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>> A WALK ON THE MOON (1999)

Starring: Diane Lane, Liev Schreiber, Viggo Mortensen, and more ...
Director: Tony Goldwyn
Genre: Drama




a touching look at life, human weaknesses, missed dreams, and opportunities. this is a film about choices: choices you make when you are really too young to understand the consequences and choices you make when you understand them only too well. pearl (diane lane) and marty (liev schreiber) are the young parents of allison (wonderfully portrayed by anna paquin) and daniel. the family, along with marty's mom, spends the summer of 1969 at a bungalow camp in upstate NY, just as they do every year. it's the summer of woodstock and the moon walk. pearl is restless...she is having to come to terms with the fact that her daughter is now a teenager...just a few years younger than she was when she had her. she tries to communicate some of her feelings to marty but fails...marty has to commute to his job in the city while the rest of the family stays at the camp during the week.

it's almost inevitable that pearl falls for walker (viggo mortensen), a young hippie salesman with an easy, relaxed way. what makes the story so effective is that all of the characters are decent, kind people who understand what is happening even as it tears them up. marty and walker are both extremely decent men who just happen to live different lifestyles. it's easy to see how pearl can love them both. it's also easy to see how both of them love different aspects of her. and marty's mother is the mother/mother-in-law/grandmother from heaven on high -- she loves her son but does not vilify her daughter-in-law. because there are no "bad" characters in the film, it is emotionally wrenching to watch as the choices that pearl and marty must make are played out and counter pointed against choices that young allison also makes. it's a very fine film that also does a good job of capturing a particular time and place in history.

this is an old movie, came out in 1999. if it wasn't because i want to see other viggo's movies, i wouldn't have crossed this movie. and it was surprisingly good. well, maybe not a grand one.. but the storyline is very real. it also captures the history of the time when the story took place. viggo playes the sexy salesman, being the other guy who almost broke up the marriage. but the story was written very well that you don't feel like he's the bad guy. he's as decent as the other guy, the husband. and the love scenes.. hot hot hot!! hueahhaha...

liev schreiber also portrays marty very good. i've always known him as a good actor although i don't always remember his name. just two days before i saw this movie on dvd, i saw him walking down on the streets of soho and it struck me as someone i've seen in movies. didn't had the guts to stop by and asked to take a picture with him, although he was only 2 feet away from me.. cuz i couldn't remember his name. bad bad bad!

diane lane was also very good in this movie. i think this movie might have prepared her for her role in "unfaithful" with richard gere, cuz she plays a somewhat-similar character in both movies, the cheating wife.

and of course, anna paquin shines as the rebellious teenager. the movie as a whole is okay, but i have to admit it tells about a nice life story. besides.. just to see the sexy viggo in it.. was good enough. heheh.. but beware, he does not look like aragorn at all in this movie. so don't expect those rugged looks with long dark hair, cuz his is actually blonde.

>> rated by :: sLesTa | [ ]

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