A light in my heart
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | A light in my heart |
| Original title | Unhook the stars |
| Country of production | USA , France |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1996 |
| length | 100 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 6 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Nick Cassavetes |
| script |
Helen Caldwell , Nick Cassavetes |
| production | René Cleitman |
| music | Steven Hufsteter |
| camera | Phedon Papamichael |
| cut | Petra von Oelffen |
| occupation | |
| |
A light in my heart (Original title: Unhook the Stars ) is an American - French drama film directed by Nick Cassavetes from 1996.
action
Mildred Hawks is a widow who lives with her daughter Annie in the house her husband left for her along with savings to live on. Her relationship with her daughter is strained, and shortly afterwards Annie leaves home. Her older son Ethan has already moved away.
Mildred feels lonely and empty. Apart from delivering newspapers, there is no meaningful occupation for them. At this point, her neighbor, Monica Warren, throws her husband and father of her son, Frankie Warren, out of the house after he beat her in an argument. Because Monica has no one to look after her son Jake while she drives to work at the dairy, she rings the doorbell of her previously unknown neighbor Mildred and asks her to take care of Jake for the transition. Mildred befriends the boy and makes Monica the offer to look after Jake permanently, which she rejects because she assumes that Mildred would ask for money for the care. When this misunderstanding has been cleared up, Mildred takes Jake to school every day, picks him up there, prepares meals and does something for his education by reading him the articles from a dictionary. Both Mildred and Jake feel at home because they like each other, Mildred has another job to do and someone takes good care of Jake, which wasn't always the case with Monica, who doesn't exactly embody the ideal of a mother, because she smokes constantly, is often drunk and otherwise lives in a very chaotic and self-centered manner.
During this time Mildred receives a visit from her son Ethan and his wife Jeannie. The two are expecting their first child and want to bring Mildred to San Francisco with them, not without the ulterior motive that Mildred can then look after their offspring. Mildred first asks her son to think about it.
One day Monica wants to thank Mildred for her help and invites her to go to the bar. Mildred gets to know the truck driver Big Tommy Bellaveau, who drives her home after Monica simply disappeared with another man during the evening without saying goodbye, which Mildred was a little disappointed. Big Tommy raves to Mildred from Miami, where he regularly drives his truck. When they say goodbye, there is a hint of a romance between the two, which initially does not deepen.
When Mildred visits her wealthy son and daughter-in-law in San Francisco, he shows her the spacious rooms in his house that she could live in and also offers to buy her an apartment as an alternative. At first glance it all looks very harmonious, but when his wife makes a small objection, the true face of Mildred's son becomes apparent when he then humiliates his wife with words as if she were his serf. When Mildred then refuses to move in with them and look after their future baby, he accuses her of preferring to take care of her neighbor's "brat". After Mildred is back home, Monica's husband makes several attempts to reconcile with his wife, which she refuses at first and enjoys seeing him beg in front of her. After Mildred advised her not to take the game too far because the love will eventually pass if not reciprocated, she agrees to her husband's return.
Now Mildred is no longer needed to take care of little Jake and she feels lonely and out of place again. So Mildred sells her house and decides to move away. While she is packing her things, she receives a call from truck driver Big Tommy and arranges to meet him for dinner. When she comes home, her daughter Annie has reappeared there and tells her that she wants to move back in with her and continue her studies, but Mildred explains that this is no longer possible because she has sold the house and is moving away . On the day of departure, Mildred is driven to the airport by Annie and her friend. She does not reveal the destination of her journey to her daughter or the audience.
background
The film was shot in Salt Lake City and San Francisco . It was only shown in individual cinemas in the USA, where it grossed just under 235,000 US dollars .
Reviews
James Berardinelli wrote on ReelViews that the film was a "pleasant" non-sentimental character study. He is “committed” and mixes the elements of a film comedy and a film drama in a “satisfactory” way. Berardinelli praised the “openness” and “honesty” of the script. He also praised the portrayals of Gena Rowlands, Marisa Tomei and Moira Kelly.
“The too novel-like and often a bit schoolmasterly attempt to describe loneliness and generational contrasts. The story only awakens to undisguised life through the excellent role of the uninhibited young neighbor, who is still looking for her own identity. "
Awards
Gena Rowlands and Marisa Tomei were nominated for the Screen Actors Guild Award in 1997. Jake Lloyd was nominated for the Young Artist Award in 1997. Nick Cassavetes won an award from the Portuguese Festival Internacional de Cinema do Porto in 1997 .
Web links
- Unhook the Stars in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Unhook the Stars at Rotten Tomatoes (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Filming locations of Unhook the Stars on imdb.com
- ^ Box Office from Unhook the Stars on imdb.com
- ^ Review by James Berardinelli on reelviews.net
- ↑ A light in my heart. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .