Customer Reviews

Loggerheads

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I found "Loggerheads," to be a profoundly moving film with deep roots that takes the viewer on a spellbinding journey through the interwoven lives of three people, whose life changing decisions all come to a head over a Mother's Day weekend in different sections of North Carolina.

What makes the film so unique is that it takes place over a three year period, jumping back and forth between the years and captivating the viewer with the truly difficult and life-altering decisions that the characters have to make.

This captivating film is accompanied by a hauntingly beautiful soundtrack that adds greatly to the impact of the film and characters. The eloquence and intricacy of the story line, combined with the intensity of the characters leaves the viewer spellbound. "Loggerheads," is an artistic and masterfully produced film that is based on a true story. The characters are real, nothing is over done, all of the dialog is low key, subtle, yet profoundly effective and incredibly moving. This film is not your usual Hollywood drama, it is so much more than that. The actors do such a fine job that you are left wondering if they are acting at all. This is a genuinely moving film that will take you on a realistic journey that could happen to any of us. All of the pieces of the film come together at the end. It's the kind of film that you watch and then when it's over, you sit for several minutes trying to absorb all that you have just seen. It is a life like and down to earth story and I highly recommend it to all.

Loggerheads are turtles, found along the coast of North Carolina, whose lives are unique in that the females always return to the beach where they were born to lay their eggs, hatch their young who in turn by moonlight go out to sea only to return to their origin to repeat the life cycle. The film by the name LOGGERHEADS relies heavily on this phenomenon: it is set in North Carolina and is guided by the young man Mark (Kip Pardue) who opens the story sleeping on the beach in Kure Beach, NC where he studies and protects the loggerheads.

A complex and challenging film, writer/director Tim Kirkman (The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me, Dear Jesse) calls upon a true story to bring up questions of adoption in all the permutations of the triad, homosexuality, religious intolerance, bigotry, AIDS, and the longing for love and forgiveness. Kirkman sets his story in three years - 1999, 2000, 2001 - a fact that can be disconcerting until the flow of the film reveals the need to separate the events in time.

Mark is befriended by George (Michael Kelly) who is a kind young man, owning a motel, and who provides a room for the beach sleeper Mark. Mark quickly informs George that he has AIDS, thinking that George's kindness is a barter. But George is a true friend and their relationship grows slowly and with mutual trust as they learn the secrets of their pasts: George's lover 'drowned' in a mysterious accident; Mark ran away from his adoptive parents when they discovered he was gay; both men are tender and vulnerable souls afraid of further commitment.

Simultaneously we are introduced to Grace (Bonnie Hunt), recently recovering from a suicide attempt who longs to connect with the son she was forced to give up for adoption at age 17, and who lives with her rather rigid mother Sheridan (Michael Learned) who believes Grace should not try to discover the son she never knew. We also meet the minister Rev. Robert (Chris Sarandon) and his wife Elizabeth (Tess Harper) who are fanatics about gay people and even resent their neighbor Ruth (Ann Pierce) who places a nude statue of David on her lawn. The couple's son Mark is never discussed and the adoptive parents never communicate with him - but Ruth does. Ruth finally confides that Mark is ill and the wounds of separation open for Elizabeth. Meanwhile Grace has paid a 'finder' to locate Mark but the finder gives her a sad report. The three years of the story line make exquisite sense at this point as we realize that Kirkman has allowed us to be voyeurs into a human drama of immense substance, one that inexorably binds these disparate characters.

The cast is genuinely fine, with Kip Pardue, Michael Kelly, Bonnie Hunt, Tess Harper all giving highly sophisticated performances. But the credit for the impact of this stunning film goes to the writing and directing of Tim Kirkman. He has a way with film that is unique: we can only hope he will continue to make films of this quality, films that tackle difficult issues and are molded into realistic, non-manipulated dramas. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, May 2006

What an incredibly moving film - I am an adoptee that searched for her mom, only to find that she had died many years ago. This film is right on in the representations of adoptees and mothers searching - the acting is so true to life and the images have stayed with me. This is one of my absolute favorite films ever - I was moved to tears many times. Incredible film -

