Rating: 
Summary: A acting miracle by the young Leelee Sobieski!!!
Review: I saw this film in a small art house and didn't know what to expect. The movie is long, but it's one of those films that you sit through and can't realize the time and don't care. The young Leelee Sobieski character (Chane) was a smartly written role that only she could pull off. The film starts out with american ex-patriots who spend there time in France while writer Kris Kristofferson and family spend time as discontented americans partying and finding culture in there life. The relationship of the entire family is a telling portrait of people looking for something to cling to and realizing that they have each other. They grow; and we grow with them through the looking glass of the dark theather that takes us away and we want to stay!!!
Rating:
Summary: Great movie ,I thought That the Frederic Da was great!
Review: I thought that Frederic Da was great and that I think he is very cute knowing that I saw him with that afro wig off.Fred plays the part of the kid in the tree house.I also fond out about him in the magazine Interview where they say he should win the oscar for best small role of the year. I also thought Barbra Hershey WAs Terrific!!I think Kris Kristofferson was great.Leelee Sobieski was terrefic in this movie but also in her other parts.This movie based on the book by Kaylie Jones was well directed by one of the greatest directors of all time:James Ivory. I give this movie a super rating and hope you watch it,you must!!!
Rating: 
Summary: strong characters, somewhat sleepy story
Review: I watched this movie for the second time (I think) last night with my husband and daughter. The R rating is somewhat extreme for this movie. Aside from Kris Kristofferson's characters rampant swearing, this movie could easily be rated PG-13 and then only for frank discussions about sex between the father and daughter. It could actually be considered a good "coming-of-age" movie for liberal-minded families, though even those who consider themselves liberal might disagree with the father's philosophy on life and his advice for his fifteen-year-old daughter. Of course, if you view the story and follow the plot, you might feel that he was compelled to be deliberate and forthright with her. Unlike many fathers, he takes the time to interact with his daughter and have heart-to-heart talks. This father also takes the time to cultivate his relationship with his wife. Bill and Marcella obviously have a very passionate relationship, but alcohol use is very prevalent as well. In any case, the movie is intriguing. I especially enjoyed the young seven-year-old Channe played by a beautiful young girl (I don't know her name). The scene in the treehouse with the young French actor is realistic enough to be disturbing and frightening. Channe's transition into adolescence (now portrayed by LeeLee Sobieski) is very believable. Her relationship with Francis, also an American, is so frustrating because both characters are so realistic. You feel the anguish that Channe experiences having a friend whom most young people would shun, and over time, Channe would choose to shun as well. Francis is one of those people whom you want to like because he's interesting to be around, but unfortunately, he's also so self-deprecating and self-absorbed and whiny that you can't help but dislike him at the same time. This relationship between Channe and the effeminate, opera-loving Francis might be enough to turn off many viewers.
Channe's adopted brother Billy remains an intriguing enigma throughout the movie and certainly his character could have been fleshed out more. What we gather is that he's sensitive and kind to Channe, but never seems to make friends. In France, we never see him even interact at school, or even grow into adolescence at home. If this is an autobiographical movie, then one could at times only wonder if Channe and her brother lead isolated lives within the family. There are moments of connectedness within her family that do dispel this, however. When Billy arrives with his family in the United States, he seems unhappy and out of place right from the start. There is the slightest hint that he might be quietly gay, and therefore somewhat repulsed by Francis' blatant personality. We experience a moment of unrequited connection between him and Channe's American boyfriend.
One could find so much to explore within this movie- the interracial relationship between Candida (their Spanish or Portuguese maid who, by the way, has a lovely, siren-like singing voice) and her black boyfriend, Candida's fear of commitment and total devotion to Channe, devotion that leaves her lacking the ability to create her own life. Barbra Hershey's portrayal of Marcella, a fun-loving wife and mother with no apparent career aspirations,who turns to alcohol to soften life in Paris as an American in the 60's where it's obvious she and her husband and friends often felt out of place. What's disquieting is that she experiences the same feeling of being an outcast initially when they move back to the United States.
Well worth viewing, though some like my husband might watch the movie and ultimately comment "What's the point?" (and rightfully so, since everyone is entitled to their own opinion). This is not entertainment for entertainment's sake. It is an exploration of relationships.
Rating: 
Summary: Half a story is not better than none
Review: Kristofferson and Hershey are well cast as the disenchanted American writer and his wife, who flee America in protest of the war in Vietnam, and seek intellectual Nirvana in France. Determined to mold their children into something better than themselves, they remain in Paris until, as Kristofferson's character puts it, the children "are in danger of becoming like the other spoiled Eurotrash teens." Sobieski and Bradford do an excellent job of translating teen angst into something visual enough to watch, and visceral enough to feel. It is never made clear if Anthony Costanzo is the love interest of the brother or the sister, but I imagine the truth lies somewhere in between. There are a lot of parts to this story that remain untold, and characters that are carefully developed, and then casually discarded. I'm almost sad that I invested my time and imagination on such a half-completed project. Maybe one day I'll get around to reading the book, but until then, I'll just have to wonder if the problem was with the writer, or with the director.
Rating:
Summary: Leelee Sobeski
Review: Leelee Sobeski, who stars in this movie, is really amazing. She has alot of talent.
Rating:
Summary: more on character than script
Review: The cast themselves were enchanting but the script was a bore. This is another one of those movies of which depend more on the characters than the events... and in this movie it wasn't quite pulled enough. Otherwise, I do look foreward to seeing other films by Barbara Hershey.
