Tumbleweeds (1999)

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Movie
Original title Tumbleweeds
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1999
length 102 minutes
Rod
Director Gavin O'Connor
script Gavin O'Connor
Angela Shelton (also template)
production Greg O'Connor
music David Mansfield
camera Dan Stoloff
cut John Gilroy
occupation

Tumbleweeds is a 1999 American tragic comedy directed by Gavin O'Connor and starring Janet McTeer , Kimberly J. Brown and Jay O. Sanders . O'Connor also co-wrote the script, which he co-wrote with his then-wife Angela Shelton. The book is based on Shelton's childhood memories, which were shaped by the fact that she spent a large part of her time relocating again and again because her mother always saw a new beginning in the escape to another place after failed relationships.

action

Mary Jo Walker and her 12-year-old daughter Ava are moving again, this time to the western United States, towards San Diego . Ava's mother is looking for a new start after another failed relationship. Mary Jo left home at the age of 17 and was married four times. For Ava, it is not so easy to keep looking for new friends and to cope with the constant change of schools. On their drive along the Pacific coast, mother and daughter toss parts of their clothing out of the car window. When they have a problem with their car, they meet trucker Jack Ranson, whom they encounter again in Starlight Beach, near San Diego, after they settled there. And as so often before, Mary Jo lets herself into a man again, quits her boring job in a security company and becomes dependent on Jack. Meanwhile, Ava struggles with problems at school, because not every classmate treats her to one of the leading roles in the school play Romeo and Juliet and is jealous of Ava's talent.

At a dinner, to which Jack takes mother and daughter out, there is a violent exchange between Jack and Ava and as a result a falling out between Mary Jo and Jack when Mary Jo refuses to bow to his will. The end of the story is that mother and daughter spend the night in a motel. The very next morning what Ava already knows happens, she is on the street again with her mother because her mother wants to leave town. This time Ava protests, however, and tells her mother that she is tired of moving from state to state and that it bothers her that her mother only ever sees this one way. After Mary Jo reacts helplessly and angrily to Ava resisting her, she thinks about it and realizes that she cannot go on like this, as her behavior has negative consequences for Ava's development.

Mother and daughter stay, find shelter in a friend's house and Mary Jo gets a job in a nursery. Ava finds a friend in a classmate who was previously jealous of her, and Mary Jo finds a new partner in the sensitive widower Dan Miller, her former boss from the security company, with whom she had befriended at the time and who was already interested in her and worried about mother and daughter.

Production notes

The film was shot in Agoura Hills , in Eagle Rock, in the Lacy Street Production Center in Los Angeles , in Malibu and in north Hollywood in California . The film premiered on January 24, 1999 at the Sundance Film Festival . It also ran on September 16, 1999 at the Toronto International Film Festival , in October 1999 at the Chicago International Film Festival and on October 7, 1999 at the Austin Film Festival, before moving to Los Angeles and New York on November 24, 1999 started.

The budget for the film was a flat $ 312,000. On the opening weekend on November 26, 1999, it grossed $ 41,202 in the United States, and on January 14, 2000, it had revenues of $ 1,281,176.

Soundtrack

  • Private conversation , written and performed by Lyle Lovett
  • Music to Her Ears (author: Robert Williams ) performed by Big Sandy and His Fly-Rite Boys
  • My Heart Skips a Beat , written and performed by Emmylou Harris
  • One of These Days (author: Earl Montgomery) performed by The Shawn Jones Band
  • Long Way Down (authors: Armen Chakmakian & Shawn Jones) performed by Shawn Jones
  • One Night Stand , written and performed by Lucinda Williams
  • Sea of ​​Heartbreak (Authors: Paul Hampton, Hal David ), sung by Johnny Cash
  • Wink (Authors: Cary Hudson, Laurie Stirratt) performed by Blue Mountain
  • Scientific (authors: Matt Boruso, Loudspeaker), performed by Loudspeaker
  • 6 Dances from Terpsichore (composed by Michael Praetorius), performed by The Collegium Terpsichore
  • Bow Down (writers: Leah Andreone, Bob, Marlette, John Lowery), performed by Leah Andreone
  • California (author: Robert Bradley) performed by Robert Bradley's Blackwater Surprise

criticism

Stephen Holden of the New York Times confirmed that the film was a "discreetly produced piece of America", the central achievement of which was to be "extraordinarily nuanced". The script reproduces the vibrations of everyday language with sensitivity, so that the film looks like a documentary in some places. The heart of the film, however, is the mother-daughter relationship.

Glenn Lovell from Variety recalled similarities with the films Alice Doesn't Live Here and This Boy's Life , spoke of an unusual relationship between the main actors and a first-class production that was also heavily cast in the supporting roles.

In the San Francisco Chronicle , Peter Stapel wrote that it was easy to see why British actress Janet McTeer had been honored for her role, as her portrayal of Mary Jo believes why millions of women, just like her, are desperately looking for Be love, but mostly where it can only be wrong. Although the film is similar in terms of theme and plot to the film drama Everywhere, just not here , it is far from a smooth Hollywood production and also not burdened with star power. The interaction between McTeer and Brown was also praised, who embody mother and daughter and are completely natural and touching in their complex roles.

Awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Stephen Holden: Tumbleweeds: On the Road With Mom the Sexpot. In: The New York Times. November 24, 1999 (English). Retrieved February 13, 2015.
  2. ↑ Glenn Lovell: Review: 'Tumbleweeds'. In: Variety. January 27, 1999 (English). Retrieved February 13, 2015.
  3. ↑ Peter Stapel: Well-Grounded Acting In Indie `Tumbleweeds'. In: SF Gate. December 10, 1999 (English). Retrieved February 13, 2015.