Von Schuld getrieben

This is a story of a man's search for forgiveness. A young man gives up his plans for the future in order to raise his orphaned nieces and nephew. Mary-Louise Parker is wonderful(as usual). She is the reason to watch this movie. Blythe Danner and Edward Herrman are also two of my favorite actors. I ran across this one evening and decided to watch based on the cast. I was hooked right away but I felt there was too much missing from the story. I had to read the book. I read the book the following weekend and found that the movie was actually quite faithful to the book just lacking the detail that you only get from a book. All in all, I would recommend this movie (and also the book).

Saint Maybe (1998) (TV) was directed by Michael Pressman and based on the novel by Anne Tyler. Thomas McCarthy plays Ian Bedloe, a teenager who has a fine home, loving family, and lovely girlfriend. For reasons that are complex, and not clear to Ian or to us, Ian initiates a chain of action that leads to tragedy. Naturally, he feels tremendous guilt. The movie is about what you do when you're a good person who has made an irrevocable mistake.

Anne Tyler is an excellent author, and the film is faithful to the basic plot of her novel. The acting is uniformly good, and the production has the usual solid strength we expect from the Hallmark Hall of Fame.

This film probably won't make your all-time best 100 films list, but it's still worth seeing. Also, Anne Tyler's novel is definitely worth reading. I had read the novel years ago, and just saw the film, so I can't make specific comments about the degree to which the script reflects the novel. Still, my impression is that this is a solid and careful adaptation.

While this movie was a little thin in places and had a less than imaginative ending, it is well worth watching and is a nice contrast to highly unrealistic Hollywood films and soap operas where the dead come back to life and/or people really get second chances.

How does a person live with the knowledge that his own actions (although they were well intentioned but misguided at the time)destroyed the lives of those closest and dearest to him and caused years of pain and suffering to others? Many would turn to drugs, alcohol, anger, denial, or suicide. This movie shows how it is possible to reach inside yourself and out to others to heal some of the wrong that was done. I liked how it also had a sub-plot about how the young man succeded in life without going to college or getting married (or atleast not until later in life)and how he wanted to "make things that people won't throw away".

While it's not the kind of movie you watch with friends and a beer, it's great for a quiet evening at home alone or with family. It gets you thinking.

The only trouble that I have with it is that while it begins very strong and I felt drawn into the characters and their dilemas, the last 1/4 of the film was very weak and the characters became cardboard and cliche almost. ie. the oldest girl became a doctor, the youngest a rebellious misfit. Just try to overlook that part and you'll enjoy it.

This is a very poor attempt to translate a marvelous book to the screen. Hallmark should have made this a multi-parter, and definitely should have left elements of the book alone. "Saint Maybe" is a very long book, and may well be Tyler's masterpiece. Condensing it into a "movie of the week" format dilutes the vivid images painted by her. "The Accidental Tourist" was much better and kept as faithful to the book as possible. If you haven't read "Saint Maybe" you should. Once you do you'll love it and ask "why did Hallmark change so much?!?" I was very disappointed. The actors try very hard to win us over, but the script is just too weak. Perhaps someone will attempt to make another of her books into a movie with better results.

I sat down thinking I would have a nice quiet evening watching a chick flick kind of movie. What I ended up doing was wasting my evening hoping this movie would get better. I watched it to the end and no it never got better. I felt cheated out of a evening I could have been watching something worthwhile. Don't waste your time. It never gets better. it just drags on and on. Find a movie that causes some other emotion that pity for the author for believing she was a real writer. The movie and the book are a waste of money, time and energy. There are plenty of books that read better and don't make you feel like you just want to get through it.