Product Details

• Actors: Deborah Kara Unger, Terry Kinney, Eric Lloyd, Jamey Sheridan, Patrick Fitzgerald
• Directors: Bette Gordon
• Format: Color, Dolby, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Fox Lorber
• DVD Release Date: October 16, 2001
• Run Time: 94 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00005NC64
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #221,631 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Luminous Motion" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Bette Gordon, who made her directorial debut in 1983 with Variety, returned 15 years later with this adaptation of Scott Bradfield's novel The History of Luminous Motion about an alcoholic mother. "Only two things mattered to me — being with my mom and being in motion," says ten-year-old Phillip (Eric Lloyd), who teaches himself physics and biology as he's driven about by his mother Margaret (Deborah Kara Unger). After a car crash, they settle down with Hackensack hardware store owner Pedro (Terry Kinney). Phillip receives letters and phone calls from his dad (Jamey Sheridan). Eventually, mother and son leave Pedro to live on Staten Island — where the boy meets some strange teens (James Berland, Paz De La Huerta), Pedro appears as a ghostly figure, and Phillip's father turns up. Shown at the 1998 Locarno Film Festival. — Bhob Stewart

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Eric Lloyd Gives a Performance That Will Win Your Heart!, December 6, 2001

By 

Sensitive Stephen (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Luminous Motion (DVD)

Scott Bradfield's novel of the same name receives a senstive and winning screen adaptation. Although this movie did not get much attention when it first appeared, you will greatly enjoy seeing it on DVD. The DVD transfer is first-rate. Eric Lloyd is the one to watch here!

--Sensitive Stephen, Host of BoysOnYourScreen.net

A plot summary:

Ten year old Phillip Davis has spent half his life
joyously living on the California highways with his
carefree and highly seductive mother. Every night is a
road, every man is a map, and no love is stronger than
the love Phillip feels for his mom. Mom is light and
Mom is motion.

So when Mom decides to settle down and lead an
average life with an average American man, Phillip
sees himself as her savior, and his mission is to
liberate Mom. At first, he appears to succeed, but an
unexpected event sidetracks his plans: Phillip's
powerful father re-enters his life and he wants his
family back. Oedipus was lucky - he was ignorant of
his crime. But Phillip is all too aware of his situation
and he knows exactly what he must do to regain a life
in motion.

Phillip's obsessive love for his mother is intense and
perhaps perverse but it is also as innocent and
psychologically familiar as Humbert Humbert's
hopeless love for Lolita. Ultimately, Phillip learns that
Mom is a world all her own and there are some places
we must all go alone.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Alcoholic floozie on her own raises murderous brat--, June 4, 2005

By 

Paul Emmons (West Chester, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Luminous Motion (DVD)

So what's new?

I'm reminded of a friend's description of an article he had read: zoologists observed a herd of elephants whose alpha male had died. The young male elephants failed to mature properly, becoming wantonly destructive, and the adult females could not control them. Only when a new alpha male joined the herd was order restored.

If this glitteringly surreal but naturalistic and nihilistic film shows any truth, it is that humans are no different in this respect. It seems an unlikely moral to come from a reputedly feminist director, but there we are.

10-year-old Phillip appears to be a sympathetic character at first: very intelligent, thoughtful, adventurous, devoted to his mother, making the best of a bad situation. But gradually he is revealed to be totally self-centered and amoral, with an oversized Oedipus complex, a morbid imagination, a keen nose for the worst of company, and of course no manners at all. Some would say he needs a shrink. It is more obvious that he needs a dad, although anyone stepping into that role does so in peril of his life, as Pedro discovers.

The last scenes are represented as an affluent but utterly sterile existence: mother and son sun themselves on air mattresses in rich husband/dad's backyward swimming pool, conversing as they slowly drift apart in the water. But at least everyone's still alive.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars disgusting, August 17, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Luminous Motion (DVD)

I originally bought this movie to see Eric Lloyd, it turned out to be a complete bomb. There is no plot, it is incredibly weird, lacking any sense of anything. All that happens is him and his mom go from town to town stealing what they can from unsuspecting strangers to survive. It will leave you thinking "what was that" and have you looking for some normality for an hour or two later. There is nothing to grasp. If you were thinking about buying it to see Eric, it's not worth it, go see him in something else worth the time.