A Thousand Acres

All right, let's get this out of the way: A Thousand Acres, the story of an aging farmer (Jason Robards) who divides his farm between his three daughters (Michelle Pfeiffer, Jessica Lange and Jennifer Jason Leigh), is King Lear on the farm. Jocelyn Moorhouse's rendering of Jane Smiley's award-winning novel never captures the lyrical prose or finely-observed farm life details which gave the story a unique voice. Without the poetry and perspective of Smiley's language, the story becomes little more than a collection of tragedies, something out of a pitch meeting from The Player: "It's King Lear, but with breast cancer, adultery, domestic violence, alcoholism and child abuse." How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have such a disappointing adaptation. Not recommended. (S. Renshaw) [Blu-ray/DVD Review—Sept. 4, 2018—Kino Lorber, 105 min., R, DVD: $14.95, Blu-ray: $19.95—Making its latest appearance on DVD and debut on Blu-ray, 1997’s A Thousand Acres features a nice transfer with DTS-HD 2.0 audio on the Blu-ray release. Extras include audio commentary by director Jocelyn Moorhouse. Bottom line: a disappointing adaptation of Jane Smiley’s Shakespeare-inspired novel.]