Like "Radio Days" and "Stand By Me", this non-linear tale of growing up takes a bunch of situations and melds them together as part of a similar theme. The film focuses on young Ryan Francis and his life down south in a small town surrounded by a gorgeous countryside during World War II, having just moved there to be near his grandparents (Maureen O'Sullivan and Richard Farnsworth) and his desire to fit in. Anne Ramsey had her last role in this playing what else, a scary old battleaxe.
Told through the narrating older version of Francis years later, this has individual episodes of his life, hit and miss in their overall impact, and it's best when these situations are either quirky or spooky. I'll never forget the sequence of a giant water snake approaching Francis and a friend, its mouth opening in a scary manner as he lays there frozen. Then there's the mysterious voices of the night exaggerated as children's minds often have them to be, the unknown more eerie than what they see.
The pacing is more like something you'd see on PBS or A&E in 1988, frequently funny and often poignant. The presence of a young black boy among the gang of friends he makes gives this a southern "Our Gang" feel, closer to what those shorts were in the mid 30's rather than what they were when the series ended in 1944. Francis questions his grandfather's prejudices over his objections to the friendship, reminding the viewer of how prejudice starts in the first place. Goes from light and heart tugging to profound and disturbing without blinking an eye.
Told through the narrating older version of Francis years later, this has individual episodes of his life, hit and miss in their overall impact, and it's best when these situations are either quirky or spooky. I'll never forget the sequence of a giant water snake approaching Francis and a friend, its mouth opening in a scary manner as he lays there frozen. Then there's the mysterious voices of the night exaggerated as children's minds often have them to be, the unknown more eerie than what they see.
The pacing is more like something you'd see on PBS or A&E in 1988, frequently funny and often poignant. The presence of a young black boy among the gang of friends he makes gives this a southern "Our Gang" feel, closer to what those shorts were in the mid 30's rather than what they were when the series ended in 1944. Francis questions his grandfather's prejudices over his objections to the friendship, reminding the viewer of how prejudice starts in the first place. Goes from light and heart tugging to profound and disturbing without blinking an eye.