Loggerheads is a tender yet tortured movie about a son who is drifting (Kip Pardue playing Mark), a biological mother pineing away about the fate of her baby (Bonnie Hunt playing Grace), and an adoptive mother torn between her beliefs, her marriage and the the man her son has grown to become (Tess Harper playing Elizabeth).
The writer and director (Tim Kirkman) carefully lays the foundation of this multi-layered story by crafting the storylines that drive each character to the point which they are at. Loggerheads takes head on: sealed adoption files, the conflicts that erupt in a religious family and a gay son and finds time to have a tender romance blooming under the balmy beach sun. This movie is not lite by any means, but really stirs up feeling of comparsion for Mark (lost and needing a mother), fustration (as Grace races to find him) and forgiveness (as Elizabeth learns the about the time she has wasted away from her ill son).
Loggerhead is an ideal title, for a creature such as a turtle that is both strangely beautiful and secretive, yet relies on the mercy and protection of others to defend it from poachers and environmental destructuon.....so does children, adoptive or not, rely on loving partents to thrive.

Having been involved with adoption for over 25 years - and being personally acquainted with the birthmother - I wondered...could this film truly do justice to the issues that it was attempting to dissect on open screen? And, it did! This movie is an lasting tribute to those involved in adoption whose lives are caught in the balance of what we know to be the adoption triangle. My only regret being that the birthmother was never able to give her son the depth of her love ~ what a much better world this would have been for that one act of connectivity to have occurred. The ability to find healing of broken hearts and spirits should never be legislated, as so many states have and continue to attempt to do over the decades. I recommend this movie to anyone wishing to embark upon a journey which many of us have already taken in one form or the other.

Going into "Loggerheads" with much trepidation, I feared another serious film that might preach at me. It is such an unexpected pleasure these days when a movie allows you to draw your own conclusions--where every emotion isn't telegraphed by big moments. But the leisurely, and quiet, "Loggerheads" is a rarity--a film that is powerful and serious in a very subtle way.

The film sets up three concurrent stories, each set one year apart. In the first story, a young and wandering gay man finds himself in a coastal town studying the lifestyle of the Loggerhead turtles. Relinquishing the emotional baggage of his past, he learns how to settle into a life in which he's comfortable--even as he is living with HIV. The second arc, set a year later, deals with a Minister and his wife as they stoically maintain decorum even after their family has split apart. And lastly, one year after that, a suicidal woman struggles to locate the child she gave up for adoption when she was seventeen. The stories and timelines interweave expertly, drawing out detailed performances by all. It doesn't take a rocket scientist, however, to recognize the connectivity of the varying branches--but this film isn't concerned about surprises. When all is confirmed halfway through the film, it's a satisfying and subtle revelation.

The joy of "Loggerheads" is in it's genuinely real, and sometimes flawed, characters. No one here is a villain, but each has made mistakes. What is unorthodox, however, is that each person is trying to do right--is trying to live their life as best they can. Kip Pardue has his best role yet as the young man, and his tentative connection with an effective Michael Kelly is believable and refreshing. Tess Harper, as the Minister's wife, keeps her pain and suffering just beneath the surface as she seeks to understand how events have left her where she is. And Bonnie Hunt, searching for the child she gave up, is a revelation. Her performance makes you wish she'd take on serious work more often.

Quiet and understated in every way, "Loggerheads" does something quite unique. Every big moment, every bit of melodrama, confrontation, or revelation is done off screen. This is not about big "actorly" grandstanding--which in less assured hands, it might have been. It's about the smaller moments that characterize how people deal with their lives in an everyday sense. To be sure, the issues dealt with here are very serious, but the film never gets lost in messages or contrivance. No, it's a very observant picture highlighting real characters dealing with the repercussions of the choices and the mistakes that they've made. Where others films might have chosen to sentimentalize this story, "Loggerheads" presents things matter-of-factly. Allowing you to draw your own conclusions, it has great dignity and restraint--and, thus, reaches a moving conclusion that elicits genuinely earned emotion.

