Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 7, 1995 TAG: 9510070015
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: B12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KATHERINE REED STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"How to Make an American Quilt" is a finely crafted movie about love that never gets loopy on the subject.
It borders on the sentimental at times (heck, people sometimes get that way when they talk about love), but a very solid script and terrific performances from a heavyweight cast keep it honest.
Winona Ryder plays Finn, the centerpoint of the story. She has gone to spend the summer with her grandmother Hy (Ellen Burstyn) and great-aunt Glady Joe (Anne Bancroft) at their home in Grasse, Calif. Finn's trying to finish up her latest thesis and make a decision about marrying her boyfriend, Sam (Dermot Mulroney).
Hy and Glady Joe are members of a quilting bee led by the regal, no-nonsense Anna (poet Maya Angelou), and they're working on a special project.
It's Finn's wedding quilt.
So while Finn is agonizing over her thesis and what to do about the question of lifelong commitment, the members of the bee stitch together a representation of their love histories and tell Finn - one by one - the stories behind those brightly colored pieces of cloth.
No one's exactly out to convince Finn that marriage is a panacea. They've all been too long in the world and know too much to make that assertion. But when their individual stories become part of a whole, a little bit of wisdom - and beauty - emerges, and Finn is the recipient.
"Quilt," based on a book by Whitney Otto, sounds yucky, and it could've been. But screenwriter Jane Anderson is no fool about how women talk and behave when they're together - especially when they've known each other a long time. Director Jocelyn Moorhouse - whose only other directorial credit is the Australian film "Proof" - keeps the storytelling fluid and the scenery-eating to a minimum (no small feat with Bancroft in attendance).
Ryder is very good. Burstyn, as always, is remarkable - as are Angelou, Tim Guinee as one of the young lovers, Kate Nelligan as Constance, Lois Smith as Sophia and Samantha Mathis as young Sophia. Rip Torn puts in a very short but excellent appearance as Arthur, Glady Joe's husband.
Some of the flashback sequences that are a part of each love story are too much like dramatic shorthand to have a lot of impact, but it's hard to imagine any way around that problem without making a three-hour film. And that would have drained "Quilt" of some of its power.
It is a subtle, controlled effort that somehow does justice to the forest the trees: the beautiful little pieces of life and the hard work that goes into hanging onto them.
by CNB