Film review: 'The Autumn Heart' 'Autumn' Pulls Audiences' Hartstrings / Daly, Sheedy starrer is well-meaning but suffers from unsubtle script
NANTUCKET, Mass. -- "The Autumn Heart", written by Davidlee Willson, who also plays one of the central roles, exudes a palpable emotional sincerity that is redolent of its autobiographical inspiration.
The tale of a reunion between a well-heeled Harvard student and the three sisters and mother who were separated from him because of a divorce years earlier, is a well-meaning, obviously heartfelt effort that suffers from typical debut filmmakers' mistakes, including an obviousness and crudity that detracts from its impact.
Don't tell that to audiences, though: At the Nantucket Film Festival, where the film received its East Coast premiere (it played earlier at Sundance), the sold-out crowd unleashed a veritable cacophony of sniffles, sobs and nose blowing. It tied for the 1999 Audience Award for best feature film.
The film, directed by Steven Maler, features Tyne Daly as a Boston-area working class woman who suffers a heart attack. Lying sick in her hospital bed, she implores her three daughters to go find their brother, who they have not seen since the family was torn apart 16 years earlier. It turns out that Daniel (Willson) is a student at Harvard, and his father, Lee (Jack Davidson), has made himself into a millionaire.
This is quite a contrast for the three women, who encompass a broad range of personalities. Deb (Ally Sheedy) is embittered, hardened and hostile to the father who she sees as having abandoned his family. Donna (Marceline Hugot) is an earth-mother type struggling with four children, and Diane (Marla Sucharetza) is a sexy vamp with a propensity for dirty talk and tight animal skin outfits. Needless to say, their arrival comes as a shock to Daniel, who faints dead away when they show up unannounced at his class at Harvard.
The resulting emotional reconciliation that occurs among Daniel, the parents and the sisters forms the heart of the film, which also seeks to explore the cultural and class divisions that threaten to derail the healing process. Willson's script is never exactly subtle, and for every effective and moving scene there is another one that we've seen a thousand times before, such as when a bevy of male strippers hired by Diane invade the bridal shower of Daniel's upper class fiancee, resulting in predictable comic hysteria. The culture clash is played up for maximum comic effect, and though the results are frequently amusing, they tend to derail the overall verisimilitude and emotional impact.
The performers tend to accentuate the script's flaws by overacting, with even the normally reliable Sheedy overdoing her character's negativity, going through the film looking more deranged than resentful. Daly, who has chewed up the scenery on more than one previous occasion, is, on the other hand, quite restrained and moving as the dying mother, and Davidson, as the father, brings depth and sensitivity to his role.
THE AUTUMN HEART
A Film Cellar presentation
Credits: Director: Steven Maler; Screenwriter: Davidlee Willson; Producers: Kelley McMahon, Jerri Sher; Executive producers: Marc Chabot, Lisa Schiller; Director of photography: John Leuba; Editor: Joel Hirsch; Music: Sheldon Mirowitz. Cast: Ann: Tyne Daly; Deb: Ally Sheedy; Daniel: Davidlee Willson; Lee: Jack Davidson; Diane: Marla Sucharetza; Donna: Marceline Hugot. No MPAA rating. Color/stereo. Running time -- 105 minutes.
The tale of a reunion between a well-heeled Harvard student and the three sisters and mother who were separated from him because of a divorce years earlier, is a well-meaning, obviously heartfelt effort that suffers from typical debut filmmakers' mistakes, including an obviousness and crudity that detracts from its impact.
Don't tell that to audiences, though: At the Nantucket Film Festival, where the film received its East Coast premiere (it played earlier at Sundance), the sold-out crowd unleashed a veritable cacophony of sniffles, sobs and nose blowing. It tied for the 1999 Audience Award for best feature film.
The film, directed by Steven Maler, features Tyne Daly as a Boston-area working class woman who suffers a heart attack. Lying sick in her hospital bed, she implores her three daughters to go find their brother, who they have not seen since the family was torn apart 16 years earlier. It turns out that Daniel (Willson) is a student at Harvard, and his father, Lee (Jack Davidson), has made himself into a millionaire.
This is quite a contrast for the three women, who encompass a broad range of personalities. Deb (Ally Sheedy) is embittered, hardened and hostile to the father who she sees as having abandoned his family. Donna (Marceline Hugot) is an earth-mother type struggling with four children, and Diane (Marla Sucharetza) is a sexy vamp with a propensity for dirty talk and tight animal skin outfits. Needless to say, their arrival comes as a shock to Daniel, who faints dead away when they show up unannounced at his class at Harvard.
The resulting emotional reconciliation that occurs among Daniel, the parents and the sisters forms the heart of the film, which also seeks to explore the cultural and class divisions that threaten to derail the healing process. Willson's script is never exactly subtle, and for every effective and moving scene there is another one that we've seen a thousand times before, such as when a bevy of male strippers hired by Diane invade the bridal shower of Daniel's upper class fiancee, resulting in predictable comic hysteria. The culture clash is played up for maximum comic effect, and though the results are frequently amusing, they tend to derail the overall verisimilitude and emotional impact.
The performers tend to accentuate the script's flaws by overacting, with even the normally reliable Sheedy overdoing her character's negativity, going through the film looking more deranged than resentful. Daly, who has chewed up the scenery on more than one previous occasion, is, on the other hand, quite restrained and moving as the dying mother, and Davidson, as the father, brings depth and sensitivity to his role.
THE AUTUMN HEART
A Film Cellar presentation
Credits: Director: Steven Maler; Screenwriter: Davidlee Willson; Producers: Kelley McMahon, Jerri Sher; Executive producers: Marc Chabot, Lisa Schiller; Director of photography: John Leuba; Editor: Joel Hirsch; Music: Sheldon Mirowitz. Cast: Ann: Tyne Daly; Deb: Ally Sheedy; Daniel: Davidlee Willson; Lee: Jack Davidson; Diane: Marla Sucharetza; Donna: Marceline Hugot. No MPAA rating. Color/stereo. Running time -- 105 minutes.
- 6/29/1999
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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