This is a quiet, dis-enchanting yet very real film about the need of youths and adults for family-identity. I found it quite touching; Trevor Morgan was great, as Nick Nolte, as usual (altho' Nolte mumbles so well that you have to really let go of listening and "go with it" ... also, as usual).
I was really struck with Nolte's vulnerable character; a classic "loser" profile of the "boy who would be king". And Timothy Hutton is also credible as the father-who's-given-up versus Nick Nolte's father-who-keeps-on-believing, though neither are portrayed as "victims" of losing their wives and still having to raise the kids.
This is a brave film. Usually, scripts like this are about Single Mothers and how they cope with the dissolution of families-with-children. This one goes a step beyond. It is a dignified, raw glimpse of the difficulty of being a father who has lost his "family" -- either to, or from, alcohol; either to, or from, pride.
I was really struck with Nolte's vulnerable character; a classic "loser" profile of the "boy who would be king". And Timothy Hutton is also credible as the father-who's-given-up versus Nick Nolte's father-who-keeps-on-believing, though neither are portrayed as "victims" of losing their wives and still having to raise the kids.
This is a brave film. Usually, scripts like this are about Single Mothers and how they cope with the dissolution of families-with-children. This one goes a step beyond. It is a dignified, raw glimpse of the difficulty of being a father who has lost his "family" -- either to, or from, alcohol; either to, or from, pride.