The Spitfire Grill

I watched this movie when I was 12, and it seriously screwed with my brain. I couldn't stop crying. Is it melodramatic? Yes. Is there anything happy or positive about it? Not really.

I know that people either love or hate this movie, but for me it's more multilayered than that. This movie taught me something about not making harsh judgments about people, and the desperate need people have for kindness. These lessons have been invaluable in my life.

The vibe almost borrows from To Kill a Mockingbird. You wish the poor girl in this movie could just find some peace, but she can't. So many broken people in this world can't find peace, and that's the point. To stop and ask yourself why...

Percy Talbott (Alison Elliot) is a young woman, who has just left jail, and goes to Gillead, a small town in Maine looking for a new beginning of her life. She gets a job in a diner place called Spitfire Grill, owned by Hannah Ferguson Ellen Burstyn). Hannah lost her beloved son Elli in Vietnam, and is a very aggressive woman. Her nephew Nahum Goddard (Will Patton) is the local real-estate broker and has been trying to sell the place for ten years. He mistreat his wife Shelby Goddard (Marcia Gay Harden), questioning her intelligence most of the time. When Percy arrives in town, she changes the behavior not only of Hannah and Shelby, but of the local citizen, and deep secrets are disclosed. I bought the VHS "Spitgrill Fire" in 1998 and only today I have watched it. It is a sensitive story, filmed in beautiful locations in Maine and very supported by the performance by the outstanding central trio of actresses. The story is delightful most of the time and although having a good message in the end, I did not like the fate of Percy. I know life may be unfair, there are many envious and prejudicial people, but the story is fiction so I believe the writer used a very "heavy hand" to conclude the destiny of Percy. I would prefer a most commercial end for her character. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Spitfire Grill – O Recomeço" ("Spittfire Grill – The New Beginning")

Spitfire Grill does a wonderful job capturing the small town New England landscape. The setting for the movie is important as its characters. Both begin to blend from the start of the story. Alison Elliott is by far terrific. At times, Alison Elliott resembles a young Jodie Foster as she plays this innocent, yet troubled youngster as she tries to start fresh with a new life in a new town. At times, the story takes on a biblical tale of forgiveness and loving thy neighbor. A perfect movie about respect and acceptance, The Spitfire Grill takes on a life of its own as the story builds and builds with more secrets. A nice ending that brings everything together and answers all the questions. Alison Elliott is great.

For a film that won the audience award at Sundance, this film must have played briefly in this area, as I have no memory of it when it was released. I saw it on cable recently; it was a surprise, but in retrospect, there are a few things that bothered me later.

It appears this is the first film for the director. Lee David Zlotoff is a product of television, as far as I've learned. Not having seen anything he has created before, I can only compare this film to similar fare one sees in the "movie-of-the-week" film made for that medium.

I have no way of knowing if the accents these actors speak are really from Maine, or from the South, as I have never met any one from that state where the action takes place. That said, the film will not disappoint because it tells a good story. It's easy to like, although it is predictable.

Young Percy Talbot can't shake her past. Instead of fleeing to a big city and getting lost there, she selects the small town of Gilead in rural Maine. Her choice of locales will proves Percy wrong. In the town, she manages to touch the lives of a lot of the local folk, who in return, show her kindness, after an initial rejection.

Allison Elliott was effective as the young woman. Ellen Burstyn, as Hannah, is quite good. Marcia Gay Harden underplays Shelby, the woman who gains Percy's trust. Will Patton is the only one that has nothing to do in the film.

I first saw this on an airplane (I never watch movies on planes) because I was bored and I thought it was the diverting Holly Hunter movie, "The Spitfire Girl." It quickly caught my interest. I taped it when it came on cable, and have seen it several times since. So many great performances, such passion and emotion. I like big, noisy, violent movies a lot, but this is the kind of small, quiet movie that I remember.