A Home at the End of the World

I just finished watching this film on cable, and it left me with a tugging, wistful and urgent feeling regarding the complex and fragile nature of what it means to be alive on this planet, faced with a myriad of choices, which we make based upon what we ultimately believe to be of value.

In this movie, the main character, Bobby (a magnificent performance by Colin Farrell), makes his choices based purely on need and love. From a very young age, his character is aware of certain truths about life and he's acutely in touch with his feelings. He trusts and follows these feelings, to the exclusion of everything else. This is not an ordinary character, and this is not an ordinary film.

Everything about A Home At The End of the World is off-center, in the best possible way - the characters do not fit into any stereotypical molds and there are no over-wrought emotional scenes, although the film is deeply emotional and profoundly intimate. Choices are made, consequences are dealt with, but nothing plays out in a trite, predictable way. Instead the story builds slowly, with intense subtlety, showing the changes Bobby and his childhood friend Jonathan experience in their conjoined lives. I recommend this movie to anyone who is willing to take this unforgettable journey along with them.

Michael's Cunningham's book is so moving I was afraid to be deeply disappointed by the movie adaptation. Although 90 min is barely enough to narrate the story in its emotional complexity, the movie is very faithful to the book, probably because the screenplay is from Cunningham himself. The acting is excellent, and the soundtrack featuring Laura Nyro is beautiful, and if some of the book's interest is lost in translation, it still makes a pretty good movie. I find some detractors' arguments pretty amazing, as if all they'd watched was the trailer. To suggest that after Jules & Jim any movie containing a threesome is worthless, that any movie taking place in the 70s-80s is obsolete, that there was too much or not enough sex scenes, or that the AIDS theme is not developed enough, is plain ludicrous. This is not a movie about an era, about homosexuality, or about the AIDS epidemics. This is about (re)creating a place out of time and geography, where the world makes sense (again). A home, in other words. This is about loving another being (or two, since one is never complete, never enough) irrespective of family links, gender, and the established social codes. The characters are struggling to escape the rules to enjoy the "big noisy world around" and find a natural place in it. They are the opposite of stereotypical characters, at least once they are fully revealed to themselves. As for the end, it is not "unconclusive", it is what is called an open ending, and probably in this case the perfect ending, which means the only possible one. My advice: watch it, and read the novel too.

I'm not sure if I just saw the same movie as some of the other reviewers on here. I would include this film as one of the best of 2004 (so far) along with Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Garden State, Spartan, and Kill Bill Vol 2. Colin Farrell's character, Bobby Morrow is one of the most fascinating people I've seen in the movies for some time. I hope his performance (and this film) are given the recognition they deserve. The rest of the performances are excellent as well. The screenplay and the direction are also very good, too. The story isn't something that we haven't seen on film before, but the characters and the way the film unfolds isn't your standard fare. Don't listen to the detractors, see this film.

"Remember your very best friend in high school, the one who knew… and kept… all your secrets? Bobby and Jonathan, who shared that kind of friendship, meet again as adults in New York. Sparked by their relationship with free-spirited Clare, they forge a loving unit that redefines 'family'. Colin Farrell, Robin Wright Penn, Sissy Spacek and Dallas Roberts star in this lyrical film that's both a celebration of commitment and a music - and memory-driven portrait of America in the '70s and '80s. Adapted by Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Cunningham from his own novel, 'A Home at the End of the World' strikes close to home as an adventure as big as life itself: risky, surprising, sexually charged and real," according to sleeve scribers...

That description, while not entirely inaccurate, hints at how "A Home at the End of the World" fails to achieve its full potential. The film isn't altogether a "memory-driven portrait" of family and music over the decades covered; indeed, it is a portrait of an unconventional family unit, but that should have remained secondary. At heart, this is a love (the kind including a sexual attraction) story between the Bobby and Jonathan characters, possibly deemphasized to make it more palatable. The focus unravels, especially after Mr. Farrell's adult Bobby take over the action. The film draws its fault line by losing touch with the central relationship, and Farrell's characterization goes off course. Freed-from-the-wig Colin Farrell and Dallas Roberts could have recorded a hit version of "Look Out, Cleveland" with The Band backing...

The casting is excellent, with Erik Smith and Harris Allan especially winning as the teenage Bobby and Jonathan; they blend perfectly with the grown-up Farrell and Mr. Roberts. Note that criticisms of Farrell in the lead role are of characterization, not acting. Smith's Bobby was played as a self-assured and sexual adventurous young man, but Farrell's Bobby is suddenly an asexual puppy dog; something is missing. We begin with an uncommonly artistic story, from Mr. Cunningham's novel. Cunningham worked on the film; a double edged sword, for it reveals not only tantalizing bits of his artistic vision, but also invites criticism regarding its execution. The fine original story is still evident on film, and some cinematic moments give the material emotional strength...

A highlight occurs when Smith and Allan become "brothers" by exchanging jackets; most importantly, the jacket worn by Bobby belonged to his brother, and he symbolically replaces Carlton (a sexually-charged Ryan Donowho) with Jonathan. This is a circular story. Note we begin with "Bobby" walking in on his brother having sex with a young woman (on top); this scene is recalled when he walks in on his replacement brother, again with a woman (on top). In both instances, Bobby winds up in bed with brother. There is no evidence of incest, but the opening brother/brother relationship appears extremely intimate, as does the later relationship between Bobby and replacement "mother" Alice (an easily potted Sissy Spacek). This story is about replacing lost love. We end with a full circle...

******* A Home at the End of the World (6/9/04) Michael Mayer ~ Colin Farrell, Dallas Roberts, Robin Wright, Sissy Spacek

The movie wasn't the book, but the performances of all involved were inspired. I admit to seeing the movie because Colin Farrell was in it and not being sure, after the book, that he could become Bobby.

But he did, with a performance that astonished me.

What is unfortunate it that the movie, in some ways, has been limited in appeal by the "sexuality theme" that has become attached to it. Yes, Jonathan is gay. But labeling Bobby bi-sexual is reducing him to a caricature. Bobby's life was about love, needing and getting it from the people in his life. He found no limits in how to return it. Imagine, no inhibitions in showing love and affection! Any scene with Bobby in it just continued to show his tender and honest heart.

Then there were the rampant rumors of the "deleted scene". I totally understand why the scene was cut. It would have been unnecessary and gratuitous.

It is unfortunate this film wasn't released to a greater number of screens. Missing these performances would truly be a tragedy.