Rating: 
Summary: A Waste of Time
Review: The movie is artful, I give it that. However, the critics must have been really drunk when they rated this movie. It is full of nonsense and is looooong winding. One of the worse movies I have ever seen.
Rating: 
Summary: Likeable characters, wearisome plot
Review: This autobiographical movie charts the ups and downs of a somewhat idyllic American family living in Paris in the period just after the second world war. The movie trods along for over two hours (but less than three, thank goodness) and depicts some classic family "issues", such as adoption, relocation, dating, sex and death (just to name a few.) Solutions to these perennial challenges are presented in a straightforward way, as if to say, "If your family encounters this problem, resolve it in this manner..." but in contrast to the many similar made-for-TV series of the same flavor, the solutions wouldn't sit too well with the Christian right. I'd go so far as to view this movie as a condensed and highly liberalized version of, say, Little House on the Prairie or The Waltons - A model family facing and overcoming the trials and tribulations of everyday life, but using up-to-date, liberal values. Unfortunately I consider the film as a whole little more than a recipe job, much like it's TV models. It borders dangerously close to the soap opera genre, saved only by the fact that the characters are somewhat likeable, if not particularly challenging or original. Beneath the pleasant shimmer of the intellectually enlightened, socially privileged and cosmopolitan, semi-fictitious family portrayed, the movie has surprisingly little substance. The plot consists of mundane events, and watching the movie was sort of like spying on an ordinary family as they went about their hum-drum daily lives. Difficulties are encountered, but everything seems to "work out in the end." I'm sure the author would like you to believe that this is due to the high-minded principles of the main characters, but I suspect it has more to do with careful editing. There is never really any hint of real despair, injustice or irreparable injury- everything works out much too happily. The real world just isn't that tidy. The one exception to all this upper-class neatness is a French teenage boy (companion to Leelee's character) who does manage to radiate a little color and flambouyance. Combining a little poverty, some hysterical personality traits, a musical predisposition, and a blatant effeminisism, he stands out as maybe the one memorable element in the whole movie. But just at the moment when his relationship with Leelee (perhaps the only interesting relationship in the movie) reaches an important crisis, our heroine, after a brief moment of distress, mysteriously forgets all about him and he drops out of the picture entirely. Perhaps the kid's abrupt and utterly heartless dismissal best demonstrates the films inability to deal maturely and honestly with any topic of real complexity. I can't recommend this movie except to those who enjoy the pleasant spectacle created by attractive characters as they behave with touching magnanimity in a priviledged social setting. Overall, a very droll, disappointing tale.
Rating:
Summary: Likeable characters, wearisome plot
Review: This autobiographical movie charts the ups and downs of a somewhat idyllic American family living in Paris in the period just after the second world war. The movie trods along for over two hours (but less than three, thank goodness) and depicts some classic family "issues", such as adoption, relocation, dating, sex and death (just to name a few.) Solutions to these perennial challenges are presented in a straightforward way, as if to say, "If your family encounters this problem, resolve it in this manner..." but in contrast to the many similar made-for-TV series of the same flavor, the solutions wouldn't sit too well with the Christian right. I'd go so far as to view this movie as a condensed and highly liberalized version of, say, Little House on the Prairie or The Waltons - A model family facing and overcoming the trials and tribulations of everyday life, but using up-to-date, liberal values. Unfortunately I consider the film as a whole little more than a recipe job, much like it's TV models. It borders dangerously close to the soap opera genre, saved only by the fact that the characters are somewhat likeable, if not particularly challenging or original. Beneath the pleasant shimmer of the intellectually enlightened, socially privileged and cosmopolitan, semi-fictitious family portrayed, the movie has surprisingly little substance. The plot consists of mundane events, and watching the movie was sort of like spying on an ordinary family as they went about their hum-drum daily lives. Difficulties are encountered, but everything seems to "work out in the end." I'm sure the author would like you to believe that this is due to the high-minded principles of the main characters, but I suspect it has more to do with careful editing. There is never really any hint of real despair, injustice or irreparable injury- everything works out much too happily. The real world just isn't that tidy. The one exception to all this upper-class neatness is a French teenage boy (companion to Leelee's character) who does manage to radiate a little color and flambouyance. Combining a little poverty, some hysterical personality traits, a musical predisposition, and a blatant effeminisism, he stands out as maybe the one memorable element in the whole movie. But just at the moment when his relationship with Leelee (perhaps the only interesting relationship in the movie) reaches an important crisis, our heroine, after a brief moment of distress, mysteriously forgets all about him and he drops out of the picture entirely. Perhaps the kid's abrupt and utterly heartless dismissal best demonstrates the films inability to deal maturely and honestly with any topic of real complexity. I can't recommend this movie except to those who enjoy the pleasant spectacle created by attractive characters as they behave with touching magnanimity in a priviledged social setting. Overall, a very droll, disappointing tale.
Rating:
Summary: A Merchant and Ivory Joint?
Review: This is not your typical Merchant/Ivory period film with lavish scenery. The settings go from France to America and don't take the focus away from the characters. There is just enough to show you the change that the characters have to experience. One of the central themes appears to be alienation. Although we see quite a bit of all the characters, the main character is Channe played by Leelee Sobieski. Throughout the story, we are watching her adjust to her surroundings. At the beginning, her parents adopt a young French boy, and we see here reaction to this new sibling. We watch her handle her friendship with a flamboyant young boy who begins to embarrass her a bit later. After the family moves to America, she tries to adjust to a new lifestyle in a small town. In all, I believe Ms. Sobieski does a fine job. For the other actors, I really thought Kris Kristofferson did a fine job as the father, a writer and war veteran. I would recommend watching this film.
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