A Home at the End of the World

Rating:
Summary: Simply Remarkable
Review: A Home at the End of the World is a simply remarkable movie with a cast so devoted to the story, so natural in their performances that I forgot completley these were actors.

Bonds of love and friendship prove their power in this touching, almost whispered story.

Sissy Spacek is nothing short of a miracle as Alice, especially in her penultimate scene, as she shares with Robin Wright Penn's no less remarkable Clare, her thoughts on life, love, marriage and family - and how no one truly is prepared for anything in life.

Dallas Roberts is terrific (and sometimes, appropriately annoying).

Colin Farrell brings an previously unforeseen innocence to Bobby that borders on the saintly or angelic. His devotion to his friends and new family is complete and shows in a performance that is can only be described as rapturous.

No less remarkable are the performances by the young actors who play Bobby and Jonathan as kids - the segue between their teenagers and their adult counterpart is as seamless as you will see.

A triumphant and beautiful film.


Rating:
Summary: I thought it was great!
Review: A Home at the End of the World, written by Michael Cunningham and directed by Michael Mayer, is a poignant film about a cheerful, truly selfless and endearing boy who wants everyone to be happy. The film follows the life of Bobby Morrow from 1967 through 1982.

Growing up in Cleveland, Bobby (Andrew Chalmers) is impressionable, innocent, and admires his involved older brother, Carlton (Ryan Donowho). They have a close relationship even though there is a significant age difference. Carlton gives Bobby lessons in drug use and tells his pre-pubescent brother it's time he experiences the joys of sex. The most valuable lesson Carlton teaches him is that there is goodness in the world and there is nothing to fear. At the tender age of nine, Bobby witnesses Carlton's death, the result of a freak accident.

In high school, Bobby (Erik Smith) befriends shy, nerdy, Jonathan Glover (Harris Allan). He introduces Jonathan and his mother, Alice (Sissy Spacek), to their first experience with marijuana. Alice takes Bobby in when the motherless boy's father dies. It doesn't take long for the boys' friendship to take the next step. A pivotal moment in the film is the natural and realistic way Bobby and Jonathan experience their first mutual sexual experience. The subject remains taboo well into adulthood...they never really talk about their relationship. Bobby attributes their fooling around to "just being kids" and even a deep kiss means nothing more than love between brothers.

At another highpoint in the film, Alice realizes that her son is gay when she finds the boys in a compromising situation. She handles the discovery in a very open-minded and truly inspiring way for a mother in 1974.

As an adult, Bobby (Colin Farrell) is still a kid, living in a man's body. Bobby works as a baker and is still living with Jonathan's parents long after Jonathan (Dallas Roberts) relocates to New York. Alice and Ned (Matt Frewer) must move to Arizona because of Ned's failing health. Ned feels it's time for Bobby to be on his own. Bobby doesn't handle being alone very well and ends up moving to New York to live with Jonathan and his best friend, Clare (Robin Wright Penn).

The three friends become an unconventional family and have a child together. All seems ideal at their "home at the end of the world." Bobby opens up a café, Jonathan works there, and Clare stays home to raise the baby-what could be better? They all love each other and care for one another on different levels. It's a complicated love triangle, but one you can't help care about.

The soundtrack, set and costume designs capture the mood at the height of the sexual revolution-hippies immersed in free love, drugs, Woodstock, and psychedelic times. The writer and director have done their homework and the film is believable. Also evident is the women's lib movement. Alice, a typical stay-at-home mom, witnesses Clare's freedom from conventional behavior: Clare, a free spirit and unwed mother, follows her heart, not societal constraints.

The entire cast of A Home at the End of the World gives noteworthy performances, particularly Colin Farrell who is wonderful at revealing the vulnerability and sweetness of Bobby. Dallas Roberts gives an outstanding performance as Jonathan, the openly gay man who looks for love in all the wrong places. Roberts is one of the highlights of the film. Academy award winning actress, Sissy Spacek, as Alice Glover is perfectly cast as Jonathan's mother.

Don't miss this five star nostalgic movie for its moving depiction of love, loss, and the beginnings of the change in societal and familial values during the hippie generation. I watched and enjoyed A Home at the End of the World three times and could easily watch it again. It's fun, but sad too. I warn you, A Home at the End of the World can be a tearjerker. For those of you who enjoy a good cry, don't miss this golden opportunity. It should be noted that this reviewer may be more emotional than most.






