Customer Reviews

Ellen Foster [VHS]

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Ellen Foster is the story of a young girl desperately seeking to find a real family. Her real family is an abusive, drunken father and a mother in chronic ill-health. Ellen is, by default, the woman of the house and takes care of two parents. She meets disapproval from her grandmother becuase her mother married against her mother's wishes and grandmother has never forgiven her - at one point she offers the mom the chance to return to the family mansion but without her daughter. "Trash begats trash" is a powerful statement for a grandmother to make about her granddaughter.

Mom eventually dies, dad deteriorates and eventually ends up in jail. As her family disappears, Ellen is given protection by one of her school teachers. There the affection from the adults to Ellen is immediate and enduring. But it doesn't last as Ellen goes to live with her grandmother, on court order.

Life with grandmother is brutal, in it's own way. Ellen is clothed but trreated more as hired help than a granddaughter. She eats in the dining room with gradnmother on sunday afternoon. The rest of the time she eats with the servants. She works for her room and board. But it doesn't last forever as grandmother has a stroke and ultimately dies, miserable to the end towards Ellen.

Then it's off to an aunt with a child of her own and it doesn't get any better. The friction between the girls is palpable, although Ellen is not the instigator.

In the meantime, Ellen has seen a woman with several girls in church. These children vary in age from late teens to a baby. They also vary in race. Ellen is interested in this family and learns they are the "Foster" family. Ellen even rides her bike past the house but is a little confused when there is another name on the mail box. Ellen is also exploring other families. Her best friend in school is a black girl and Ellen gets along well with her family. Ellen gets a reality check when she asks about her staying with the family permanently. The father tells her that white people wouldn't like it if a white girl lived with a black family. Ellen says that it's ok now, we have integration - a truthful and innocent statement. She is aadvised that it won't work. Back to the Foster family.

A blow-up in the aunt's home with the daughter sees Ellen on the move again. This time, it is christmas day and she is wearing her best dress and walking to the Foster home. There she offers the mother her savings so that she can stay there until high school is over. The whole scene at the kitchen table is tremendously powerful and moving. Eventually Ellen gets her family but the scars of her earlier "real" family are still there.

This is a story that ultimately has a fairly happy ending but the trials of this girl within her own family group is discouraging not to say tragic. She meets people along the way who see what is happening and want to help, but the legal system gets in the way. It is a film, while set in the South of a few decades ago, is just as valid to the here and now. It should be a must see for everyone. Tears and anger are evenly mixed. It is a memorable film with excellent performances from all the cast. See it soon.

Little Jena Malone was superb in her role as Ellen Foster. I've seen the movie twice on the television, and will soon be adding this video to my home library.

It opens up where she claims she lays in bed and thinks up ways to kill her daddy. He is such a mean person, especially when he's drunk. Ellen's mother is very sick, but he insists she have a clean house and supper cooked by the time he gets home from work. Ellen does the best she can to help her mother, whom she loves dearly, so her dad won't be so mad. But it doesn't matter, the poor woman works so hard that she dies and leaves Ellen alone with nowhere to go. Sometimes her dad goes off for days at a time and leaves the little girl by herself.

Ellen's grandmother doesn't want her because the grandmother hated the daddy and thought Ellen would be like him. Same with Ellen's aunt. And Ellen's girl cousin was a jealous little girl and a mama's girl. She did everything she could to get Ellen in trouble until Ellen finally ran away to find her own family.

This movie ended good, just the way I would have ended it, with Ellen finding a home. But don't take my word for it. Get the video Ellen Foster and see for yourself what a wonderful movie it is.

For such a young performer, Jena Malone gives an unforgettable performance as an unwanted child. She practically carries the whole movie. The rest of the characters are basically caricatures of the evil grandmother, the drunk father, noble mother, do-gooder art teacher, and insensitive aunts. She herself is a caricature of a long-suffering child but Jena more than competently erases the caricature and becomes Ellen Foster.

Jena Malone conveyed a child's depression from her situation and rising beyond the hopelessness by doing something about it. Her subtle gestures and myriad facial expressions equals the performance of an Academy Award winner.

The best part of the movie is the way her face shows sudden shifts in her emotions, the inner conflicts, the fear of rejection and a child's hope, all this in one scene near the end (a rather lame ending, too pat, but then, don't we all need endings like this after such a heart-wrenching movie?) as she talks to Mrs. Montrose.

I hope she is able to get work like this in her future, work that will show her mastery of her craft and her range. So far, I've seen her in supporting roles in big budget movies, but when she gets the starring role and an equally good script, the movie world better watch out!

Ellen's ability to keep pressing on, when many would give up, make the story a special one. Although it is more likely that a person who is abused will either withdraw or become angry, Ellen's role is both delicate and charming.

The special features tell us that the reason the aunts wear those gaudy 60's style sunglasses is to tell us that even when they are looking right at something - staring at it - they can't see it. How true when people become so callous.

