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This Review Reveals Minor Details About the Plot.

Coming Home to Roost

Cavedweller on IMDb

Plot Overview

rooster and chickWhen flighty rock star Randall Pritchard (Kevin Bacon) paramour of Delia Byrd (Kyra Sedgwick) meets a tragic end, Delia packs their preteen daughter Cissy (Regan Arnold) with her to return to Karu, Georgia from which years ago she'd fled her abusive husband Clint Windsor (Aidan Quinn.) For his sins Clint is suffering terminal cancer. Economics force Delia to move back into their house that is still hers. In exchange for home care, Clint grants her custody of their two children Dede (April Mullen,) almost 16, and Amanda (Vanessa Zima,) 14.

music practiceTheirs is a musical family. Delia favors rock, Amanda gospel, Dede contemporary country, and Cissy classic country. Clint is more visual who wants to see familiar fields out the window as he lies dying.

We spot a porcelain dog on a table of Clint's house. When the girls move in, one of them brings a porcelain cat to set on the table. Delia moves it to the floor. After Clint expires we see it on a shelf.

Ideology

Delia's mother-in-law Grandma Windsor (Jackie Burroughs) characterizes her as fast: “You were fast growing up, fast leaving school, fast marrying, fast having babies, and fast leaving. You can't be fast coming back … after ten years.” Hers, how­ever, is a hurried version of the story of the prodigal son.

dinnerYou will recall from Luke 15:11-32 a man's younger of two sons was fast at leaving home but had second thoughts upon realizing his life in his new­found country was the pits. Delia realized L.A. was no place to raise a child, so she headed back to Georgia with Cissy (“I gotta fix things.”) The prodigal son's father ran to embrace him when he saw him coming, and Delia was warmly greeted by a stranger on the street (“Fine day”) as she set foot in town (“Y'all enjoy it.”) And by a waitress off camera in the diner (“Good morning.”) The father in the Bible spruced up his son with shoes, robe and ring. Delia and Cissy had got checked into a motel three hours out to get freshened up, Delia with a tattoo on her ankle. The father threw a party for his son, killing the fatted calf. The two girls chowed down on bacon and eggs in the diner going full swing for the breakfast crowd. Then the older son coming in from the field hearing the party honoring his younger brother complained to their dad of his special treatment undeserved. A waitress behind the counter spotting the returned daughter of the town let her have it: “I know you. You're that bitch ran off and left the babies. Took off with that rock band. Have your­self a good time? Got your­self a fancy car? You're the kind we remember.” Adds a patron off camera, “That's right.” The girls clear out in a hurry (“Let's go.”)

churchDelia figured, “I could turn this around if I could get us all back together.” She seeks counsel from the Rev. D. Hillman (Dan Lett) of The Holiness Redeemer Church of God—that she'd never attended. He doesn't fault her for leaving Clint as he'd have killed her if she stayed. And the tots had extended family to care for them in a pinch. Her share of sin has to do with taking up with another man, as Paul (and the Lord) put it, (1Cor. 7:10-11) “And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband: But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put away his wife.” They're working on forgiveness.

coffee timeA salient description of her behavior can be found in, (Prov. 30:20) “Such is the way of an adulterous woman; she eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness.” The diner was a place of leisurely discussions, and when patrons had to dash off for work, they were warmly addressed to be seen again later. Not so with adulterers. They don't have time for post­coital intimacies. After they've done the deed, they've got to split before they're discovered. Grab the napkin and run, or in this case throw some coin on the table for an insulting tip and be prepared to justify them­selves (“I have done no wickedness.”) And worry about innuendo whether it's meant or not, as in a J.D. Rhoades novel: “since coming to North Carolina, she had dealt with her share of Southern women who could fill just such friendly words with enough venom to knock over a buffalo” (68.)

Production Values

” was directed by Lisa Cholodenko. The screenplay was written by Anne Meredith based on the novel, Cavedweller by Dorothy Allison. It stars Kyra Sedgwick, Aidan Quinn, Sherilyn Fenn and Kevin Bacon. Sedgwick's real life husband Kevin Bacon plays the rock star she ran off with in the movie. The acting is fine throughout, but they're all given somber roles to play except for Fenn as an old friend M.T. whose face lights up upon reuniting.

red maple leavesMPAA rated it R for language. There's a soothing ocean scene near the start, but quaint back­woods Georgia is too cluttered to impress. There's a decided lack of action, which is okay in a chick flick, but emotional depth did not pass over from the book either. This low octane movie was filmed in Cayuga & Toronto, both of Ontario, Canada.

Review Conclusion w/a Christian's Recommendation

In a word it's a yawner. For its part the plot is easy enough to follow, and the girls' liberal comments anchor it as well. It's not one to get all excited about except if it holds some personal significance.

Movie Ratings

Action factor: No action, slow adventure. Suitability For Children: Language not Suitable for Children of Any Age. Special effects: Wake up and smell the 1990s technology. Video Occasion: Okay for a Rainy Day. Suspense: Predictable. Overall movie rating: Three stars out of five.

Works Cited

Scripture quoted from the King James Version. Pub. 1611, rev. 1769. Software.

Rhoades, J.D. Good Day in Hell. Copyright © 2006 by J.D. Rhoades. New York: St. Martin's Minotaur, 2006. Print.