"Loggerheads" was a pleasant surprise in every sense. Serious, sweet, and sad--the film is real, meaningful, and effective. A near perfect, fantastically understated treat--this intelligent film earns 4 1/2 stars from me. KGHarris, 12/06.

This is the first time I've felt compelled to write a review of a movie purchased on Amazon. I purchased this as a gift and only viewed after it had been viewed and raved about. Boy, am I glad I did. Loggerheads is a very well made film that tells three very real stories in an honest manner. I could go on and on about the acting and writing, but others have beat me to the punch.
More than anything, I want to respond to the comments made by the reviewer at the bottom of the page. It is unfortunate that the writers couldn't get past their own predjudices to see the message that this quiet little movie made. Perhaps it is a film whose message hits too close to home. It is just this small mindedness that the film wishes to address. Perhaps if all parents who have shunned their children who are "different" or in their eyes, "have made a mistake" the heartbreaks in the film wouldn't have occurred. I can only say to these people, view the film again with an open mind. If you can't find it in yourself to do this, give it to a friend. This movie should be viewed by anyone with a heart.

I fully expected this ensemble film to be so syrupy sweet with sentimentality that I just assumed I wouldn't like it. But it was quite the opposite and I was quite wrong - instead, I found a wonderful work of art that was so genuine and full of the realistic subtleties of life. It was totally captivating and had such heart! I cared about the characters and their often flawed, yet deeply felt emotional responses to the great challenges in their lives. I can't believe I knew nothing of this film until a few months ago. I don't remember its theatrical release at all! It just makes me wonder how so many terrible films can make their way into theatres, while little gems like LOGGERHEADS disappear into oblivion. Go figure.....

Loggerheads is one of those movies that touch you in a way that stays with you long after the credits roll. I had the pleasure of watching this incredibly beautiful movie this past weekend and I am still mesmerized by it. I find myself sad with an aching heart knowing that Loggerheads was based on a true story and knowing that there were all these people effected by the NC adoption rules of the time.

I ache for the birth mother longing for her son that she was forced to give away at birth. I am sad for the adoptive mother that, be it through religious beliefs or how she was brought up to believe, let her adopted son go away and never be sought after. But most of all I ache for the son, the baby abandoned by a birth mother, abandoned a second time by an adoptive mother and yet still manages to hang on to life and try to do something good, such as saving the endanagered sea turtles on the North Carolina Coast. All the while, underneath, harboring a belief that he was never wanted by anyone.

The casting of this movie was excellent. From Bonnie Hunt who played Grace, the birth mother, to Tess Harper, the adoptive mother, Chris Sarandon, the adoptive father and Michael Kelly, the man whom Mark (played by Kip Pardue) befriends and finds a kindard soul.

The outstanding member of the cast, for me, was Kip Pardue. Not only did he lead the movie with the grace that was needed, he pulled through on every scene and made me love Mark so much that I cried when he hurt. Kip is a beautiful man, no doubt. Much like a model, he's so beautiful. But, that's the outside. I don't pretend to know him, but he brings a presence to the screen, almost like an angel effect. He seems so sweet, so kind. This is exactly what I believe was needed to make Mark our angel. Perfect work, amazing job!

And Michael Kelly, with his kindness and sincerity, he brought George to life in such a way, that I wanted them together from the moment that they introduced themselves. One of my favorite scenes was when George gives Mark a place to stay and Mark mistakeningly thinks that it is in return for sex. A "barter situation". George quickly informs him that it's not and he doesn't "need to barter".

Tim Kirkman created a very moving and beautiful movie with "Loggerheads" and I thank him for sharing it with me. I will purchase it and recommend to any of my friends to purchase it. It is amazing, mesmerizing and will leave you with your heart still attached to it. I promise.

i'd passed this by in the video store a few times before going online and adding it to my movie list...i thought it was pretty decent actually, well acted, sad, i like how the lives and stories were intertwined, that was pretty subtle yet very understanding and sad in a good way, i hope that makes sense, the ending sad though, which i think was the underpinning of the movie itself, so it all came together in the end, but i was hoping for something happy/sad or sad/happy, not necessarily in those orders...either way to those contemplating on watching it, rent first and maybe buy later...