Word: daughter
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...probably haven't heard much about Tumbleweeds yet, but come Oscar time, you'll hear plenty. Like Anywhere But Here, it's a mother-daughter tale, with an irresponsible, impulsive mom dragging her more mature, grounded daughter across the country. But Tumbleweeds succeeds where most mother-daughter sagas wimp out, because every moment seethes with vitality and honesty and excellent acting by leads Janet McTeer and Kimberly J. Brown make this a film to savor...
Mary Jo Walker (Janet McTeer) is an energetic, itinerant Southern woman; she's been married three times, and when her relationships end, she simply packs up moves herself and her daughter elsewhere. Twelve-year-old Ava is less than thrilled when her mom plucks her from life in West Virginia and takes her across the country to Starlight Beach, Calif.; Ava wants a real home and stability, and for her mom to meet the right man and finally settle down. Mary Jo moves herself and Ava in with Jack (Gavin O'Connor), a seemingly nice trucker; Ava makes friends...
...strong script, and even stronger acting, that carry this movie to great heights. Based on co-writer Angela Shelton's childhood memoirs, the screenplay is honest, emotionally charged and surprisingly intimate in what it reveals about the very strong bond between a mother and her daughter. Each scene is believable and completely organic; it's very easy to forget that you're not watching a real-life story unfold, and that the main duo aren't really related at all. Gavin O'Connor, who directs, co-wrote the screenplay and also acts as Mary...
McTeer and Brown, as Mary Jo and Ava, completely nail their chemistry; few actresses have made more convincing mother-daughter pairs than these two. McTeer is an award-winning British stage actress, though you'd never guess to look at her here; her North Carolina-tinged accent is spot-on, and she's so at home in her sundresses and golden tan that you could swear she was a Southern belle in a past life. She's already nabbed an early award from the National Board of Review for her performance, and she'll probably be making quite...
...musical, which opened last week at Manhattan's Lincoln Center, makes a good case for the art-song approach but something less than a good musical. McDonald emotes powerfully and sings beautifully as the title character, the voodoo-practicing daughter in a family of mixed-race Creoles, who sets the tragedy in motion when she becomes the lover of a white ship captain and bears him two children. The racial theme--"I was a servant in my father's house," says Marie's brother, describing their white father's rejection of them--is provocative without pontification. And there are fluid...