Customer Reviews

How to Make an American Quilt

5 star:		(41)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"How to Make an American Quilt" is one of my favorite "chick flicks." And hopefully labeling a movie as a "chick flick" doesn't immediately damn it into some lesser category. When I want to curl up in a quilt on a rainy day and sip hot cocoa and watch a movie, "American Quilt" would be a perfect choice. This is one of the few times when I liked the movie far better than the book--which I read second. From the moment that I hear the first strains of the movie's soundtrack, I'm ready to grab a box of Kleenex and settle in.

In "American Quilt," Finn (Winona Ryder) comes to spend the summer with her grandmother Hy (Ellen Burstyn) and great aunt Glady Jo (Anne Bancroft) in Grasse, California. Her plan is to finish her master's thesis while considering the marriage proposal of her long-time sweetheart, Sam. Finn's inability to stick with a project--she's changed thesis topics countless times--seems about to derail her relationship with Sam. Amazon.com's main review criticizes the movie adaptation of the Whitney Otto novel for focusing too much on Finn. I thought that Finn's attempt to sort out her feelings about relationships, while talking to the other women in Hy and Glady Jo's quilting group, sewed the story together quite well. As Finn is pondering whether a modern, intelligent woman can preserve a sense of self within a marriage, one by one, her grandmother, aunt, and their friends share the stories of their marriages or their most significant relationships. Older women sharing their life experiences to help guide a younger woman rang very true to life.

Poet Maya Angelou turns in a surprisingly powerful performance as the leader of the quilting group. Her story of how, as an unwed mother, she came to work for Hy and Glady Jo's mother, is one of my favorites. She holds her own with this great actresses. Bancroft and Burstyn are wonderful as sisters whose love for each other has endured, despite betrayal. Samantha Mathis, as the young Sophia Darling, is stellar as the diver who can't wait to shake off the dust of her small town and explore the world, and who discovers that realizing such dreams aren't so easy.

As a quilter, I absolutely loved the various quilts seen in the movie. I appreciated the detail of including fabrics seen in the flashback scenes into the blocks that each woman contributes to the friendship quilt. The quilts that Anna shows to Finn--including an old slave quilt that was especially designed and made for the movie and a baby quilt featuring African animals--are some of my favorite quilt designs.

I did not expect to enjoy this film as much as I did. It is about a group of women that have been working in a quilting circle together for many years. Each contributes a square to the quilt using the theme where love resides. As each member works on their individual square, we are taken back in history with them to see how events and choices have shaped their lives. This is a very intense and poignant story that will have a hankie moment or two.

Firstly, I am a man reviewing this "chick flick". But, I was touched by the premise of the film without even knowing there was a book too. So, my review here is just about the film, not a film to book comparison.

I found the setting of the story, an agriculture region of California, beautiful, and the cinematography quite good. It is a pleasant and aesthetic picture for the eye.

The cast is dynamite, Ellen Burstyn, Maya Angelou, Anne Bancroft,
and all the others! The acting I found superb. Other reviewers who criticize Winona Ryder I do not agree with. I found Ryder's
acting and portrayal of a confused graduate student, not quite knowing what to do and where to go very credible, and quite believable! I felt the director of the movie was very true to the portrayal of this important point in one's life, where one has to decide who to spend the rest of their life with. I think many in our society don't really examine this aspect of our lives and I believe negative reviewers are those folk who have not experienced this maybe in their lives as of yet. I found the older characters reminiscing to their younger selves a powerful device, powerfully employed by the Director. It is quite easy to critique and blithely say the flashback device was over used. But, such analysis, does not give fair credit to the full employ of the flashback device use with a twist in this film. For me, it was a powerful message. The older women, still with that younger self as a component of their souls, was what the flashbacks were about.

Truly, an erudite portrayal by all the actors and the director of how we "quilt" our love(s) into our lives. Highly recommended only for those who know the meaning of love in their lives and how difficult it can be at times to sort through that confusion. A poignant portrayal by all actors and kudos to Ryder for the confusion, anger, limbo, etc. of her character. I felt Winona demonstrated a virtuouso range, and those who do not recognize it, maybe have not experienced this range in their lives as of yet. The film is one that I would gladly watch again. I don't do that too often.

