---but you have to pay attention.
Edie Falco, Timothy Hutton, Angela Bassett, Mary Steenburgen, Jane Alexander, Ralph Waite, Alan King in a John Sayles film about Florida and development. Good and bad, yes and no, and the decisions people make. Bassett and her doctor husband, (Desiree and Reggie), have come to visit her Mama and the old home next to a beautiful white beach. It is in the area that was bought up by a wealthy black man and resold to other blacks in the early years of Florida when no blacks were allowed on beaches run by towns or counties. But with desegregation, lots of the original families have gone on to other places. So the land is ripe for picking by land developers. The various characters and companies who want to develop strip malls and franchise restaurants come like locusts. One company has its' bulldozers ready. The Temple family, who own a motel, restaurant complex, are the interesting group. Daughter Marly(Falco) runs things now, but hates it. Dad, Furman(Waite), is almost blind, and rants about how things used to be, when you could refuse accommodations to anyone. Mom, Delia(Alexander), has her own life and has never had any part of the family business. But she has had 25 years of running a community theater. At the final scenes of the story, she is the one who tells the hot-shot snotty businessman what is what, and what he and the other guys wanting to develop the land will have to do - sign contracts, share future profits, 5-10 years down the road, etc. Not for nothing has she raised and managed funds for her beloved theater all these years. There will be development, but there will be some who can say what kind. Long and complex, this is a film with many stories and takes its' time. Alexander plays her big scene quietly and with such good humor, you almost fail to realize it is the key scene in the film. The rest of the cast are very good and all have their shining moments. 7/10
Edie Falco, Timothy Hutton, Angela Bassett, Mary Steenburgen, Jane Alexander, Ralph Waite, Alan King in a John Sayles film about Florida and development. Good and bad, yes and no, and the decisions people make. Bassett and her doctor husband, (Desiree and Reggie), have come to visit her Mama and the old home next to a beautiful white beach. It is in the area that was bought up by a wealthy black man and resold to other blacks in the early years of Florida when no blacks were allowed on beaches run by towns or counties. But with desegregation, lots of the original families have gone on to other places. So the land is ripe for picking by land developers. The various characters and companies who want to develop strip malls and franchise restaurants come like locusts. One company has its' bulldozers ready. The Temple family, who own a motel, restaurant complex, are the interesting group. Daughter Marly(Falco) runs things now, but hates it. Dad, Furman(Waite), is almost blind, and rants about how things used to be, when you could refuse accommodations to anyone. Mom, Delia(Alexander), has her own life and has never had any part of the family business. But she has had 25 years of running a community theater. At the final scenes of the story, she is the one who tells the hot-shot snotty businessman what is what, and what he and the other guys wanting to develop the land will have to do - sign contracts, share future profits, 5-10 years down the road, etc. Not for nothing has she raised and managed funds for her beloved theater all these years. There will be development, but there will be some who can say what kind. Long and complex, this is a film with many stories and takes its' time. Alexander plays her big scene quietly and with such good humor, you almost fail to realize it is the key scene in the film. The rest of the cast are very good and all have their shining moments. 7/10