The story of the Spitfire Grill

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Movie
German title The story of the Spitfire Grill
Original title The Spitfire Grill
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1996
length 117 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Lee David Zlotoff
script Lee David Zlotoff
production Forrest Murray
music James Horner
camera Robert Draper
cut Margaret Goodspeed
occupation

The story of the Spitfire Grill (Original title: The Spitfire Grill ) is an American drama from 1996. It is the first directorial work in a motion picture by Lee David Zlotoff , who also wrote the screenplay. The film is about the young Percy, played by Alison Elliott , who tries to regain a foothold after her release from prison in the small town of Gilead, which is not made easy for her by the residents.

The film had its world premiere on January 24, 1996 at the Sundance Film Festival . It grossed $ 12.6 million at production costs of about $ 6 million and was filmed in Peacham and St. Johnsbury, Vermont .

action

The young Percy Talbott, who has been released from Maine prison after five years , ends up in the small town of Gilead, where she wants to try a fresh start. She finds work at the Spitfire Grill restaurant , which is run by Hannah Ferguson, a very headstrong old lady. Joe Sperling, a young local man, seeks Percy's closeness and becomes friends with her. Later he even proposes to her. When Hannah breaks her leg, Percy takes care of her responsibly and also runs the restaurant in Hannah's sense after initial difficulties. Percy is surprised when Hannah assigns her the somewhat strange task of regularly packing canned goods in a sack and depositing it on the chopping block outside, but doesn't ask any further questions. One morning, Hannah's niece Shelby comes to the pub with her young daughter in her arms to help Percy with her work. Shelby's self-esteem is low, primarily due to the derogatory treatment by her husband, Nahum. The two young women work well together and make friends. Percy also learns from Shelby that Hannah had a son. Eli was tall, beautiful and strong, something special went out of him and then the war in Vietnam came. Eli volunteered. Everyone in town had given him a solemn goodbye. Nobody ever saw him again after that. His father broke and died from it and Hannah never talked about it. Later, Shelby shows her new friend the little village church that no one has come to for a long time. Only she sometimes withdraws there when she wants to be alone.

Most of the town's residents, however, look at Percy with suspicion, also because she does not talk about her past. When Hannah Ferguson's safe is emptied, suspicion immediately falls on Percy Talbott, who disappeared at the same time. Only Shelby doesn't believe Percy's guilt and goes to look for her. She finds the young woman in the little church. Percy tells her that she killed someone, her mother's husband, who went after her like crazy even though he had only recently married her mother. When she became pregnant, she hoped that he would finally leave her alone. She was looking forward to her baby so much and promised him that she would always take good care of it. When he tried her again when she was drunk, she lost her baby in a fight. It was very difficult for her that she could not keep the promise she made to her child. When he later said that it was good that she had lost the child and that she happened to see a razor lying around, it just happened. Johnny B. called her her baby because it suits both a girl and a boy.

When Shelby later asks Hannah why she suddenly dropped Percy, she only gets an evasive answer. Since it is believed that Percy passed the money on to an accomplice who is hiding in the forest, the police and residents go on a hunt for him. When Hannah heard about it, she is beside herself and asks Percy in the forest after him to seek and him to warn. She makes sure that the young woman who was arrested can run into the forest. Percy knows the places where the stranger whom she has named "Johnny B." has often stayed and can warn him with her shouts. Nahum Goddart is after both of them with a loaded gun, he aims at Johnny B. Percy, who is in the river, draws attention to himself in order to distract from Johnny B. and does not pay attention to the rapids that seize them and drag them with them. Johnny B. can only rescue them dead. Nahum rushes to him and is stunned to recognize Eli, Hannah's son.

At the funeral for Percy, Nahum takes the floor and confesses that he took the money out of the safe so that Percy could not steal it. He was firmly convinced that she wanted to do it. And because he was wrong, he is responsible for what has now happened.

When Hannah wakes up one of the next nights and goes to her restaurant, her son Eli is sitting at one of the tables. Deeply moved, she grips his hand and whispers his name. Eli returns the touch. Sometime later, there is a festival in Gilead to mark the completion of a writing contest launched on Percy's initiative. Hannah wanted to sell her restaurant - not only for reasons of age - but has not yet found a buyer. With a stake of 100 dollars you had the chance to give an answer to the question “Why do I want to take over the Spitfire Grill?” More than 200,000 dollars came together and bags of mail with an infinite number of letters that could be viewed. Young Claire emerged as the winner. Among other things, she wrote: “I just need a place where I can give my boy a chance, just one chance, that's all he needs. It's not for me, it's for my son. Please give Charlie a chance. ”In the spirit of Percy, whose child had no chance, one now wants to give the child of another young mother this chance.

Reviews

Silvia Hallensleben wrote in epd Film that the film was “more of a bad than a good film” . It was "designed as a women's film for a female audience, but made by a male author and director" . The film also addresses the “narrowness of the province” and the “narrow-mindedness that turns into hatred, fearfully fends off the foreign” . It goes on to say: “The annoying thing about this film are the subtexts that it brings forward quite suggestively under its ostensible message of advocating female solidarity and the outcasts. A different language is spoken here than that of partisan support. Often it looks like Percy has to prove her innocence not only to those around her, but also to us. CARE OF THE SPITFIRE GRILL refers at its core to melodramatic relationships that tell of family guilt and maternal misconduct. "

The magazine Cinema wrote that the film tells a “completely unspectacular story” and that it convinces “with its soft tones: poetic images and sensitive interpretations by the actors” . It was denounced that the film would end up being melodramatic.

Excellent directorial debut by Lee David Zlotoff about the budding friendship between three women. judged kino.de

Spielfilm.de/kino emphasizes that “Director Lee David Zlotoff is making his cinema debut with this poetic, moving and skilfully crafted film” and […] goes on to say that “in the Spitfire Grill film, there is old-fashioned sincerity and the grace of a longing Hearts “ moan. It is “a collage of different 'simple' stories about desire, love and redemption in which unfortunately not all parts fit together” and comes to the conclusion: “A film full of nostalgia - at a time and in a place that unfortunately only exist in the film. "

The lexicon of international films sums up its criticism as follows: “A haunting, poetic cinema debut, which uses unspectacular means and calm images to tell of the search for security and reconciliation, but ultimately slips into melodrama unnecessarily. Numerous biblical parallels and allusions require some effort to be deciphered. "

Awards

Lee David Zlotoff won the Sundance Film Festival Audience Award in 1996 and was nominated for another festival award. The film won the Christopher Award in 1997 and an Australian Cinematographers Society award in 1998 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Opening dates for The Spitfire Grill , accessed July 23, 2007
  2. ↑ Box office / business for The Spitfire Grill , accessed July 23, 2007
  3. ^ Filming locations for The Spitfire Grill , accessed July 23, 2007
  4. ↑ The story of the Spitfire Grill - review by Silvia Hallensleben at filmzentrale.com
  5. ↑ The story of the Spitfire Grill at cinema.de, accessed on July 23, 2007
  6. ↑ The story of the Spitfire Grill at kino.de, accessed on November 26, 2012
  7. ↑ The story of the Spitfire Grill at spielfilm.de/kino, accessed on December 13, 2012
  8. ↑ The Story of the Spitfire Grill in the Lexicon of International FilmsTemplate: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used , accessed on November 26, 2012