This is a movie that I didn't know about until doing prep work for JwaC Presents Depp Dive: A Depper Look at Johnny's Feature Filmography. Jaime, who is the reason we are doing this show, used to own this on DVD as part of a pack. From what I gathered; she had only seen this once. I came in just having seen the cast list and was intrigued even more during the opening credits.
Our focus here are siblings, Benny (Aidan Quinn) and Joon Pearl (Mary Stuart Masterson). The latter has mental issues and they need a housekeeper. She quits though as Joon has become too much. She needs constant supervision. Benny has put his life on hold to take care of his sister and keep her out of a group home.
That is even proving to be an issue and her doctor, Garvey (CCH Pounder), believes it might be time for her to have more professional help. What they have now isn't working. That is until Sam (Johnny Depp) takes a train into town. He is staying with his cousin, Mike (Joe Grifasi). Joon ends up winning or losing, depending on how you look at it, a game of cards that requires the siblings to take Sam home. He is intrigued by Joon and the two develop a relationship. He brings his own set of issues that creates problems as well.
I think that should recap and introduce the characters for what we need. What I'll say is that having watched a handful of Depp's early movies, he takes on quirky roles even early in his career. I give him credit for that. Sam is an odd character who loves cinema, including Buster Keaton. He sees Joon and finds her beautiful. He also likes how quirky she is. Sam doesn't find her as sick as Benny is making out. Jaime and I were discussing what we thought each was dealing with. We aren't qualified to know for sure, but it seems like Sam has autism as he hyper focuses on things, which in the case are movies and being odd. This latter also seems to be centered around slapstick routines of early cinema.
The other major character here is Joon. Masterson does a great job in bringing this character to life. Originally, I thought she was autistic with things she was doing. Jaime brought up that speculation online was schizophrenia. That makes more sense when I heard that. She is prone to maniac outbursts. She needs structure and Sam disrupts that. Sometimes it helps, other times it leads to problems. I do love how they interact and need each other.
We also have a great cast around them. Quinn is an actor that I've seen in a handful of things. I've not seen a bad performance from him, including here. He cares about his sister, but they also have developed a co-dependency. We also have supporting cast of a Julianne Moore, Olivier Platt, Pounder, Dan Hedaya, Grifasi and William H. Macy. It just wild to see this group when they were younger and not necessarily having the name recognition yet.
I'd also say that this is well-made. The cinematography does well in capturing how eccentric Sam is and acts. We also see how Benny and Joon's house is due to him placating her. She is a great artist as well. They do fun things with angles to showcase the sleight of hand magic that Sam does. I'd also say that the soundtrack fit what was needed. This is an under talked about movie that I had a fun time with. I'd recommend especially to Depp fans to see an earlier quirky role from him.
My Rating: 7 out of 10.
Our focus here are siblings, Benny (Aidan Quinn) and Joon Pearl (Mary Stuart Masterson). The latter has mental issues and they need a housekeeper. She quits though as Joon has become too much. She needs constant supervision. Benny has put his life on hold to take care of his sister and keep her out of a group home.
That is even proving to be an issue and her doctor, Garvey (CCH Pounder), believes it might be time for her to have more professional help. What they have now isn't working. That is until Sam (Johnny Depp) takes a train into town. He is staying with his cousin, Mike (Joe Grifasi). Joon ends up winning or losing, depending on how you look at it, a game of cards that requires the siblings to take Sam home. He is intrigued by Joon and the two develop a relationship. He brings his own set of issues that creates problems as well.
I think that should recap and introduce the characters for what we need. What I'll say is that having watched a handful of Depp's early movies, he takes on quirky roles even early in his career. I give him credit for that. Sam is an odd character who loves cinema, including Buster Keaton. He sees Joon and finds her beautiful. He also likes how quirky she is. Sam doesn't find her as sick as Benny is making out. Jaime and I were discussing what we thought each was dealing with. We aren't qualified to know for sure, but it seems like Sam has autism as he hyper focuses on things, which in the case are movies and being odd. This latter also seems to be centered around slapstick routines of early cinema.
The other major character here is Joon. Masterson does a great job in bringing this character to life. Originally, I thought she was autistic with things she was doing. Jaime brought up that speculation online was schizophrenia. That makes more sense when I heard that. She is prone to maniac outbursts. She needs structure and Sam disrupts that. Sometimes it helps, other times it leads to problems. I do love how they interact and need each other.
We also have a great cast around them. Quinn is an actor that I've seen in a handful of things. I've not seen a bad performance from him, including here. He cares about his sister, but they also have developed a co-dependency. We also have supporting cast of a Julianne Moore, Olivier Platt, Pounder, Dan Hedaya, Grifasi and William H. Macy. It just wild to see this group when they were younger and not necessarily having the name recognition yet.
I'd also say that this is well-made. The cinematography does well in capturing how eccentric Sam is and acts. We also see how Benny and Joon's house is due to him placating her. She is a great artist as well. They do fun things with angles to showcase the sleight of hand magic that Sam does. I'd also say that the soundtrack fit what was needed. This is an under talked about movie that I had a fun time with. I'd recommend especially to Depp fans to see an earlier quirky role from him.
My Rating: 7 out of 10.