Nearing Grace

Directed by Rick Rosenthal and adapted from Scott Sommer's 1979 novel Nearing Grace by MEAN CREEK writer-director Jacob Aaron Estes, this intimate coming-of-age story benefits from excellent performances, notably Gregory Smith's (of TV's Everwood) as a teenager knocked off course by the repercussions of his mother's death. The men of the suburban New Jersey Nearing family — middle-aged Shep (David Morse), a freewheeling college professor, older son Blair (David Moscow) and 17-year-old Henry (Smith) — know they adore Mama Rose (Shannon Day), but don't realize until she's gone that she's the glue holding them together. Within months of her deat...