Shy People (1987)

New York journalist visits her distant cousin for the first time to write an article about her hard life in the bayous of Louisiana. Journalist's wild drug addicted daughter just adds to tensions between two families' cultures.

Director:

Andrey Konchalovskiy (as Andrei Konchalovsky)

Writers:

Andrey Konchalovskiy (story) (as Andrei Konchalovsky), Gérard Brach (screenplay) (as Gerard Brach)

Stars:

Jill Clayburgh, Barbara Hershey, Martha Plimpton

2 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jill Clayburgh	...	Diana
Barbara Hershey	...	Ruth
Martha Plimpton	...	Grace
Merritt Butrick	...	Mike
John Philbin	...	Tommy
Don Swayze	...	Mark
Pruitt Taylor Vince	...	Paul
Mare Winningham	...	Candy
Michael Audley	...	Louie
Brad Leland	...	Larry
Tony Epper	...	Jake
Paul Landry	...	Henry
Warren Battiste	...	Dick
Edward Bunker	...	Chuck
Vladimir Bibic	...	Welder

Storyline

New York pretentious Diana Sullivan is writing a series of articles on the theme of "family" for Cosmopolitan magazine. Primarily to keep an eye on her but also because of the personal connection, Diana invites her mid-teen daughter, Grace Sullivan, to accompany her on a trip to research the next in the series, dealing with their own family, most specifically a wing that lives deep in the backwaters of the Louisiana bayou, which has been largely overtaken by oil companies of late. They are most directly connected by brothers: Diana's grandfather Mike, and Joe, the patriarch of the Louisiana wing. Diana and Grace have never met their Louisiana relations, they in turn who do not even know that Diana and Grace exist. As difficult as it becomes, Diana and Grace are able to meet their Louisiana relations, led by Joe's widowed young wife, Ruth Sullivan, who acts as if Joe is still with them, who sees anything related to the city as suspect, and who rules her household with an iron fist to ...

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Plot Keywords:

bayou | independent film | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 March 1988 (USA)

Also Known As:

Gente como nosotros

Filming Locations:

Louisiana, USA

Box Office

Gross USA:

$769,119

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cannon Group

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Was #4 on Roger Ebert's list of the Best Films of 1988.

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Connections

Featured in At the Movies: Switching Channels/And God Created Woman/The House on Carroll Street/Shy People (1988)

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Soundtracks

Body and Soul
Written by Johnny Green, Edward Heyman and Robert Sour and Frank Eyton (uncredited)
Performed by Ruth Etting
Produced by Kevin Daly

User Reviews

all relatives are something

Barbara Hershey won Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival for her performance in Andrei Konchalovsky's "Shy People". The movie portrays a magazine writer (Jill Clayburgh) and her daughter (Martha Plimpton) taking a trip to the Louisiana boondocks to meet a distant relative (Hershey). As the movie progresses, we learn not only about the relative's various kinds of superstitions, but also about the secrets that the great uncle held, and how they relate to some current rifts in the family.

Probably the movie's best aspect is how it dignifies country people. While making it clear that these folks have some backwards notions about things - namely that the deceased man is still watching - Konchalovsky never makes them look stupid. Also, we get to see rural Louisiana (although it may have changed in the past twenty years, especially after Hurricane Katrina).

If anything mildly disappointed me about the movie, it's that I didn't get to hear more about Cajun culture. But then again, it's probably best that the movie didn't lose its main focus. I would suspect that the one boy was right when he accused the oil companies.

All in all, worth seeing.