![]() Durning’s Henry, stubborn head of household, can’t help but pick on son-in-law Walter over every little thing and Guttenberg in turn seems exceptionally desperate for approval. When dealing with Aunt Glady, whose eccentricities seem to be sliding into dementia, Bancroft’s Adele is mixed with sisterly annoyance and genuine fears of not only her sister getting old, but her and her husband’s advancing age and declining health. ![]() The petty fights between even the two most aligned siblings, Claudia and Tommy, have the energy of two kids who used to wrestle and give each other nuggies, but also formed an alliance against Joanne, who seems like she has always been a spoilsport. The details of the plot and these revelations are not life-shattering in any way, in the manner of a Tennessee Williams play or a Douglas Sirk melodrama, but devastating in a family way – smaller scale, little secrets and recriminations that feel achingly real.įoster, one of our most intelligent actors and therefore a natural director, rehearsed her actors for two weeks on location like a play, encouraging them to improvise dialogue and scenes when they felt things weren’t truthful and it shows. The stage is set and we just watch these larger than life personalities play off each other, squabbling over the turkey and stuffing cholesterol counts, arguing over who is more put-upon and ungrateful to differing degrees, and gradually revealing small, tiny bombshells that feel incredibly lived-in. The next day, Thanksgiving, is the big day and added to the mix is Adele’s sister, Aunt Glady (Geraldine Chaplin), a spinster former schoolteacher, and vindictive other sister Joanne with her family, buttoned up husband Walter (Steve Guttenberg) and two annoying children.Īnd that’s it. Later that night, in her childhood bedroom, prodigal brother (and, because the early-90s, also gay) Tommy surprises her by not only showing up but bringing a guest, Leo (Dylan McDermott), whom is in fact NOT a new beau but an intended romantic partner for her. Claudia, panicking, leaves brother Tommy a message on his machine begging him and his lover Jack (bland white 90s actor whom I can’t recall, it doesn’t matter) to come to the family celebration to take some heat away from her.Īdele and Henry pick Claudia up from the airport, where she is immediately bombarded by her mother’s smothering and her father’s consistent hectoring about the changing world. Kit drives her mother to the airport, having earned a seat at her boyfriend’s family table, and announces that she will also be losing her virginity to him over the weekend while her mother is away. In the first scene, she is suddenly fired from her job as an art restorer at a museum – she responds by impulsively kissing her now ex-boss before leaving the premises in a daze. Our protagonist and audience surrogate is Claudia, a divorced single mother who lives with her teenage daughter, Kit (Claire Danes), in Chicago. The Larson family, of Baltimore, consists of parents Adele and Henry Larson (Anne Bancroft and Charles Durning) and three children: Claudia (Holly Hunter), Tommy (Robert Downey Jr.), and Joanne (Cynthia Stevenson). Yes, they’re your family but JFC can they grind your gears sometimes. Sometimes visiting your immediate and extended family can be a real pain in the ass, and no movie understands this better than Jodie Foster’s burgeoning cult classic Home for the Holidays, written by WD Richter and released in the fall of 1995. No bickering, no nagging, no having to explain a weight loss or gain, no having to dance around potentially sensitive topics like employment, romantic prospects, or (god forbid in the year our lord 2020) POLITICS. It’s hard, of course, but we (as several ads since the pandemic and lockdowns have stated) can stay apart together.Īnd for some, this will be a relief. Most Americans would do well to heed health experts and bureaucratic warnings, being content to have a modest celebration and connect with loved ones over Zoom and their phones and hope for better times next year. The current pandemic and the potential dangers of travel and large gatherings has made a family holiday season a deadly threat, and for good reason. This year, many families will be forced forego the traditional of a big family event for Thanksgiving. ![]() A movie about how painful it can be to go home – and why you still should
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