THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 8, 1995 TAG: 9510070033
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E7 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie Review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, ENTERTAINMENT WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines
``HOW TO MAKE an American Quilt'' is a movie that obviously wants to be hugged - and hugged and hugged. It is a three-hankie movie.
It is based on Whitney Otto's 1991 novel, which in turn was based on her own master's thesis about ``rituals of women's handiwork in tribal cultures.'' More specifically, this features eight women who band together to make a wedding quilt for a Berkeley graduate student named Finn (played by the wondrous Winona Ryder).
She is about to become engaged to a nice lad played by Dermot Mulroney, but she has reservations. She's spending the summer wondering and pondering whether she's right for marriage. She also spends a great deal of time, as do we, listening.
The women spout wisdom about love and such.
Theaters will probably do best business on Monday nights when wives flee their homes to escape the weekly football ritual. To be cynical about it would be asking for the wrath of Aphrodite to come crashing down, with cupid throwing stones rather than arrows. Any critic who tries it might be beaten to death by tear-stained handkerchiefs.
Actually, there is great fun in watching all these actresses at work. The cast is so large that the film would be a success merely if all their relatives bought tickets.
Winona Ryder is a luminous delight. The camera is in love with her and she reacts with a winning mixture of vulnerability and soul-searching. She's diverted by muscular pool boy Leon, played by Johnathon Schaech, who might become a star if anyone could spell his name.
Ellen Burstyn (Oscar winner for ``Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore'') and Anne Bancroft (Oscar winner for ``The Miracle Worker'') are fine as her battling relatives (a grandmother and a great aunt). The other five women in the quilting bee are played by a mixture of national treasures including poet Maya Angelou, Kate Nelligan, Jean Simmons, Lois Smith and Alfre Woodard. Angelou has the voice of a wise prophet speaking from on high. It is a particular joy to see Simmons again. After all, she has starred in some of the classic films of all our memories (``The Robe,'' ``Elmer Gantry,'' ``Spartacus'' and on and on).
The problem is that all their stories seem the same. I find this film's episodes much easier to thread together, and understand, than those in the much-loved ``Joy Luck Club,'' but I'd have to admit that I liked the current ``Moonlight and Valentino'' and the forthcoming ``Now and Then'' much better than this film. (Both are similar woman-bonding epics).
The most impressive episode here is the one dealing with the rebellious Sophia, flashing back to her younger romance. Lois Smith gives perhaps the film's best performance as Sophia. (Smith greeted James Dean when he visited the bordello in ``East of Eden'' and she's been turning in fine performances ever since - including a memorable one in ``Five Easy Pieces.'')
There is a thoroughly appropriate film score composed by Thomas Newman.
The men aren't bashed as much as you'd expect. In fact, the film is civil, at the least, to the male characters. The film, though, is dedicated to ``how women love men.''
Stitch it together any way you like, according to this film, men respond by doing one of two things: They either die, or leave. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
UNIVERSAL PICTURES
Finn (Winona Ryder) and her unconventional mother, Sally (Kate
Capshaw), discuss marriage in the three-hankie movie ``How To Make
an American Quilt.''
Graphic
MOVIE REVIEW
``How to Make an American Quilt''
Cast: Winona Ryder, Anne Bancroft, Ellen Burstyn, Jean Simmons,
Alfre Woodard, Lois Smith, Samantha Mathis, Kate Nelligan, Maya
Angelou, Claire Danes, Loren Dean, Melinda Dillon, Dermot Mulroney,
Esther Rolle, Rip Torn
Director: Jocelyn Moorhouse, based on the novel by Whitney Otto
Screenplay: Jane Anderson, based on the novel by Whitney Otto
MPAA rating: PG-13 (little that is offensive, mild language,
sexual promise)
Mal's rating: Two 1/2 stars
Locations: Movies 10 and Greenbrier 13 in Chesapeake, Janaf and
Main Gate in Norfolk, Columbus, Kemps River, Lynnhaven Mall and
Surf-n-Sand in Virginia Beach.
by CNB