While the rambling storyline and extended time-frame betrays the script's novelistic roots, soulful performances from Farrell, Sissy Spacek and newcomer Dallas Roberts make this a rich and emotionally rewarding experience.
A Home at the End of the World (2004)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:109
Fresh:53
Rotten:56
Average Rating:5.7/10
Runtime: 1 hr 33 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Bobby and Jonathan have been inseparable since they were teenagers in suburban Ohio. Bobby has suffered many losses for someone so young, and is starved for love and affection. Awkward teen... Bobby and Jonathan have been inseparable since they were teenagers in suburban Ohio. Bobby has suffered many losses for someone so young, and is starved for love and affection. Awkward teen Jonathan has a nice family, and a particularly wonderful mother (Sissy Spacek). The boys not only become as close as brothers, but they also experiment sexually. The two lose touch, but find each other again in their mid-20s in the early 1980s, when Bobby (Colin Farrell) moves to New York and joins Jonathan (Dallas Roberts) at the apartment he shares with Clare (Robin Wright Penn), an aging hippie. Bobby and Clare become lovers, however, Clare had planned to have a child with Jonathan, who is now openly gay and who is still interested in Bobby, and to whom Clare used to be attracted. The trio becomes its own unique entity, questioning the traditional definitions of family and love, and dealing with the complications of their love triangle. Based on the novel of the same name by Michael Cunningham, who also wrote the screenplay and who was the recipient of the Pulitzer prize, this film marks the debut of director Michael Mayer. Erik Smith plays Bobby as a teenager, and Harris Allen plays the teenage Jonathan. [More]
Starring: Colin Farrell, Robin Wright Penn, Dallas Roberts, Sissy Spacek
Starring: Colin Farrell, Robin Wright Penn, Dallas Roberts, Sissy Spacek
Director: Michael Mayer
Director: Michael Mayer
Screenwriter: Michael Cunningham
Producer: Tom Hulce, John Hart, Pamela Koffler, Hunt Lowry, Katie Roumel, Jeff Sharp, Christine Vachon, John Wells
Composer: Duncan Sheik
Studio: Warner Bros.
Reviews for A Home at the End of the World
The filmmakers drift into sentimentality too easily and badly shy away from the provocative issues they raise (like sexuality).
As far as indie real-feeling character flicks go, World is in a class all its own.
Wonderful performances, dead-on casting and a touching story make up for the shortfalls of a condensed and awkward script.
An adaptation of another Cunningham book that, like The Hours, comes with its own set of challenges, which director Michael Mayer handles forthrightly, with precise emotional pitch.
With no overblown pretensions...tells an engaging story about sympathetic folks finding their way in a never over-simplified world.
Would it help if I called it the year’s worst must-see film? Didn’t think so.
A sad movie with palpable grief, but the characters move through it to find a new place of peace. Ultimately, it's about hope and making a place for yourself in the world.
An intriguing look at an unconventional definition of family, whose members don't speak in Hollywood clichés.
Michael Cunningham’s film is an alluring look at how definitions of love, friendship and loyalty are ultimately self-defeating. It’s got a few flaws, but a big ol’ heart.
...Farrell gives a performance that's just as commanding and compelling as anything he's done before.
Compassionate and touching, but less complex and resonant than the book.
What keeps the movie going, far longer than the screenplay deserves, are fine performances all around.
A thoroughly good cast in a story that rests squarely on character rather than event.
Attempts to cram too much information into a 95-minute feature. Fortunately, there is enough that is exquisitely good to make up for many of its narrative downfalls.
A Home at the End of the World can get a tad long, but its beautiful story and spectacular performances allow it that small mute faux pas.
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