Homage (1996)

Homage Deserves A Larger Viewing Audience

It's a shame this video is so prohibitively expensive at present because it is well worth viewing. Adapted by playwright Mark Medoff (Children of a Lesser God) from its stage version, it offers subtle, complex characterizations by Blythe Danner, Frank Whaley and Bruce Davison and a magnificent New Mexico locale that I found fascinating because it is so very different from the landscape in the East. As a gritty look at the link between genius and obsession, the film could be classified as a psychological thriller, except that the viewer knows the ending from the start. The suspense is in how the characters get to the place where two are marked for death, and in its tragic inevitability. Blythe Danner, who is seen infrequently, but who maintains an onscreen presence that commands notice, is a retired school teacher who cannot teach her most important students-her own television star daughter, and the antisocial young man whom she befriends and who betrays her. It is an unusual film with the kind of excellent, crafted dialogue one expects from a playwright, some stylish directing and notable acting performances. December 16, 2000

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