Rating:
Summary: Colin Farrell acts sensitive and tender to all concerned.
Review: A small film. Tastefully done.
This film will show you how versatile an actor Colin Farrell is.
Bobby Morrow has a family that is really messed up. As a young boy, he hears and then sees his own relative have sex. Not a good thing. Then his relative tries to get him on a drug. Not good.
When Bobby is a teenager he meets Jonathan. A friendship develops with several sleep-over nights. One night, Jonathan has natural curiosity to Bobby. No anger between them. This friendship becomes a necessary one for Bobby. Life experiences separate the two as adults. One day, Bobby (Colin Farrell) calls Jonathan (Dallas Robert) who now lives in New York with a woman named Claire (Robin Wright Penn). He is invited to stay with Jonathan and Claire. The friendship is still there. But Claire is about to throw a wrench into this friendship. How will it all work out?
Publicity Gimmick: This film was shown to preview audiences in which it was said, they claim, a "willie" scene of Colin Farrell was considered too embarassing for men to see with their dates in the preview theatre. Thus, the "willie" scene was cut from the film and it is not in this DVD edition either.
Commentary: Perhaps it was not the "willie" scene that was the problem. The situation in the scene is probably all the more unfomfortable to see. Men do not like to be reminded of their "first time". Must move on from bad memories.
Many films of 2004 came out with male members in them. No one has said a word about those graphic scenes being "uncomfortable" to see in other films. So what makes the scene with Colin Farrell so difficult to see. It made publicity and made more people want to see this film.

For Colin Farrell to play this character, so different than himself, so different than any role he has played before (complete opposite of his role in "Tigerland") is so awesome. A mindblower. It is interesting to see Colin Farrell be sensitive and tender like a gentleman should.


Rating:
Summary: Very affecting.
Review: Another movie I just reviewed bills itself as "sexy, quirky, and moving." It wasn't. This is.

The film's attempts to re-create different time periods are reasonably well-done, but sometimes distracting from the story, which is great and has many twists and turns.

Bobby, the central character, loses his family and is basically adopted by another family, whom he more than adopts as his own.

Bobby is, apparently, very much a child of the sixties, who defies easy labels like straight or gay. I think it's fair to say he loves certain people whether they are male or female. While it's a little confusing and frustrating at times (for the viewer as well as for the people Bobby loves,) his sense of wonder and optimism about the world is charming and disarming. Although he seems, at times, child-like, he may just be exceptionally loving and caring and able to maintain deep attachments. The character is very attractive and likeable.

The story takes some turns toward the end that are not altogether well-supported or explained, but you can sometimes draw your own conclusions to greater satisfaction than when offered a simple, easy ending.

Sissy Spacek deserves her billing for this film; she positively shines and steals every scene she is in.

It's a well-done, thought-provoking look at love, relationships, and family. It's worth a watch with an open mind.

Rating:
Summary: Far better than I ever expected
Review: Believe it or not, this movie marked my first time seeing Colin Farrell in a film. I never expected the tough guy from action flicks to be so well suited for a sensative role. But Farrell is an excellent actor and I'm judging based only on his performance in this film.

Robin Wright Penn is one of my favorite female actors so that's another plus for this movie.

I notice a pattern in my movie viewing. I see to watch many films in which the characters lead tortured lives. Farrell's character watches as one by one his family members die. Farrell moves in with neighbors and has a very close bond with his best friend.

Years later when things seem to have settled down, the torture begins again. In a three way relationship of sorts, the characters kind of know the purpose of being together is simply not to be alone.

In rural New York, the three share a child, a business and temporary happiness. Mother and child depart eventually and Farrell is left to care for his best friend, now living with AIDS.

But there is always hope and that is what the movie conveys.

Rating:
Summary: For loves sake....
Review: Love is seldom what you expect it will be and never where you seek it out. In this film love is all around and yet because of miscommunications and the expectations of love that some have, it seems to be unattainable to some. And painful to others.

Jonathan at a very early age figures out who he is and what he wants. And what he wants is Bobby. That is until Jonathan's mother catches the boys in a compromising position one night in the front seat of a car. He pulls back from Bobby who doesn't understand why, and moves away leaving Bobby with his parents. Jonathan goes off the school and makes a life for himself in New York. While Bobby stays behind and becomes a baker.

Claire, Jonathan's roommate and friend is deeply in love with Jonathan and even wants to have his baby. But because of circumstances beyond her control Jonathan isn't on the same wave length she's on. Claire turns to the open, vulnerable and virginal Bobby. Whom she does fall in love with but for all the wrong reasons.

And then there is Bobby, who deeply loves Jonathan and Claire. Bobby's sexuality is never clearly defined nor should it have to be. For him labels simply don't exist. To him love is love be it with a man or a woman. His openness about himself and the vulnerability in which the character is played brings home the concept of non judgmental love. A love that is unconditional in its unselfishness and ability to withstand pain.


Rating:
Summary: Why Polyamory doesn't work
Review: This film is alternative and independent in every sense of the word. I'm assuming it only got made because the author of the novel received success with his later novel "The Hours", and people in Hollywood assumed that movie goers were clamoring for more from this writer.

