Its greatest achievement is to insist that we, the relatively lucky, do what fear and pride seldom allow us to do -- to venture back to life's opening scene, respinning the wheel and replaying the lottery.
Casa de los Babys (2003)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:103
Fresh:61
Rotten:42
Average Rating:6/10
Consensus: Well-acted and thought provoking, if not completely satisfying.
Runtime: 1 hr 36 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: A group of six women from the United States, each of whom wants to adopt a baby, are checked into a hotel in South America waiting for the paperwork to go through. As their wait stretches on for... A group of six women from the United States, each of whom wants to adopt a baby, are checked into a hotel in South America waiting for the paperwork to go through. As their wait stretches on for weeks, they each get to know each other, sharing their hopes and fears. Meanwhile, the film explores every layer of people who are effected by the industry--from the teenage girls who give their babies up for adoption to the nurses that care for them as they're being assigned to new mothers. The local homeless boys sniffing paint in the street clearly don't receive the parenting they deserve, and yet the hotel staff dealing with the wealthy U.S. mothers-to-be sees a different side of the story--these women may not make for competent moms. Actresses Marcia Gay Harden (as the wonderfully difficult Nan), Maggie Gyllenhaal (as the painfully naive Jennifer), Daryl Hannah (as the quietly new agey Skipper), Susan Lynch (as the humble and loving Eileen), Lili Taylor (as the tough and jaded Leslie), and Mary Steenburgen (as the graceful optimist Gayle) are outstanding together, displaying loads of talent and illustrating Sayles' knack for character development. A touching look at what it means to enter motherhood, complicated by issues of class, politics, and pure emotion, CASA DE LOS BABYS is a thorough and pensive film that only a skilled director like John Sayles could create in such a seamlessly effective way. [More]
Starring: Maggie Gyllenhaal, Marcia Gay Harden, Daryl Hannah, Lili Taylor
Starring: Maggie Gyllenhaal, Marcia Gay Harden, Daryl Hannah, Lili Taylor, Susan Lynch, Vanessa Martinez, Rita Moreno, Mary Steenburgen
Director: John Sayles
Director: John Sayles
Screenwriter: John Sayles
Producer: Lemore Syvan, Alejandro Springall
Composer: Mason Daring
Studio: IFC Films
Reviews for Casa de los Babys
One pines for the return of Sayles’ great writing, especially given a flavorful taste of it in a heartfelt third-act monologue delivered by Lynch.
There isn't a moment with this group you don't want to be watching, yet the dialogue floats by in wisps.
Though ultimately something less than the sum of its parts, the film's performances are reason enough to see it.
Gets bogged down in bad dialogue, wasted acting and the most un-Saylesian thing of all, outright ignorance.
A pretty dry and unengaging social treatise compared with Sayles' last movie, the underrated Sunshine State.
Its high points notwithstanding, Casa de Los Babys generally fails to make a lasting impression.
As rich in ideas as it is in fine acting, Los Babys is another smart movie from a smart man who will likely never make a blockbuster.
Admittedly, mediocre Sayles is still watchable, but, relative to expectations, Casa de los Babys is a disappointment of significant proportions.
Hobbled by weak argumentation, a character who winds up a complete muddle, and Sayles’s inclination to romanticize Latin American revolutionary types, Casa is as mixed an effort as the filmmaker has essayed in some time.
The movie's even-handed portrayal of two cultures uneasily transacting the most personal business resonates with truth.
While we'd like it if the film had managed to be less schematic, had succeeded in fulfilling its sociological aims in more humanistic terms, we're willing to cut it slack because it sometimes seems no one else is even trying.
Topical director John Sayles thoughtfully illustrates two sides of the burgeoning foreign baby trade in this documentary-style film.
A lean yet unconvincing character study set in an unnamed South American country.
Casa de los Babys is another fine example of writer and director John Sayles' sensitive and heart-felt exploration of cross-cultural tensions and misunderstandings.
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