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IMDbPro

Relative Stranger

  • TV Movie
  • 2009
  • G
  • 1h 28m
IMDb RATING
6.4/10
183
YOUR RATING
Relative Stranger (2009)
Drama

After the death of his father, a former football star reunites with the family that he abandoned years earlier.After the death of his father, a former football star reunites with the family that he abandoned years earlier.After the death of his father, a former football star reunites with the family that he abandoned years earlier.

  • Director
    • Charles Burnett
  • Writer
    • Eric Haywood
  • Stars
    • Eriq La Salle
    • Cicely Tyson
    • Michael Michele
  • See production, box office & company info
  • IMDb RATING
    6.4/10
    183
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Charles Burnett
    • Writer
      • Eric Haywood
    • Stars
      • Eriq La Salle
      • Cicely Tyson
      • Michael Michele
    • 2User reviews
    • 1Critic review
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Nominated for 1 Primetime Emmy
      • 1 win & 5 nominations total

    Photos

    Eriq La Salle, Dana Davis, and Carlos McCullers II in Relative Stranger (2009)
    Michael Michele in Relative Stranger (2009)
    Relative Stranger (2009)
    Hallmark movie "Relative Stranger" (2009) - with Michael Michele

    Top cast

    Edit
    Eriq La Salle
    Eriq La Salle
    • Walter Clemons
    Cicely Tyson
    Cicely Tyson
    • Pearl
    Michael Michele
    Michael Michele
    • Charlotte
    Michael Beach
    Michael Beach
    • James Clemons
    Dana Davis
    Dana Davis
    • Denise Clemons
    Carlos McCullers II
    • Andy
    Sherri Saum
    Sherri Saum
    • Nicole Tate
    Andre Jamal Kinney
    Andre Jamal Kinney
    • Shawn Hughes
    Dan Castellaneta
    Dan Castellaneta
    • Gary
    Gwen McGee
    Gwen McGee
    • Karen
    Jerry Hauck
    Jerry Hauck
    • Manager
    Jerald Garner
    Jerald Garner
    • Police Officer
    • Director
      • Charles Burnett
    • Writer
      • Eric Haywood
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Actress Dana Davis plays a high school student but was really 30 years old in real life.
    • Connections
      Featured in The 61st Primetime Emmy Awards (2009)

    User reviews2

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    8/10
    Regrets
    What is Charles Burnett, the director of brilliant, oppressive tales of Black life like KILLER OF SHEEP and MY BROTHER'S WEDDING doing directing a made-for-TV movie on the Hallmark Channel? The flip and glib answer is that he is a director and can use the work, but watching this movie with its constant level of pain for the first fifty minutes, the answer is: telling the same sort of story he always has. If the settings are cleaner than his earlier work, if the actors are handsomer and more professional, there is still the same sense of anguish and alienation that always suffuses his work.

    Eriq LaSalle plays Walter, a man who was set to be a professional football player until a knee injury sidelined him. He left his wife, children and hometown and wandered for the better part of a decade until the death of his father brings him back to town for the reading of the will. Anger and resentment suffuse every scene and rightfully and really so. As Walter struggles almost incoherently to try to make some amends for his failures, Burnett and his crew evoke some real sympathy for his plight.

    However, this being a Hallmark TV-movie, there are some givens: there will be reconciliation, there will be some improvement, and this serves to render the film not banal, but more standard. As a result, this is a very good piece of work, but not a great one.

    Yet, given the small amount of Mr. Burnett's work over the last forty years, we can be grateful for this. It is a real story, well told and that, alas, is all too rare.
    helpful•17
    1
    • boblipton
    • Mar 15, 2009

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • March 14, 2009 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Une si longue absence
    • Filming locations
      • Los Angeles, California, USA
    • Production company
      • Larry Levinson Productions
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • $5,000,000 (estimated)
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 28 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Stereo
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.33 : 1

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