some MILD SPOILERS may be contained following, but not anything that would detract from a first viewing...
Judging from IMDb votes and comments, not many people have seen this movie. I found the DVD at my public library. The story is about a small town and its people. The town is Sandy Bottom, Wisconsin, where mom (Glenne Headley) is upset about a lot of things, such as the school dropping Spanish from its curriculum. "But mom, we live in Wisconsin!" She is also against the town mayor allowing a historic building to be torn down to make way for an entertainment complex. A musician and former virtuoso pianist, she agrees to be choir director but encounters resistance because she wants to do more than just sing the old favorites. She butts heads with the pastor, the mayor, and enough townspeople that she wonders if, after 15 years there, maybe she just doesn't belong there. And she wonders what might have been if she had been able to pursue a career in music.
Meanwhile her husband is very happy running the local dairy, everyone in town likes him. He organizes a concert for the community and attracts a talented director and a piano prodigy. Then there's the daughter, a violin student, a very well-mannered teenager.
Most refreshing is that in this movie the 'crises', while real, are not devastating. Teenagers may kiss, but it is an innocent peck on the cheek. The adults don't use foul language. In short, it is a movie that can be enjoyed by anyone.
SPOILERS - The guest conductor cancels, the young prodigy is useless, so the dad takes on the task of conducting, and eventually mom is coaxed into playing the piano concerto, which 16 years earlier had been her Master's performance. The townspeople recognized her talent, the pastor asked her to be choir director again, the daughter got a scholarship to an out-of-state music school, and the cute young cellist friend ends up going there too.
Judging from IMDb votes and comments, not many people have seen this movie. I found the DVD at my public library. The story is about a small town and its people. The town is Sandy Bottom, Wisconsin, where mom (Glenne Headley) is upset about a lot of things, such as the school dropping Spanish from its curriculum. "But mom, we live in Wisconsin!" She is also against the town mayor allowing a historic building to be torn down to make way for an entertainment complex. A musician and former virtuoso pianist, she agrees to be choir director but encounters resistance because she wants to do more than just sing the old favorites. She butts heads with the pastor, the mayor, and enough townspeople that she wonders if, after 15 years there, maybe she just doesn't belong there. And she wonders what might have been if she had been able to pursue a career in music.
Meanwhile her husband is very happy running the local dairy, everyone in town likes him. He organizes a concert for the community and attracts a talented director and a piano prodigy. Then there's the daughter, a violin student, a very well-mannered teenager.
Most refreshing is that in this movie the 'crises', while real, are not devastating. Teenagers may kiss, but it is an innocent peck on the cheek. The adults don't use foul language. In short, it is a movie that can be enjoyed by anyone.
SPOILERS - The guest conductor cancels, the young prodigy is useless, so the dad takes on the task of conducting, and eventually mom is coaxed into playing the piano concerto, which 16 years earlier had been her Master's performance. The townspeople recognized her talent, the pastor asked her to be choir director again, the daughter got a scholarship to an out-of-state music school, and the cute young cellist friend ends up going there too.