There’s always a great movie on tv, many times buried deep within the schedules. RICHARD LUTZ finds one this week you can’t ignore
Film4
Thurs 12.30 am (well, Fri actually)
Using hard drive, Tivo, dvd record, or even betamax tape (for god’s sake) has made sitting up late for that special thing on the tv a bit old hat.
But some movies are made for late nights. Away We Go is one of them. There are no Hollywood stars, no plot that hooks you like a fish in a river, no jaw dropping shockers. But there is UK director Sam Mendes using a deft touch behind the camera in this gentle US comedy of the road.
This is a smalltime movie about two people about to have a baby, living an eccentric marginal boho life in the US Midwest who decide to find the perfect place to live to start family life after they learn that the grandparents-to-be are about to cast off for Belgium of all places.
So, they pack up their wreck of a car, lock up their wreck of a home and take the baggage of their mutual lives with them as they begin a funny take of the great American Road Movie. They visit all kinds of places that may mean something to them and they find most mean little as they…here comes the welling of the eyes ..ahh..find as long as they have each other and their impending baby, home is really where the heart lies.
The husband is played by John Krasinski who portrays a shambling near-nerd who doesn’t so much wear clothing as assemble it from a laundry basket and has great thoughts the great meaningless things in life, such as why male seahorses have offspring.
Maya Rudolph, (real life daughter of singer Minnie Ripperton) is the patient, level headed mother-to-be who juggles two roles: as wife of the aforesaid Krasinski (the more I type his name, the more I think he is a hockey player) or as a mother to this chaotic husband who just can’t make things add up.
The trip takes them to Phoenix, Tucson, Madison (Wisconsin), Montreal, and Miami where they either have relatives or friends. There are great supporting roles from people they meet on the way and some eye popping scenery as they wind their way through the States.
Yes, it is a comedy so the movie doesn’t end up with a cop chase, a shoot out or a fireball plummeting into the Grand Canyon. It is gentle, endearing stuff that shows that American independent movies can be sharp, wise and can survive without CGI, animation or comic book sources.