourne's close world of privilege and power, Finn and Liz encounter a tribe fiercer and more mysterious than anything they might find in the South American jungle: the super rich. While Liz battles her substance abuse and struggles to win back her son's love and trust, Finn falls in love with Osbourne's beautiful granddaughter, Maya, befriends her charismatic older brother, Bryce, and even wins ...

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Plot Keywords:

anthropologist | tribe | new jersey | masseuse | massage | 

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Taglines:

Once you become one of them, it changes you forever.

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Genres:

Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language, drug use, sexuality/nudity and some violence

Details

Country:

USA Canada

Language:

Tagalog English

Release Date:

30 November 2007 (USA)

Also Known As:

Fierce People - Jede Familie hat ihre Geheimnisse

Filming Locations:

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$19,968 (USA) (7 September 2007)

Gross:

$85,410 (USA) (21 September 2007)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Industry Entertainment, Lions Gate Entertainment, Lions Gate Films

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Donald Sutherland who plays President Snow In The Hunger Games Trilogy has a line in the movie that says "If the odds are in their favor" similar to "may be the odds be in their favor" from his Hunger Games role.

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Goofs

The Dead Kennedys song "Kill the Poor" plays at Maya's birthday party during the summer of 1980. The song was not released until October of that year.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Finn Earl: [narrating] There's this tribe in South America called the Ishcanani. That means fierce people.
Finn Earl: They're. They're like the meanest people in the world. They'll cut off your thumbs, and they'll shit in your hammock just like we say hello.

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Connections

Featured in Siskel & Ebert: Episode dated 8 September 2007 (2007)

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Soundtracks

A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody
Written by Irving Berlin
Vocals by Donald Sutherland
Arranged and Performed by Patric Caird

User Reviews

Very well acted

A brilliant and sensitive movie with interwoven plot lines. As a general warning, the movie turns quite dark about half way through. As sudden as it is, this is a change that I found fitting to the themes of the movie, particularly the comparison of the Ishkanani to the filthy rich, and (as is said by Finn at the end) how each person makes up the tribe, and how the whole tribe is reflected in each person.

Anton Yelchin (Finn Earl) is spectacular in this movie. He is probably best known as Chekov from Star Trek or Kyle Reese in Terminator Salvation, but he's been in a whole plethora of movies you've probably never heard of (Alpha Dog, which is another brilliant performance on Yelchin's part, House of D, Hearts in Atlantis, to name a few...) The point is that this kid really takes this movie and makes it his own. Other excellent performances from Diane Lane and Donald Sutherland are what takes this movie up a notch, from great to excellent.