Purely a family matter

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Movie
German title Purely a family matter
Original title The Thing About My Folks
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 2005
length 94 minutes
Age rating FSK 0
Rod
Director Raymond De Felitta
script Paul Reiser
production Paul Reiser,
Robert F. Newmyer ,
Jeffrey Silver
music Steven Argila
camera Dan Gillham
cut Sheila Amos,
David Leonard
occupation

Purely family thing (original title: The Thing About My Folks ) is an American tragic comedy with road movie elements from 2005 with Peter Falk and Paul Reiser in the lead role.

action

Ben and Rachel Kleinman are about to put their two children to bed one evening when Ben's father Sam suddenly appears at the door. It is only when they are surprised by the unusual visit that they quickly learn that there is an important reason for this. Sam was abandoned unexpectedly and apparently for no good reason by his wife Muriel, to whom he has been married for 47 years. She just left him a letter with no specific explanation.

Sam stays with the family for the first time and the next day father and son take a trip to a property that Ben and Rachel intend to buy. Due to a remark from Sam, the purchase does not go well and Ben is so annoyed and distracted on the way back that he hits a tree. Due to the breakdown of the car, both of them have to spend the night in a small town and the next day Sam spontaneously buys a restored Ford Deluxe Coupe from 1940 on the site of the garage. With the car, both go on a trip into the blue and try the problematic father-son relationship the past few years. On the way they catch up on things that neither of them had time to do: they go fishing together, watch a baseball game, play pool and drink beer.

Ben also had an old letter from Muriel to Sam, which she had written before Ben was born, but never showed anyone and nobody knew anything about it. In this letter, Muriel complains about her husband Sam and writes that she is unhappy. When Sam reads the letter, he is pissed off and can't believe what his wife has written. Father and son have a lot to talk about, and many previously unspoken problems come up.

In the meantime, Ben's sisters have found Muriel: she is terminally ill and only has a few months to live. Sam and Ben drive to her hospital. Sam can't understand why she hid her illness from him. The illness and proving to herself again that she has the strength to leave her husband was the real reason for her disappearance. When Muriel is released from the hospital, she dies some time later. Sam then lives with Ben and Rachel, but only a little later he dies too. Ben's wife Rachel gives birth to a son and regrets that he no longer has the opportunity to meet his grandparents. The family gathers around the tombstone of their two grandparents.

background

The film was shot in various locations in New York and New Jersey . Its world premiere took place on June 2, 2005 at the Seattle International Film Festival , which was followed by several other film festivals. On September 16, 2005, it started in selected cinemas in the USA, where it grossed around 815,000 US dollars . In Germany and in some other countries it was not released in the cinema, but directly on DVD.

Reviews

Sheri Linden wrote in the Hollywood Reporter that the film avoided “simple stitches” and “sugar-sweet conclusions”. Instead, he relied on dynamic characters who would be played by the two main actors "perfectly capable".

The lexicon of international films wrote that the film was a “tragic comedy about male self-confidence and self-image that never really used tragic or comedic tones” and fizzled out “in the chat”. Peter Falk is the only one of the actors for whom "some scenes have been written on the body".

Awards

The film received two Special Awards from the National Board of Review and the Nashville Film Festival Audience Award in 2005 . In 2006 Peter Falk received a prize from the Milan International Film Festival.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Filming locations of Reine Familiensache on imdb.com, accessed on October 10, 2008.
  2. ↑ Start dates of Reine Familiensache on imdb.com, accessed on October 10, 2008.
  3. ^ Box office results from Reine Familiensache on imdb.com, accessed on October 10, 2008.
  4. ↑ Quoted from metacritic.com , accessed October 10, 2008.
  5. ↑ A family matter in the Lexicon of International Films , accessed on October 10, 2008.Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used