This film features the wonderfully understated duet of Robert Duvall and James Earl Jones, two old pros who know just how to stay out of each other’s way while offering superb support. Duvall plays Earl Pilcher, an aging Southerner whose mother dies, leaving him a letter with a startling secret: in fact, she was not his mother, though she raised him–but his father is really his father. His real mother was a black servant whom his father forced himself upon, and she died in chil Read more…
March 11th, 2010 on 10:23 pm
I have to admit when I sat down to watch this movie I wasn’t expecting much. After all so much has been written about crossing the color line in the USA and none of it has hit home for me, it seems that writers and film producers are afraid to tell the truth and either avoid the subject altogether or gloss it over in order to make it more palatable. However in “A Family Thing” there is no attempt to avoid the truth or gloss over the details and a story is told from the point of view of a man who one day finds out that his whole life has been built on lies. Earl Pilcher, played superbly by Robert Duvall is a white man living a white Southern life but with the death of his mother he finds that his family history is not what he thought it was. Armed with this knowledge he goes looking for his half-brother, Ray, played to perfection by the magnificent James Earl Jones, a man who has striven to bury the past, which includes his white half-brother. But Earl isn’t Ray’s brother for nothing and he proceeds to bulldoze his way into Ray’s life and that of his bewildered family. Only the indomitable Aunt T, Irma P Hall at her crusty best is not fazed by Earl’s appearance. She knows who Earl is the moment she meets him, and she’s as blind as a bat to boot but filled with good Black Southern wisdom that has held her in good stead since the day her sister died not long after giving birth to Earl. This is a deliciously heart warming film with some genuinely moving and funning moments. I laughed and cried myself silly at Ray’s attempt to keep Earl’s identity secret from his Aunt, and Earl’s shock when he goes to the supermarket with his Aunt and she tells the store owner that Earl is her nephew, and the store owner’s expression because Earl is whiter than white. It’s not all hearts and roses though, there are tough words spoken and violence takes place but the story glides steadily towards its gentle climax. With Ray’s son grudgingly accepting Earl as his Uncle, and Ray himself coming to terms with a tragic past, the story ends with both men visiting their mother’s grave and accepting each other for what and who they are. This is a brilliant film that somehow manages to convey a sense of America’s colorful past that has been hidden in the shadows of history far too long. Two of the best moments in the film are the birth of Earl and how Aunt T eventually reconciles the embittered and angry brothers. This film might not be everyone’s cup of tea but as yet in this genre I have yet to come across another film of such good quality. Billy Bob Thornton certainly knows how to direct films of merit.
March 12th, 2010 on 4:02 am
When I looked over the video box and saw the fine cast, I rented this movie expecting some enjoyable but fluffy entertainment. However, this sleeper turned out to be a true masterpiece, easily making my list of all-time best. Within the first few minutes, Robert Duvall gives us a study in fine acting when he confronts his father with the mother’s letter about their long-buried family secret. And how many people would recognize the authentic Southern slang when James Earl Jones declares, “I ain’t studyin’ him!” The only flaw I can find in this picture is the jarring music that inappropriately breaks the mood to introduce the final credits. But that’s the only one, a millionth of a percent. I will snap up the DVD now that it is available. Good story, great cast, engrossing from beginning to end. So why didn’t this movie receive more attention? Was it because it isn’t the kind that generates huge box office receipts? Was it moviedom politics? Or did the reconciliation between brothers who grew up on different sides of the color line make the p.c. types, the ones for whom injustice and victimhood are the only valid racial topics, uncomfortable?