Starting with the title, which is terrific, I also liked the great cast of actors who were chosen for the film. The story begins when Finn (Winona Ryder) comes to spend the summer with her grandmother (Ellen Burstyn) and her aunt (Anne Bancroft) at a grand old house in California. Finn is a graduate student who wants to spend the summer working on her thesis. She also needs a break from her boyfriend who wants to marry her. She's very indecisive about everything in her life, and I honestly found her part to be a little boring. The best parts of the story are about the friends that her grandmother and aunt share and their involvement in a quilting circle. The quilting ladies are all quite different and through flashbacks we're given a glimpse of them as young women and the love or lack of love in their lives. Jean Simmons plays one of the women, and I was delighted to see her acting again. I loved the scenes where the quilters, are working around a table in the lovely old house. The set designs were beautiful and perfect for the story.

At a certain point in the film, we come to find out that the theme of the quilt is "where love resides." Every quilter is making a block from her own experience in life. Finn also learns that the quilt is her wedding gift.

HOW TO MAKE AN AMERICAN QUILT is an enjoyable movie. I think that the individual stories could have been a little more informative, but all things considered it's a wonderful movie and worth seeing.

*How to Make an American Quilt* has been in my Top 5 since the second I saw it in the theatre. Unfortunately, it seems to be grossly misunderstood by reviewers, who tend to be - and sorry for the generalization - male. It works more as a companion piece to the novel, as each fills in the blanks that the other left behind. What you have at the end is solid, heartfelt, and a true treasure within the "woman's film" genre.

"How to Make an American Quilt" is one of my favorite "chick flicks." And hopefully labeling a movie as a "chick flick" doesn't immediately damn it into some lesser category. When I want to curl up in a quilt on a rainy day and sip hot cocoa and watch a movie, "American Quilt" would be a perfect choice. This is one of the few times when I liked the movie far better than the book--which I read second.

In "American Quilt," Finn (Winona Ryder) comes to spend the summer with her grandmother Hy (Ellen Burstyn) and great aunt Glady Jo (Anne Bancroft) in Grasse, California. Her plan is to finish her master's thesis while considering the marriage proposal of her long-time sweetheart, Sam. Finn's inability to stick with a project--she's changed thesis topics countless times--seems about to derail her relationship with Sam. Amazon.com's main review criticizes the movie adaptation of the Whitney Otto novel for focusing too much on Finn. I thought that Finn's attempt to sort out her feelings about relationships, while talking to the other women in Hy and Glady Jo's quilting group, sewed the story together quite well. As Finn is pondering whether a modern, intelligent woman can preserve a sense of self within a marriage, one by one, her grandmother, aunt, and their friends share the stories of their marriages or their most significant relationships. Older women sharing their life experiences to help guide a younger woman rang very true to life.

Poet Maya Angelou turns in a surprisingly powerful performance as the leader of the quilting group. Her story of how, as an unwed mother, she came to work for Hy and Glady Jo's mother, is one of my favorites. She holds her own with this great actresses. Bancroft and Burstyn are wonderful as sisters whose love for each other has endured, despite betrayal. Samantha Mathis, as the young Sophia Darling, is stellar as the diver who can't wait to shake off the dust of her small town and explore the world, and who discovers that realizing such dreams aren't so easy.

As a quilter, I absolutely loved the various quilts seen in the movie. I appreciated the detail of including fabrics seen in the flashback scenes into the blocks that each woman contributes to the friendship quilt.

First of all, I would like to thank my older cousin for introducing this movie to me when I was younger. I remember watching this movie with her for the first time, thinking wow...why can't there be more movies like this. The truth is, this movie, in my opinion, is original. The cast portraying each of these unique characters couldn't have been chosen more accurately. A story of life, love, and friends, How to Make an American Quilt stirs up many emotions inside. The music in this movie (composed by the musical genius Thomas Newman) is utterly beautiful and magical. This movie is definitely worth watching.

How To Make An American Quilt is quite a charming film. Being largely set amongst sunny Californian orange orchards, there is a wonderfully warm feel about the cinematography, and an excellent (largely female) ensemble cast who make the most of the poignant story and genteel script. The flowing direction of the piece is the work of Australia's own Jocelyn Moorhouse.

