Philly1789 Reviews

Home (I) (2003)

K Callan fan

[10/10 · 12 April 2006]

I never miss a K Callan movie, she was great in "Joe." In this film she is so subtle with her movements and words it is wonderful.

I am not familiar with the actress who played her daughter, but she also was very good. Her performance seemed to come from somewhere deep inside. Perhaps she was portraying her own self?

I also want to comment on the location. I believe that the setting was a very important supporting role. The story became much more complete and clear in the suburban neighborhood of small, single family homes with carefully tendered lawns.

This is a provocative movie which raises questions about whether the granddaughter will have the same relationship with her mother as her mother has with the grandmother. Will the granddaughter make the same choices with her life, and especially with men, as her grandmother and mother? It is up to the viewer to decide, will her life be better?

Year of the Jellyfish (1984)

This is a story about lost love

[9/10 · 7 August 2005]

Chris is eighteen and summering with her 38 year-old Mom in the south of France. Also spending the summer at the resort is Romain. Two years earlier Chris met and fell in love with Romain. He used her and broke her heart. Now she is a cynical manipulator, with a lesbian lover at school and a middle-aged male friend of her parents, Vic.

The story of how Chris comes to terms with her love for Romain is told through the eyes of several people, including an unseen narrator, and flashbacks.

There are several interesting side stories that help develop the main characters. The setting of the south of France is great. Visually stunning. Also the choice of music is very interesting.

The primary deficiency is some editing problems and the subtitles run off the screen sometimes.