Customer Reviews

Winter Solstice

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

When Anthony LaPaglia first broke onto the scene, the inevitable comparisons began. Almost immediately his look and intensity was correlated with a young DeNiro. And while that assessment is apt, he has chosen an alternate career path. While DeNiro's acting has become a lot broader (tending lately to caricatures of his former persona), LaPaglia has become a lot more introspective. "Winter Solstice" is a small movie that LaPaglia helped produce, an incisive look at a family in the aftermath of the mother's death.

Set five years after the incident, LaPaglia is a widower with one grown son and one son still in high school. The three of them have formed a matter-of-fact living arrangement. Going about daily routines, there is little real communication or joy within the family. They just exist. The older son, played by Aaron Stanford, longs to live a life for himself away from the obligations that have held him stagnant. The younger son, Mark Webber, is aimless--a smart kid who doesn't bother to apply himself to school or much of anything. The family dynamic is very observant and true. The brothers, in particular, have an extremely realistic relationship. When Stanford wants to move away, there is a subtle shift in the family--and without a lot of high drama, the threesome starts to accept that it is OK to move on.

"Winter Solstice" isn't a movie about plot. In truth, it's a slight (but emotionally resonant) story. Stanford, after announcing himself with "Tadpole" and surviving the "X Men" franchise and "The Hills Have Eyes," proves himself a capable dramatic actor. Webber is also startlingly good. The detailed performances are what set this film apart--while the sons are not always likable, they are inherently believable. Add LaPaglia's lived-in pathos and Alison Janney as a new life-force, and you've got one stellar quartet.

Small and quiet, "Winter Solstice" still touched me. Deceptively simple, it's a rare film that just feels true. Recommended for those that favor character studies, it might be a little too slight for those looking for blockbuster entertainment. KGHarris, 12/06.

This movie came up when looking for a Rosamunde Pilcher story - it is NOT based on her book of the same title.

This movied was batting a thousand, and I would have given it an easy 5 stars, when, all of a sudden...it stops. It quits. It poops out on you. They build up this wonderfully realistic, poignant story of a father presiding over his family's meltdown after the death of his wife, and this sweet, realistic-looking, realistic-acting lady moves in down the street, and she's escaping from her troubles, and her and the Dad befriend each other, and are they ever going to fall in love? Are they ever going to do anything, go anywhere, accomplish anything? Is this woman going to help solidify the father, help him reign in his kids who are jumping ship and not looking back?
We don't get to find out, because this film leaves you hanging. What a tease. I wish they had warned you on the outside: WARNING--MISSING THE LAST CRUCIAL 30 MINUTES!

I ordered this product thinking it was based on Rosamunde Pilcher's inter Solstice. It was not! What a drag! The film ended and I thought I had fallen asleep during it and decided to watch it again. I did not make any sense.

I thought this movie was engaging and interesting. Anthony LaPaglia gave a credible performance as a hardworking and grieve stricken father of two sons. The story simply depicts how these 3 men deal with life and with each other after their wife/mother died in an automobile accident 5 years back. The two sons are a handful in their own right, as the oldest is just out of school and working full time at a dead end job while trying to gather enough money to move to Florida and make his own way. The youngest son, who is still in high school and struggling, is some what of a rebel, but yet a good kid just fighting puberty. The Father is left to deal with each of his son's circumstances, while trying to overcome his own mourning, loneliness, and uncertainty.
From beginning to end the movie left me interested and entertained. It's not a fast paced movie with to much going on. It's a simple movie with a good story to tell. I will not say how it ends and what happens to these 3 men, however, I will say that I thought the movie ended well. To some interpretations, how it ends could leave you wanting to know more, which is completely understandable. However for me personally, I thought the movie ending was on the money. Sometimes instead of living happily ever after and/or finishing with tragedy, the story is better left undetermined. As life it self is undetermined.

Amazon listed this DVD along with several others made from novels by one of my favorite authors-Rosamunde Pilcher. She did write a book called "Winter Solstice:, but this is not it. Just a heads up--I don't think they should list it with other Pilcher DVDs.

Rosamunde Pilcher wrote a wonderful story called WINTER SOLSTICE. This bleak film bears no resemblance to her story and should not be advetised as such. I was vastly disappointed!!!

I watched this movie on "Comcast On Demand" recently. The write-up likened it to "Ordinary People," which is one of my favorite films. Suffice it to say that this film is in no way similar. The acting is fine, but there is absolutely no plot. Characters are introduced, such as the troubled younger son's new history teacher, but then nothing is done with him. Everyone is grieving the mother, and we learn about 3/4 of the way through the film that she died in a car crash on a rainy night. I was waiting for some kind of revelation, such as the older son was driving the other car that killed her, and maybe his lingering guilt was behind the difficulties between the father and his two sons, but the movie ends with no explanations at all. When the older son decides to move to Florida, leaving behind his loving and beautiful girlfriend, there is no explanation. When the dad and older son come to blows, it's hard to figure out what sparks the confrontation. There is little motivation to explain any of the characters' actions. Also, the title is puzzling since none of the film appears to take place in the winter! Great film to watch if you've been having trouble sleeping.

**
The actors in this movie are all great. That said, I really can't write much about the plot because it is so sparse. If you read the other reviews you've got it all. The movie is really, really slow-paced. I loved the actors so I kept watching and watching and waiting for something---anything---to happen. But it never did! Throughout the whole movie. Any info I give you would be a spoiler.

Even to say the father owns a landscaping company---I'm giving away a lot there---that's 20% of the movie, watching him drive to work, talk to his customers, and care for landscapes with almost no conversation. Or outstanding visuals. Or anything.

I have never seen a movie like this with statements of critical acclaim all over the DVD cover and then inside---literally no plot at all. If someone appreciative of what this movie offers can write about what I'm missing, I'd appreciate it.

Basically a family and a family friend go about their lives in a small town. And more happens to you in a day than these folks in this whole movie! You can watch the expressions on the excellent actors faces as they go about their lives. And hear their small talk, nothing big. The DVD cover says that the wife in the family died, and indeed she did, but it is only mentioned once, and no one ever talks about it at any other point. Everyone five years later is still grieving, but not really openly or directly or explicitly---they just have very sad and empty lives.
If that intrigues you, then you will love this movie. I should say that I do enjoy deep psychological movies that are slow moving, but this is way beyond what I can tolerate.
**

I should really learn to never judge a book (or movie) by its cover. The laurels this film got from critics as well as film festivals just shows how out of touch they really are. This has got to be the worst movie I've seen since "About Schmitdt". The plot was thin, the characters were never really developed, and the direction was poor. Too bad, in the hands of the right director it could have been quite good.