Rails and Ties is a sweetly sad little tearjerker that doesn't let a fairly implausible story stop it from being legitimately moving. It's living proof that the characters you care the most about are the ones who can be imperfect and unlikable at times.
Tom Stark (Kevin Bacon) is a railroad engineer. He's one of these guys whose job defines everything about him. And now, Tom's job has become a shelter from the pain of seeing breast cancer return for a third time in his wife Megan (Marcia Gay Hardin). This time it's gotten into the bone and there's nothing that can be done. But while Tom seeks refuge from Megan's illness running the train from Simi Valley to Seattle, the profound troubles of another woman reach out for him. The mentally unwell Laura Danner (Bonnie Root) loads her son Davey (Miles Heizer) into their car and parks it on the tracks in front of Tom's train. As Davey struggles to pull his suicidal mother to safety, Tom makes a terrible choice. Rather than hit the emergency break and risk the lives of all his passengers by sending the train off the rails, Tom lets it plow right through the car.
His mother dead, Davey is placed into a foster home, which he promptly runs away from and sets out to find Tom. Just as Megan is about to leave Tom and spend her final days doing all the things Tom won't do with her, Davey shows up at their house. After an initial explosion of anger, the lonely and grief-stricken boy finds himself clinging to Megan and Tom as the only things he was left in the world. To Megan, Davey becomes the son she never had. To Tom, he's a bridge back to Megan's love, a love that became frozen in anger and fear and resentment. This new family, born out of one tragedy and silently marching toward another, finds joy and hope in each other that they could never find in themselves.
I have to admit upfront that the whole "kid's mother gets killed and he becomes like a son to the guy who killed her" is a bit hard to swallow. I'm no headshrinker, but that strikes me as a wildly unhealthy situation that would not lead to anything heartfelt. It would more likely lead to someone getting stabbed in the heart.
If you're willing to go along with the premise, however, Rails and Ties is a lovely tale. Primarily that's due to the fine work of Kevin Bacon and Marcia Gay Hardin. They're both excellent as a husband and wife that have been worn out by cancer. Bacon portrays Tom as a man who can only deal with such an awful situation by shutting down emotionally. Hardin lets us see Megan as a woman who's turned inward because she hasn't been able to get anything she needs from her husband in a long time. You can tell that Tom and Megan used to love each other but are now held together only by the memory of that affection. And what makes these performances work is that Bacon and Hardin are willing to give them an unsympathetic edge. Tom's refusal to acknowledge things that make him uncomfortable leads him to act like a jerk. Megan's selfish disgust with Tom's stony exterior prevents her from being just a poor victim. Tom still loves her and Megan knows that, but at the beginning of the story she simply doesn't care anymore. Those elements of unvarnished humanity prevent this film from wallowing in syrupy melodrama.
Director Alison Eastwood also shows that she's got her father's firm and unadorned directorial eye. There's nothing particularly flashy about what she does here, but she manages to give a different look and feel to the same sort of moments and scenes we've all seen in other films like this. By disdaining the most emotionally manipulative storytelling styles and techniques, Eastwood imbues this movie with a sense of reality that creeps its way into your heart and doesn't wash you away in a flood of artificial sentiment.
Now, Miles Heizer isn't terrible as Davey but he's not one of these freakish child actors that blows you away on screen. He doesn't really have the depth that this role calls for at times, which is probably a good thing for him personally. Child actors capable of such emotional range tend to have some difficulties growing into adults. Yeah, I'm looking at you Edward Furlong and Haley Joel Osment.
If you want to have yourself a good cry and not feel ashamed at how easily and crudely a movie tricked you into it, watch Rails and Ties. I'm not much one from having my heart strings tugged, but this film played me like a ukulele.
Tom Stark (Kevin Bacon) is a railroad engineer. He's one of these guys whose job defines everything about him. And now, Tom's job has become a shelter from the pain of seeing breast cancer return for a third time in his wife Megan (Marcia Gay Hardin). This time it's gotten into the bone and there's nothing that can be done. But while Tom seeks refuge from Megan's illness running the train from Simi Valley to Seattle, the profound troubles of another woman reach out for him. The mentally unwell Laura Danner (Bonnie Root) loads her son Davey (Miles Heizer) into their car and parks it on the tracks in front of Tom's train. As Davey struggles to pull his suicidal mother to safety, Tom makes a terrible choice. Rather than hit the emergency break and risk the lives of all his passengers by sending the train off the rails, Tom lets it plow right through the car.
His mother dead, Davey is placed into a foster home, which he promptly runs away from and sets out to find Tom. Just as Megan is about to leave Tom and spend her final days doing all the things Tom won't do with her, Davey shows up at their house. After an initial explosion of anger, the lonely and grief-stricken boy finds himself clinging to Megan and Tom as the only things he was left in the world. To Megan, Davey becomes the son she never had. To Tom, he's a bridge back to Megan's love, a love that became frozen in anger and fear and resentment. This new family, born out of one tragedy and silently marching toward another, finds joy and hope in each other that they could never find in themselves.
I have to admit upfront that the whole "kid's mother gets killed and he becomes like a son to the guy who killed her" is a bit hard to swallow. I'm no headshrinker, but that strikes me as a wildly unhealthy situation that would not lead to anything heartfelt. It would more likely lead to someone getting stabbed in the heart.
If you're willing to go along with the premise, however, Rails and Ties is a lovely tale. Primarily that's due to the fine work of Kevin Bacon and Marcia Gay Hardin. They're both excellent as a husband and wife that have been worn out by cancer. Bacon portrays Tom as a man who can only deal with such an awful situation by shutting down emotionally. Hardin lets us see Megan as a woman who's turned inward because she hasn't been able to get anything she needs from her husband in a long time. You can tell that Tom and Megan used to love each other but are now held together only by the memory of that affection. And what makes these performances work is that Bacon and Hardin are willing to give them an unsympathetic edge. Tom's refusal to acknowledge things that make him uncomfortable leads him to act like a jerk. Megan's selfish disgust with Tom's stony exterior prevents her from being just a poor victim. Tom still loves her and Megan knows that, but at the beginning of the story she simply doesn't care anymore. Those elements of unvarnished humanity prevent this film from wallowing in syrupy melodrama.
Director Alison Eastwood also shows that she's got her father's firm and unadorned directorial eye. There's nothing particularly flashy about what she does here, but she manages to give a different look and feel to the same sort of moments and scenes we've all seen in other films like this. By disdaining the most emotionally manipulative storytelling styles and techniques, Eastwood imbues this movie with a sense of reality that creeps its way into your heart and doesn't wash you away in a flood of artificial sentiment.
Now, Miles Heizer isn't terrible as Davey but he's not one of these freakish child actors that blows you away on screen. He doesn't really have the depth that this role calls for at times, which is probably a good thing for him personally. Child actors capable of such emotional range tend to have some difficulties growing into adults. Yeah, I'm looking at you Edward Furlong and Haley Joel Osment.
If you want to have yourself a good cry and not feel ashamed at how easily and crudely a movie tricked you into it, watch Rails and Ties. I'm not much one from having my heart strings tugged, but this film played me like a ukulele.