Ellen's mistake in taking the name "Foster" (it isn't her real name in the story) is a bit of humor that is so welcome when we feel her pain. Her courage and those who do care about her, are well done and powerful. The judge, who wishes he had the freedom to place Ellen with her school teacher (played by Amanda Peet), who does take her in after she is physically abused, shows us how a system that seems so logical, can fail us.

This is a heart-warming story that leaves you with something to think about.

The Movie "Ellen Foster" followed the journey that a young abused girl takes to find a place to call home. Based on the book written by Kaye Gibbons, this horrifying but yet modern story makes the common day person thankful for their wonderful but not perfect life. With both famous screen stars such as Jena Malone and Amanda Peet and debuting cast such as Allison Jones, this movie is definetly one to put in a time capsul. Honorable mentions also include Kate Burton, Ted Levine, Julie Harris, Debra Monk, Glynnis O'Connor and director John Erman. With a star studded cast list and amazing author of the movie's base, this movie is set for life.

Ellen Hammond (Malone) was a young girl with adult-like maturity. Many children her age had never seen or felt what she had. When the movie opens, we see Ellen's father Bill (Levine) drunk and asleep on the couch. Ellen is going to get her mother from the hospital with her aunt. When Ellen's mother, Charlotte (O'Connor) returns, she is faced with orders from her husband to clean and cook when she really should be in bed resting. Charlotte works herself to her own death that day, and that is when Ellen's journey begins.

Ellen's school relizes that Bill is abusing Ellen and relocates her to the Art Teacher Julia's ( Peet) house. Ellen is loved and cared for there until a court order sends her to live with her grandmother Leonora Nelson (Harris), who hates Ellen and Bill with all her might. Leonora believes that it was Ellen and Bill's fault that Charlotte died, and she forces Ellen to work as a maid as a form of revenge. When Leonora dies, Ellen is sent to live with her aunt Nadine (Monk). Nadine is very wealthy and spoils her daughter, and Ellen is never truly welcome in the house. After an intense argument, Ellen leaves the house and goes to a foster mother. There she is accepted and is loved, and Ellen changes her name to Ellen Foster.

Though this movie was fascinating, it left out Ellen's deepest feelings. What was so amazing in the book was how strong and independent she was. The movie seemed to touch her lifestyle rather then her actual inner self. It was the writers who had a challenge in front of them and took the audience friendly side of the story or in my opinion, the easy way out.Kaye Gibbons' message was not stated to the extent that she portrayed it in the book.

This movie has a definite feel to it that will not be lost, which is sad. In 1997, when this movie came out, abuse was found everyday. Eight years later, nothing has changed. I guess that is what will keep this movie alive for generations to come.

I'm afraid foster care in the U.S., and mayber everywhere in the world, is so heartbreaking. Kids are shuffled around like so much horsemeat. I loved the ending of this movie but I think the typical ending in real life is anything by happy, especially for the kids themselves who are always the ones that suffer the most. A good depiction of a very sad process.

I found a copy of this VHS for 50 cents, and so I bought it because I rememembered watching a little of it on TV a long time ago. The book was good, and I remembered that Jena's acting was really good as well.

That being said, the movie was obviously a Hallmark one, complete with a musical picture montage in the beginning. I did like the scene in the beginning where Ellen is watching her father with an evil look in her eye. For a second, I thought that there wasn't going to be a voice-over, and that the whole story would be conveyed through action. No such luck. A few seconds later, there was the dreaded voice-over, in all its glory.

While the book was about the protagonist's search for a home, it was also about her inner journey. The movie, on the otherhand, only focused on the surface conflicts and never developed Ellen into anything more than an eternally grateful little child who had righteous anger against those who wronged her and could be quite feisty at times. There was no personal growth for her, like there was in the book. The movie ended when her quest for a home was complete. The ending annoyed me because it kind of trivialized the book's ending, but I understood that it would have been hard to make the story more about Starletta in the end when she wasn't in the movie all that much. There's only so much you can fit into any movie.

Anyway, I still say this movie is worth watching for Jena Malone's acting. It did have a lot of heart to it. And if it makes people more aware of the plight of abused children, then that's a good thing.

Jena Malone is masterful beyond her years. Her performance is compelling and spell binding in every sense. This story grabs your heart and never lets go even after the credits have rolled. Helen Foster (Jena Malone) learns that home is not necessarially where your relatives are but where the love is. This is absolutely a video to own and revisit from year to year.

I was glad that the director did not devote so much time to "abuse" in this movie as to the "neglect" and lonliness of this child and her incredible will to survive. This movie was such a tribute to what strong determination and survival instincts a parent can foster in a child in even a short time.

Julie Harris was incredible, as always as the hateful grandmother.

Jena Malone was outstanding.

My only criticism of the movie was the ending, which I didn't think was strong enough. After everything you see this child go though, when she finally goes to the foster house and finds a new mother, you want the woman to just pick her up and hold her and really comfort her. Other than that, however, the movie was wonderful.

Touching Drama, Jena Malone is great as abused Ellen Hammond/Foster. One of my personal Favorites.