|
Fighting by different rules
Tim Kirkman (Dear Jesse) returned to his native North Carolina to make his first fictional (but "based on a true story") feature, Loggerheads. It's set in three different parts of the state but we don't realize until late in the game that its interlocking stories aren't all taking place at the same time. In what seems to be the week leading up to Mother's Day 2000, Mark (Kip Pardue), a drifter, turns up at Kure (pronounced Curie) Beach to observe the endangered loggerhead turtles; neurotic Grace (Bonnie Hunt), who's living with her mother (Michael Learned) in Asheville, resolves to find the son she gave up for adoption; and in Eden, the preacher's (Chris Sarandon) wife, Elizabeth (Tess Harper) is distressed when someone mentions her estranged son. Mark is put up for free in a motel by the owner, George (Michael Kelly). Since they're both gay Mark assumes there are strings attached, but there aren't. He declares his HIV status – positive – anyway, and being a fatalist he says he's not taking drugs for it. Elizabeth is upset when the new neighbors across the street turn out to be two men with a small child, a plot thread that's resolved unsatisfyingly. Another neighbor, Ruth (Ann Owens Pierce, who gives the film's best performance) makes waves by putting a nude statue of Michelangelo's David on her front lawn. North Carolina law, which was changed in 2001, said all birth records in adoption cases were sealed permanently; but Grace finds a woman who's part of a "modern-day underground railroad" and, for $3000, will get her contact information for her son and his adoptive parents, the other two parts of the "adoption triad." Spoiler Alert! Stop reading if you don't want to know how the stories link up. They're the three parts of the adoption triad. Mark was Grace's son, who was raised by Elizabeth until he was old enough to leave. Now they each have a void in their lives and a chance to fill it. The Tarantino-esque time structure is revealed too late not to be confusing, although some of the irony it's intended to create still comes across. Kirkman, who through a fluke was the only person to put Matthew Shepard in a movie, doesn't fare as well with professional actors. Whether through his choice or their own, the usually excellent Harper and Hunt overact to compensate for the indie-ness of the script. Pardue and Kelly are more natural. Some emotional high points would be welcome but Loggerheads proceeds slowly and steadily like the title turtles. It's a good story, even if it could be told about 20 percent more effectively. If you think you'll like it you probably will, but if not Kirkman's maternal fixation will leave you mother-bored. Steve Warren is a local actor and film reviewer. His reviews can also be seen weekly in the Sunday Paper. |
Loggerheads
Directed by: Tim Kirkman 
More Reviews: |
(2½ out of 4)