Verdict
Summary
Mill Creek recently released a double feature Blu-ray of Once Around and Evening, and I suppose they’re appropriately paired as “tear-jerkers.” The eras are a little off, but that’s okay if you’re not paying attention to which decades they were released in. Both films are very good, and I recommend them both equally. The high definition transfers are very solid and I have no complaints there.
Once Around Plot:
A family struggles to accept the latest member of the family, a slick, brash salesman.
Review:
The Bella family in Boston celebrates the wedding of older sister Jan (Laura San Giacomo): Dad Joe (Danny Aiello) is a big-hearted bear who’s approaching retirement, while longsuffering mom Marilyn (Gena Rowlands) continues to care for everyone, including a huge house that always needs maintenance. Brother Bella Tony (Danton Stone) is happily married and more or less stays out of all the family drama, while sister Bella Renata (Holly Hunter) struggles to find love. Renata tries striking out on her own by training to become a condo / timeshare salesperson, and her training is at a beachside resort in Florida somewhere, and it’s there where she meets the man who will become the love of her life: Sam Sharpe (Richard Dreyfuss), a slick, brash, overbearing salesman who seems to be a millionaire and a man of means with vague Lithuanian ties. Renata falls completely head over heels in love with this guy, and he with her, treating her like a queen. When she brings this guy over to meet her family after only a weekend of knowing him, he dominates every conversation and situation like the loud mouthed, chain-smoking uncle families tend to be embarrassed by, but that’s also his charm. He blesses the family with unending gifts and with his sometimes awkward brashness: Is this guy for real, or is he a master con artist? Turns out, it doesn’t matter so much because his love is real and Renata loves him like a life preserver in the middle of the ocean, and it seems that nothing can stop these two from wherever they’re headed. When they get married, the Bellas breathe in a deep sigh of apprehension: They can’t stand Sam, but they sure try to hide the fact, and soon the family drama will explode like uncovered pasta in a microwave when Sam oversteps his boundaries within the confines of the family code. But Sam is not just a “character” … he’s family now, and there’s no going back from that.
Once Around isn’t just some random romantic dramedy with good performances or quirky scripting, no: It’s a very very good romantic dramedy with great performances, especially by Dreyfuss who creates a character so real and out there that it feels like a real guy. His chemistry with Hunter is fantastic, likely because they’d played opposite each other before in Always just a few years previous to this, and the film is filled with wonderful moments that soar. It’s sometimes awkward, but that’s part of this movie’s organic joy. There were times when I felt like the family was unfair to Sam; I found him to be engaging, while a bit much at times, but not to the point where the family has an intervention with Hunter’s character, telling her that her husband is no longer welcome in the house. Despite the extremes that the screenplay (written by Malia Scotch Marmo) goes sometimes to make us believe that Sam is too much of a “character,” I never really bought into that because to me he’s just a guy with a lot to give. I used to know someone like him, and so he never bothered me at all. But that’s why Once Around is s great: It’s realistic and full of joy and heartache. Loved it. From director Lasse Hallstrom.
Evening Plot:
On her deathbed, an elderly woman reflects on the love of her life and the mistakes she made.
Review:
Ann (Vanessa Redgrave) is on her deathbed, with her grown daughters (played by her own daughter Natasha Richardson and Toni Collette) gathered around her, hoping to glean perhaps one last bit of wisdom or advice before she passes on. Instead of what they’re expecting, Ann reveals that she had a great love named Harris (Patrick Wilson), a man her daughters know nothing about, and that Ann made a huge mistake when she was a younger woman before they were born. What is the mistake? We get glimpses of Ann as a younger woman (played by Claire Danes). She was very beautiful and had a promising life as a singer, which never quite came to fruition. There was a charming young man named Buddy (played by Hugh Dancy), who loved her, but whose life was tragically cut short in a careless accident. It was Buddy who introduced Ann to Harris, a handsome, serious doctor who fell in love with Ann, but whose lives disconnected due to the fact that their love was marred by Buddy’s death, which happened on a fateful day when their love really came to a peak. Also in the mix is Ann’s friend (played by Mamie Gummer as a younger woman and Meryl Steep, her real mother, as an older woman) who plays in important role in Ann’s younger life, and shows up briefly to say goodbye to her at the end.
While Evening may not necessarily be my cup of tea as a tragic drama, I still found it relatable and nicely crafted by filmmaker Lajos Koltai, and delightfully scored by composer Jan A.P. Kaczmarek. It’s a gorgeous film to look at and the performances are uniformly solid, and the script was adapted from a best selling novel, but I can’t say if it’s a faithful adaptation or not. I can say that the film does collide with the flashbacks and the scenes happening in the present day. Some of the material is schmaltzy and overwrought, while I found the romantic elements to feel authentic and true. I’m not quite sure why Ann didn’t end up with Harris, but sometimes that’s just how life goes, isn’t it?
Mill Creek recently released a double feature Blu-ray of Once Around and Evening, and I suppose they’re appropriately paired as “tear-jerkers.” The eras are a little off, but that’s okay if you’re not paying attention to which decades they were released in. Both films are very good, and I recommend them both equally. The high definition transfers are very solid and I have no complaints there. No special features are included.
