Search
What's Hot
Day-by-Day Fall Schedule
Idol Winner Speaks!
Jim Parsons Comes Out
Game of Thrones Star's Sex Stare

Home Before Dark

1998, Movie, NR, 110 mins

Home Before Dark: Review

HOME BEFORE DARK
starstarstarstar
Literate, low-key and quietly powerful, writer-director Maureen Foley's debut feature looks at the turbulent inner life of an adolescent girl coming of age at the end of the Kennedy era. Eleven-year-old Nora (Stephanie Castellarin) lives in the shadow of tragedy that struck even before she was born: En route to the family's new home in rural Massachusetts, her mother Dolores (Patricia Kalember) crashed her car into a dairy truck, killing her three small children. Years pass, and Dolores and husband Martin (Brian Delate) pull their lives back together enough to start a second family. But the emotionally scarred Dolores has embarked on a slow retreat from reality, losing herself in the Camelot fantasy of the Kennedy family. Her dream world comes crashing down on Nov. 22, 1963: Upon hearing the news that the President has been murdered, she slashes her wrists and is sent away to a sanitarium. Nora's life is suddenly turned inside out, as she's packed off to live with her Aunt Rose (Katharine Ross), a swank, martini-swilling adulteress whose personal unhappiness puts her at loggerheads with Nora's burgeoning sense of herself. This is a marvelously crafted film, featuring an expert script full of emotionally rich characters and a terrific cast who bring it all to life. Ross -- never a strong actress, despite her brief stardom in the late '60s and early '70s -- turns in a surprisingly competent performance: Her Rose is a brittle, real-life Stepford wife whose jaded exterior protects a profound desperation. The real star here, however, is newcomer Castellarin, who's in virtually every frame of the film. She takes on the difficult task of expressing a child's need for her mother as she learns to separate her own life from that of her parents, and she pulls it off like a pro. leave a comment --Ken Fox
Are You Watching?
Home Before Dark
Loading ...
Advertisement

Our Partners

Advertisement

Related Websites

You might be also interested in the following websites:

Most Popular TV Shows

  1. American Idol
  2. NCIS
  3. Big Bang Theory
  4. Voice
  5. Person of Interest
more popular tv shows

Most Popular Celebrities

  1. Jessica Simpson
  2. Khloe Kardashian
  3. Kate Middleton
  4. Maria Menounos
  5. Kim Kardashian
more popular celebrities

Most Popular Movies

  1. Avengers
  2. Battleship
  3. The Dictator
  4. Dark Shadows
  5. What To Expect When You're Expecting
more popular movies

Top Videos

  1. Revenge
  2. Days of our Lives
  3. Young and the Restless
  4. So You Think You Can Dance
  5. Modern Family
more top videos