Customer Reviews

The Shadow Box

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The Shadow Box is one of those little known but deeply rewarding gems of a movie that will stay with you long after the closing credits. Based on the Pulitzer-winning play by Michael Cristofer (who also co-wrote the movie screenplay), it has garnered critical praise (Golden Globe for best TV movie, the Humanitas prize in the 90 minutes category and three Emmy nominations, incuding best drama) and somewhat of a cult following. I have met relatively few people who have seen it, but among them there isn't one who wasn't touched and inspired by this beautiful movie, and who couldn't quote at lenght lines spoken by the various characters.

Directed by Paul Newman and produced by Susan Kendall Newman (both Emmy-nominated for The Shadow Box), the movie stars another Newman family member, Joanne Woodward, in a superb cast including Christopher Plummer, James Broderick, Ben Masters, Valerie Harper, Melinda Dillon, Sylvia Sidney and John Considine. Set at a real-life Salvation Army hospice facility for the terminally ill in the beautiful Southern California mountains, the movie is a thougthful, sensitive and delicately uplifting look at the lives of three cancer patients and their families over the course of two days. But even though set in the shadow of the great unknown, the movie is, as the video tagline reads, "A story of life".

We meet Maggie (Valerie Harper) who has come with her son (Curtis Marlowe) to visit her husband Joe (James Broderick). Maggie refuses to believe there is no hope for Joe, and has not told their teenage son. But with his fine adolescent intuition, he already knows, and in his own unassuming way turns into a stable anchor for the family. Then we meet Agnes (Melinda Dillon) who takes gentle care of her ailing mother Felicity (Sylvia Sidney) and keeps her happy with fake letters from her long-dead sister who "is coming to visit soon..." And finally Beverly (Joanne Woodward), a sprightly socialite who comes to visit her ex-husband, Brian (Christopher Plummer), a writer who shares his hospice house with Mark (Ben Masters), a young "friend in the Greek sense" whom he once lifted from the underworld of gay bars to the beauty of art and literature.

While they are all very different characters, their common bond of fate leads them to search various ways to cope with it and to fulfill their lives as much as they can. Felicity pesters her daughter and delights in singing rowdy songs out loud on the grounds, to her daughter's embarrassment. Her daughter Melinda invents in her letters supposedly written by her sister Claire the life she would have liked to have, and tries to read in the overwhelming love her mother has for Claire the little bit of love that Felicity never shows her. Maggie denies her husband's sickness and instead makes plans for the future. Joe on the other hand wants to put his whole life in order and make sure his family are properly provided for. Their son takes as much advantage of being with his father as he can: they have long talks, he plays the guitar for his father, they think about the future. Beverly comes to cheer up her ex-husband with jokes and stories and a carnival trumpet. Brian takes it all in style, talking philosophy, writing books as fast as he can type and doing crazy things just so he won't regret not having tried them - although deep down he is as scared as anyone. Mark is shaken by the idea of Brian's death, whom he regards more as a guardian angel than a friend or a lover, and he and Beverly get off to a rough start since he resents her one-day "carnival" intrusion. They are however best friends in a few hours, linked by the man they both love and about whose earlier days they reminisce over a drink.

In order to better understand what the patients are going through, the hospice has them talk in front of a camera whose video feed is watched by the doctors and nurses. They are gently guided by the off-screen voice of the interviewing doctor (John Considine). These talks were some of the most powerful moments in the play, and they remain so in the movie.

Despite the admittedly not upbeat subject, the movie is yet strangely uplifting, indeed a celebration of life and beauty and a gentle reminder that there is nothing more precious than the present moment. The performances are truly superb and there are many scenes of extraordinary beauty that have a way of burning themselves into your memory.

Available from Amazon.co.uk in a new Region 0 (all-regions) DVD edition released in 2003. Very, very highly recommended!

The reviewer below claims there is a region Free dvd available on Amazonuk. Don't be fooled. It's still in the PAL format and will not play on American/Canadian DVD players. The poor quality VHS is the only way you'll see this film until someone releases it on DVD in this country. Region O in the Pal format still means it's a PAL DVD. Don't waste your money like I did. It must say Region free ALL regions!!!

Living with a terminal diagnosis, working with, loving someone with a terminal diagnosis? This video is for you. It is powerful, incredibly realistic in its portrayal of anger, denial, fears, as well as hope and humor. As a hospice employee I've seen hundreds die, just as these characters in Shadowbox have. This would be great film to share with Hospice employees, and with medical staff who often don't understand all that the patients and their families experience.