Spurge (1987)

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Movie
German title Milkweed
Original title Ironweed
Country of production USA
original language English
Publishing year 1987
length 137 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Hector Babenco
script William Kennedy
production Keith Barish , Denis Blouin , Rob Cohen , Joseph H. Kanter , Marcia Nasatir
music John Morris
camera Lauro Escorel
cut Anne Goursaud
occupation

Wolfsmilch ( Ironweed ) is an American drama directed by Héctor Babenco from 1987. William Kennedy wrote the screenplay based on his own novel.

plot

The former athlete Francis Phelan lives in the time of the Great Depression , he has a drinking problem. Phelan left his family 22 years earlier after causing the death of one of his sons while drunk by dropping him. He is regularly haunted by the ghosts of two men whom he also killed. Phelan lives in a world filled with alcohol, guilt, and hallucinations. During the Reverend Chester-led mission in Albany, he met the former musician Helen Archer, who also enjoyed drinking alcohol.

Phelan takes on a few odd jobs. He is accompanied by his friend Rudy, who has cancer and knows that his end is near. Francis visits his wife Annie, who has no new partner. He brings a turkey as a gift. Annie says it wasn't just religion that she lived without another man. She didn't tell anyone that Francis dropped his young son, which led to his death.

Annie suggests that Francis return to the family, but Francis says it won't work. He talks to his son, grandson, and daughter Margaret, who is angry with him at first but then makes up with him.

Phelan returns to his homeless friends. He says that he caused his son's death years ago and that his wife kept the secret to herself.

A group of local activists are driving homeless people - like Phelan - out of town. A raid is organized in the area where the homeless live; the vigilante groups armed with baseball bats set fire to the huts. Phelan brings his friend Rudy to a hospital, where Rudy dies. Then Phelan visits Archer, whom he finds dead. He says of the body that Archers' tombstone says she had a big heart .

In the last scene, Phelan drives in a freight car and sees his wife in a hallucination.

Reviews

Roger Ebert wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times of February 12, 1988 that the main actors Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep were so good that the representations could not be perceived as a game (" but there is not much visible" acting "in this movie; the actors are too good for that "). The film doesn't have much plot, which is " probably his fault "; it offers little tension. The images are emphatically realistic (“ its visual look is heightened realism ”), some scenes - like those of a hallucination - would appear “ unreal ”.

Desson Howe wrote in the Washington Post on February 12, 1988 that the director treated the script with too much respect and too little passion. Because of this, some “ potentially powerful ” scenes would appear “ distant ”.

Awards

Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep were nominated for an Academy Award for Leading Actors in 1988 .

Jack Nicholson won the New York Film Critics Circle Award and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor in 1987 . In the same category, he won the Golden Globe Award in 1988 . In 1989, Héctor Babenco was nominated for a prize at the Moscow International Film Festival.

The German Film and Media Evaluation FBW in Wiesbaden awarded the film the title valuable.

background

The film was shot in Albany and several other locations in New York State . It grossed approximately $ 7.4 million in US cinemas .

sources

  1. ^ Review by Roger Ebert, accessed June 11, 2007
  2. ^ Review by Desson Howe, accessed June 11, 2007
  3. ↑ 16th Moscow International Film Festival (1989) . In: MIFF . Archived from the original on March 16, 2013. Retrieved February 24, 2013.
  4. ^ Filming locations for Ironweed, accessed June 11, 2007
  5. ^ Box office / business for Ironweed, accessed June 11, 2007

Web links