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Something's missing
The story of two people coping with loss doesn't rise above sentimentality in "A Rumor of Angels."
By ROBIN EISGRAU
Offoffoff.com
Set on the Maine coast, "A Rumor Of Angels" is a coming-of-age story that
deals with loss and the ways we cope — or don't cope — with it.
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| | | A RUMOR OF ANGELS | Directed by: Peter O'Fallon.
Written by: James Eric from book by Grace Duffie Boylan.
Cast: Vanessa Redgrave, Ray Liotta, Catherine McCormack, Trevor Morgan, Ron Livingston, George Coe, Michelle Grace, Karsen Liotta..
Related links: Official site |
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Twelve-year-old James, spending the summer with his uncle, his often-absent father (Ray Liotta), and a stepmother he has a chilly comtempt for, breaks the
fence of the town recluse, Maddy Bennett (Vanessa Redgrave). A
stern and intimidating woman, Maddy insists that James repair the fence.
Although he is scared of her, James agrees.
Soon the ice thaws between Maddy
and James and they become close friends. They both have something in common:
loss of a close loved one. Maddy's son was killed in Vietnam and James'
mother died in a car crash. Maddy has coped with the loss of her son by
writing a book of messages he has sent her from the afterlife via Morse code
and she shares it with James, much to the consternation of James' parents.
"A Rumor of Angels" does tug at the heartstrings, but unfortunately those
heartstrings aren't tied to anything concrete as we're expected to have
feelings for these characters without being given any real reason to. Some
aspects of the film are just hard to believe, like Maddy's sudden change
from cranky spinster to someone brimming with joie de vivre. The
performances for the most part are good enough, but the film on the whole is
merely sappy and lacking in substance.
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FEBRUARY 13, 2002
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