My patience was tried with this film. I was impressed how the younger version of Colin Farrell does look quite similar to Colin, so that was a brilliant casting job. Colin plays Bobby, a boy who experienced too much too young...with an older brother so strung out on drugs that he didn't care if Bobby walked in on him having sex with his girlfriend (Bobby must have been about ten years younger than his brother), and he introduces Bobby to drugs. Later on, when Bobby becomes an orphan, he moves in with the family of his best friend, Jonathan and starts corrupting them with his care-free, drugged out casualness.

When Bobby meets up with Jonathan in their early twenties, in New York, he joins in on the strange relationship between Jonathan and Claire, who love each other, just not romantically. They become a sort of alternative family, a polyamory menage a trois, each finding in the other two what no single person can fulfill in them. Ultimately, the open and unconventional relationship doesn't work out (someone always gets jealous for being left out), and the one thing Bobby fears (being alone) is the very thing he will have to endure.

Robin Wright Penn gives a great performance as the unconventional Claire, who loves bright red hair and drawn on eyebrows. This role could almost be an extension of her role in "Forrest Gump" as Jenny, with the similarity in being drawn to unconventional lifestyles. She is the best thing about the film. Colin Farrell is always an interesting actor to watch and he did a great job here as well. The third star, I'd give for the cool song they play when Bobby moves to New York. It has a cool beat to it and something I don't hear on the radio...so if the soundtrack has it, I'm buying it. Music choice often makes a film...but unfortunately here, the other elements just don't add up to a movie I'd care to see again. The best thing I can say for this film is that it's just one more case that polyamory relationships don't work. Marriage was meant for two people only...three's always a crowd.

Rating:
Summary: The Complexities of Loss, Love and Life
Review: This is a beautiful movie but I'll start by saying that those with inflexible or rigid parameters of morality and black and white notions of "right and wrong" will most likely find the movie to be very threatening and disturbing.

For those with more of an open mind and those who are able to view all the colors in the spectrum of life, this is a beautiful and emotionally moving film.

The movie uses three main characters to illustrate the complexity of love, loss and all the other sometimes puzzling aspects of human relationships. It's a vivid illustration of the confusing and complicated nature of genuine and unconditional love and all it's implications in a society obsessed with labels and categorization.

Dallas Roberts and Robin Penn give noteworthy acting performances and Sissy Spacek also gives a spectacular performance as an unconditionally loving mother. Colin Farrell, however, gives a superior performance, in his portrayal of a young man transformed by a series of great losses. His charismatic and seemingly innocent character does a great job at invoking both sympathy and frustration in some of the characters and the audience watching this movie.

The story spans a few decades from the late 60's to what seemed to be the early 80's and the soundtrack does a stellar job at setting the mood for the first two. A great job in casting was also done as both of the kids really looked like young versions of the adult actors.

Director Michael Mayer makes it clear that home really is, where the heart is.


Rating:
Summary: An enjoyable suprize
Review: To be honest, I did not expect a lot from this film. When I watched it I was suprized to see the quality acting from Collin Ferrel and in fact all the actors did a fantastic job. The story was more original than many I've seen in the past few years and the production quality was good. I will not be redundant by going over the story line since it is well covered in the other reviews. The bottom line is it was a good movie that I enjoyed viewing and I am glad I added it to my collection. I would not consider it a comedy and the drama was not too heavy. It's a light drama with heart. Sweet sarrow kind of thing. A good investment and an excellant addition to your collection. I'm sure you will enjoy this film.

Rating:
Summary: 5-Star Soundtrack and a Great Film Too!
Review: Toss in a bit of the 60's, 70's and 80's, add some sexuality (homosexuality, bisexuality, heterosexuality and questioning), add some city, some country, and a baby, redefine the definition of family and you have "A Home at the End of the World". I think many from less then fortunate homes hope for such a home as portrayed in this film. Touching, deep, with enough humor to keep us from getting too emotional, the story is about people, and family and caring for one another. The film starts out briefly in the late 60's, and we spend a fair amount of time in the 70's getting to know the boys, Bobby and Jonathan, who in essense become brothers through circumstance, not through blood lines. I would say about half the story line is set in the 1980's as we explore the dynamics of the adult relationships as they relate to the childhood one shared by the boys. At times, especially early, the film loses momentum, though very briefly. Don't leave for a drink or snack, as the film and the plots move quickly. This is a film that could have used an extra 15 minutes. I found the sound levels to be a tad low at times. The soundtrack is excellent, poignant and draws in the viewer to the drama unfolding - fantastic selection of music. Overall, an excellent film, extremely well acted, Sissy Spacek is terrific in her role, a great casting call indeed. The film was released by Warner Independent films, and it did seem "independent" for the most part. The "kissing brothers" line is most memorable.