Born to a poet who shares her name, filmmaker Mary Haverstick builds her Home around people who seem to have emerged from a poem themselves. Set in 1969, the story finds Inga (Marcia Gay Harden), merchant husband Hermann (Michael Gaston), and daughter Indigo (Eulala Scheel, Harden's angel-faced real-life daughter) living in an attractive abode amidst the emerald-green hills of Lancaster County, PA. But Inga, a breast cancer survivor, dreams of buying a multi-story house for sale by a woman named Peggy (Marian Seldes), although—since the family is already having a hard time making ends meet—Hermann doesn't see the point. As summer rolls on, the often despairing alcoholic Inga recalls events from earlier in her life, both good and bad, engaging in an inner monologue through verse (penned by Haverstick's mother, the model for Inga's character). Although she's in remission, Inga still feels haunted by death, and she pays regular visits to Peggy's home—much like the one in which Inga grew up—before ultimately realizing that the cure for her malaise doesn't lie in changing residences. With its unexpected camera angles and glowing colors, Home easily earns the adjectives “poetic” and “lyrical,” but the use of actual poetry will be hit or miss with viewers (even though Haverstick is clearly much more concerned with loss and memory than creative writing here). Making a movie mirroring her childhood was no doubt a therapeutic exercise for the director; fortunately, the end result will also resonate with a larger audience. Recommended. (K. Fennessy)
Home
Monterey, 84 min., PG-13, DVD: $26.95 Volume 24, Issue 4
Home
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