Winona Ryder plays Finn Dodd, a recently betrothed twenty-six year old Berkeley postgraduate student who is trying to finish her Masters thesis - for the third time. Finn decides to spend the summer at her Grandmother's house, leaving her new fiancé, Sam (Dermot Mulroney), to continue the renovations on their home. Ostensibly she is going there to get some peace and quiet, but in reality she is looking for something more. The film follows Finn's mental quest for clarity on her role as a woman and reassurance about her future as a wife.

Her Grandmother Hy (Ellen Burstyn) and great-Aunt Glady (Anne Bancroft) are the mainstays of the Grasse quilting bee, a group of like-minded women who spend their time making beautiful quilts. In the USA, quilting is close to an art form and some quilts can be worth considerable sums of money, but the film gives the impression that the quilts created by this group are much more about companionship than money. Finn has largely grown up around these older ladies, since her mother, a divorced hippie, couldn't control her wanderlust for long enough to provide a stable home. This is the place where, surrounded by the love of this extended family, Finn feels at her most secure.

Finn soon finds a suitable diversion from her writing when a chance meeting with a handsome young stranger, Leon (Johnathon Schaech), tests her fidelity and reinforces her doubts about marrying Sam. As the summer unfolds, Finn watches as the ladies design and sew the panels for her wedding quilt. The theme of the quilt is where love resides, and each of the panels reflects the life and loves of its creator. In a series of vignettes, the formative experience of love for each woman is retold - each of them providing a slightly different different perspective on the true meaning of love. Amongst the many stories, we learn the reason behind the enmity between Hy and Glady, details of Anna's (Maya Angelou) one true love, the cause of Sophia's (Lois Smith) bitterness and the origins of Constance's (Kate Nelligan) affair with Em's husband . Before the summer ends, and Sam returns, Finn must decide for herself what is important in her own life, and whether or not to proceed with her wedding...

How To Make An American Quilt is not quite a classic, but it is very good. The theme is simple - how love affects us in different ways, and how we deal with the consequences - but it is still a thought-provoking piece. The mini-stories feel a little too short and perhaps the film might have had more impact by developing fewer of them with more depth. Less is more, as they say. Nevertheless, the excellent cast all put in performances of the highest calibre. Most of the performances are wonderfully subdued - there is a strong air of melancholy which pervades the piece, and more than a hint of sadness in many of the stories. It won't quite have you reaching for the tissues, but it is touching nonetheless. The cinematography is frequently beautiful and the ambience of each flashback story is conveyed flawlessly. Well worth a rental, and for fans of any of the main cast, this may be worth adding to your collection.

This movie is phenomenal. It stars Winnona Ryder as Finn, a young woman about to be married, who is writing a thesis on the interpersonal relationships that are intertwined with in the making of an American quilt. The people that she is writing about are a group of women who have been quilting together for many, many years. They have assembled with the goal of creating a wedding quilt for Finn. The group is comprised of her grandmother, her aunt, and several of their oldest and closest friends. Each woman is charged with designing a single square of the quilt that represents for them "where love resides". As the women work on the quilt they use the opportunity to counsel Finn about her upcoming marriage. They give their own views on what is important in life; on what their experiences have taught them, and why they have made the choices in life that they have made. While they are together, working on the quilt you learn about the relationships and experiences that represent love for these women. At the same time you learn about the hardships and the tribulations that they have experienced both individually and within relationships with one another. This is a movie that explores the nuances of family, love, birth, death, marriage and friendship. This exploration is handled beautifully. The separate stories are woven together, as their lives are, and as the pieces of the quilt are. The movie on the surface is a simple story of several women's lives and their experiences. As you watch, and look deeper you begin to understand that there is profound meaning and an explicit symbolism in each scene and every moment. Each part of this movie was thought out and carefully considered. It is a pleasure to watch and you find your self deeply involved with these women as you travel full circle in their lives. If you have not seen How to Make an American Quilt you must, it should not be missed.

I quilt, my other half is an artist. We both viewed this " simple film " and both found a true delight about the emotions and sometimes confusions of the complexity of love. A finefilm for those that can understand love is delightful but at times so complex. A lovely movie that shrares hope beyond love, love beyond dreams!!