 |  | An excellent story and production |  |
I love Richard Russo's stories and this one is outstanding. The production values are also outstanding, and it's fun to see old favorites like Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Ed Harris, Aidan Quinn, Helen Hunt and Philip Seymour Hoffman strutting their stuff.
January 24, 2008 | | Remarkable Cast of Characters | |
In this HBO miniseries of Richard Russo's novel, Ed Harris plays an unpretentious restaurant manger that shows us his life within a small economically depressed Maine town. While trying to keep the doors of the Empire Grill open, he must deal with an ever increasing cast of characters - from Joanne Woodward, the town matriarch to Paul Newman - his curmudgeonly wayward father, to his ex-wife Helen Hunt (who does not pull off the accent very well). Ed Harris shows the traumas and realities of his everyday life while coming to terms with his past.
I never did read the book which some swear is better, but this gem of a movies, with its beautiful scenery and amazing cast of characters is a wonderful way to spend an afternoon.
January 22, 2008| | | Wonderful Cast & Story -- Don't Miss! | |
Missed this when it originally aired on HBO. Living in Maine, I had to see it. It follows the book very well, which BTW is also a good read.
The cast of Empire makes Russo's novel come to life. Ed Harris as Miles Roby is just how you'd picture him. Many memorable scenes by Joanne Woodward (Francine Whiting) and Paul Newman (Max Roby) add just the right amount of humor. The other actors play their roles convincingly. Helen Hunt's character reminds me a bit of Carol in As Good as it Gets. Dennis Farina, Aidan Quinn, Danielle Panabaker and many others round out the cast and make this a truly enjoyable movie. It is presented in Chapters, and at times is narrated.
I highly recommend this movie. And, if you're ever passing through Skowhegan, Maine, look for the Empire Grill, complete with the indian sign out front.
September 21, 2007 | | The book is so much better | |
Sometimes movies measure up to books, as in Somerset Maugham's The Painted Veil. Sometimes movies may be even better than padded and chatty novels, as for example in Oblomov. But in the present case, the movie version of Empire Falls is all wrong. As one reviewer has already pointed out, the movie is too sunny whereas the book is dark, pessimistic, and sometimes despairing. The slow, maudlin music is distracting and misleading. The views are boring. And the pace of the whole thing is painfully slow and stupifying. The book has the depth of a Dostoevsky; the movie does its best to flatten and sentimentalize the plot and the characters. For example, an important aspect of Miles's personality is that he is a reader, and that's what he so much enjoyed in college: "He hadn't been a college freshman for more than a few weeks before deciding that this was where he belonged, among people who loved books and art and music..." (390) I can not figure out why this line was omitted from the script. Another one of the most moving passages in the book also fell flat in the movie. I am referring to Miles' thoughts after the shooting at the school, when he passed by his daughter and didn't see her at first. This is what torments him later: "Wasn't there something in a father, he asked himself, some extra sense, that should've told him right where she'd be? Wasn't she his only daughter? A better father would've been able to find her blind-folded, in the dark, attracted by the invisible beacon of her suffering" (454). Nothing of this eloquence, this richness, this love came across in the movie. Ed Harris, an actor I admire, was the wrong choice for Miles. He failed to portray Miles's depth, intelligence, and layers of insight and generosity. He just stood there, without a subtext, not knowing what to do with himself, how to bring this complex character to life. Of course, there's also the director who failed to see how slow and boring his production had become. Paul Newman, as Miles's father, was not half as crazy and wild as he should have been according to Russo's book, and Joanne Woodward was not half as evil as she is in the book. Only Helen Hunt, in my opinion, lived up to her fictive role. How disappointing! But most disappointing of all is the fact that Russo himself wrote the script for this production, which missed many of his own best lines; he also participated actively in its creation. Why? Why? I can't figure this out. Why did he choose to cheapen, simplify, and deaden his own great work? Was it a temptation he could not resist?
September 18, 2007| | | The Stories from a Small Town | |
"Empire Falls" (2005) is a screen adaptation of Richard Russo Pulitzer prize winning novel of the same title. It is a multi character drama that takes place in a small town Empire Falls, Maine. In its center if Miles Roby (Ed Harris) who manages the local restaurant, "Empire Grill" that belongs to a wealthy and powerful widow Mrs. Whiting. The film concerns Miles's re-evaluating his life and searching for answers to the difficult questions. In his search, he looks back at his childhood, his relationship with his mother and the connection between her life and Whitings family. Miles also has to deal with the problems of those close to him: his father Max (Paul Newman stole the show with his performance as a prodigal father), his teenage daughter Tick, his ex-wife Janine, and many more. Based on the first-rate writing, the film is masterfully shot and extremely well acted story of a small and forgotten town with no future.
August 1, 2007More reviews at Amazon.com ...
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