1984 was the year that farmers nearly dominated the movies with films like "Places in the Heart", "Country" and "The River" getting Oscar love for their leading ladies Sally Field, Jessica Lange and Sissy Spacek. Rising up to her third consecutive Oscar nomination this year for "The Natural", Glenn Close played the grieving wife of Robert Duvall, dealing with the accidental shooting death of their older son Dean Cain after the gun held by younger son Jason Presson accidentally went off. Shocked by what happened, Presson went about his chores (picking peas) before returning home to tell his family what happened.
The film should have focused on the trauma of the immediate family (which includes Close's understanding father, Wilford Brimley) but has a subplot involving Close's unhappy brother (Frederic Forrest) that runs the film off track, especially when his wife (Gail Youngs) shows up at the farm and slaps young Presson for the trauma that the family has gone through. Duvall and Close have basically stopped speaking to their son (Close most reluctantly) which only strengthens the bond between him and his grandfather who is the only one who seems interested in giving him any attention.
As far off track this goes, it's still a well written drama about a family falling apart and doing little to heal the wounds. I wish Close had more to do. Her character only stands up to her husband after the film's been running an hour, and even as a grieving mother, her coldness to her son never seems real, as if a key scene ended up on the editing room floor. It's what she doesn't say that's supposed to give a viewer an indication of what she's dealing with. It was obviously too depressing a movie to pack em' in, a bit of a disappointment that could have been much better. Young Presson and Brimley are the only actors able to really develop well rounded characters based on the material seen in the final cut. The ending isn't the emotional conclusion that most people expected, but not every family issue is healed with bells and whistles and fireworks.
The film should have focused on the trauma of the immediate family (which includes Close's understanding father, Wilford Brimley) but has a subplot involving Close's unhappy brother (Frederic Forrest) that runs the film off track, especially when his wife (Gail Youngs) shows up at the farm and slaps young Presson for the trauma that the family has gone through. Duvall and Close have basically stopped speaking to their son (Close most reluctantly) which only strengthens the bond between him and his grandfather who is the only one who seems interested in giving him any attention.
As far off track this goes, it's still a well written drama about a family falling apart and doing little to heal the wounds. I wish Close had more to do. Her character only stands up to her husband after the film's been running an hour, and even as a grieving mother, her coldness to her son never seems real, as if a key scene ended up on the editing room floor. It's what she doesn't say that's supposed to give a viewer an indication of what she's dealing with. It was obviously too depressing a movie to pack em' in, a bit of a disappointment that could have been much better. Young Presson and Brimley are the only actors able to really develop well rounded characters based on the material seen in the final cut. The ending isn't the emotional conclusion that most people expected, but not every family issue is healed with bells and whistles and fireworks.