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Bookmark this pageOne True Thing (1998)
Director: Carl Franklin
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Not quite a weepy despite its drippy score and feel-good ending, this adaptation of Anna Quindlen's novel is less about bereavement than the preliminaries thereto. Its theme is the sheer inconvenience which a dying family member, no matter how loved, represents. When it becomes clear that Mother (Streep) has terminal cancer, her son seems to fade from the scene, her college professor husband clings stubbornly to his routine, and it's left to the daughter (Zellweger) to put her life on hold for the duration. The script shifts audience sympathies about quite adroitly, though it's a pity all the men had to be such humbugs. Franklin's lyrical evocation of small town life and Streep's lavishly mannered performance disrupt the project in not uninteresting ways.Author: BBa
User reviews of this film
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- Perry Littleboy said...
- Posted on Aug 30 2009 16:59 The film is beautifully crafted, with Zellweger, Hurt and Everett Scott all acting consumately, but it is Meryl Streep who steals the film. It is her every nuanced gesture and facial expression that stays in the mind. The script writing is worthy of an Oscar, with one scene, Streep's "Don't shush me... everyone is shushing me" that is one of the most poetic soliloquies I have seen on film.
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Cast & crew
Director: Carl Franklin
Producer: Harry Ufland, Jesse Beaton
Cast: Meryl Streep, Renée Zellweger, William Hurt, Tom Everett Scott, Lauren Graham, Nicky Katt full cast
Duration: 127 mins
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