DTH Omnibus Page 9
Thursday November 2, 1989
II INI E M A
Close to
A iter two Academy Award
f nominated portrayals of vin
jCaLdictive women, versatile
Glenn Close returns in another
guise: as a married woman seeking
to adopt the baby of an unwed teen
ager.
Immediate Family is the apt title
of the Columbia Pictures release in
which Close and James Woods play
a childless couple who seek the child ;
of young Mary Stuart Masterson
and her leather-jacketed boyfriend,
Kevin Dillon.
"It's a phenomenon in this coun
try called 'open adoption,"' ex
plained Close, instead of there
being a big mystery about who the
parents are and where they came
from they used to seal the files,
especially from the child as a
reaction to that it's open who the
parents are. The adoptive parents
and the birth parents, as theyre,
called, get together. It really is the
decision of the birth mother as to
who she going to give the child
to."
What happens if the Birth mother
changes her mind later? "Once the
(legalities) are done, it's hard to
reverse it. I don't know the statis-
tics on how often that happens. I
know people who send Christmas
cards to the birth mother, and people
who correspond more than that. I
would think that the child would
want to know who the mother is,
have pictures of her and maybe even ;
meet her. He would consider adop-,
tive parents as parents, what they
really are. That's the world that he
knows."
Immediate Family follows two stun
ning portrayals for Close: as the
murderous career woman in Fatal
Attraction and the scheming Mar
quise de Merteuil in Dangerous Urn
sons. In both films she wreaked dire
revenge on men who had spumed
her, but she doesn't consider the
women evil.
"A tragic victim ... out of con
trol," is her assessment of the Fatal
Attraction protagonist
"And I think ultimately the
Marquise de Merteuil is a victim of
her society," she added. "That's my
subjective viewpoint. Yeah, they
were dangerous people. But they
were also trying to survive
Close gives dimension to her role
as the barren Linda Spector in
Immediate Family, What helped with
Barbara Benedek's script, she said,
"was its wonderful sense of humor.
For all the pain that Linda and
Michael are going through, they also
have a sense of humor about them
selves, and about life. It helps to get
through the hard times."
She found close parallels between
Glenn and Linda, though their his
tories are different After two child
less marriages and two divorces, she
gave birth to Ann ie Maude seven ;
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Glenn Close
weeks before starting Dangerous liai
sons. She lives with the father, pro
ducer John Starke
Glenn named after her god
mother) Close was born May 1 9 ,
1947, in Greenwich, Conn., the
middle of three children of a well-to-do
family.
"When I was really little, the
golden age of Walt Disney made a
huge impression on me," she recalled.
'The Littlest Outlaw, Old Yeller, The
Vanishing Prairie The Living Desert
vivid movies for a child, wonder
ful, wonderful movies.
"That had a lot to do with my
fantasy life of wanting to be an ac
? tor, to be in movies like that. 1 grew
up in the country, and my parents
were quiet actually antisocial. We
had 'a great upbringing; we could
have been in Iowa. We were very
near to New York, but we only went
in to see The Nutcracker Suite and
the Barnum and Bailey circus and
to have our eyes examined." t
Close was a latecomer to films,
starting with The World According
to Garpy playing Robin Williams
mother when she was 34. Why didn't
she begin earlier?
"Gbcumstance" she replied. "I was
working in theater, and f ve never
been good at auditioning. And I
don't think people really knew what
to do with me. I'd been doing thea
ter, but a lot of people don't see
theater. So it just had to have that
time and place, which was Barnum
(on Broadway) and George Roy Hill,
who put me in Garp after seeing me
in Barnum"
Filmmakers found out what to do
with her. The results have produced
five Academy nominations. .They
are: Garp, The Big Chill, The Natural,
Fatal Attraction and Dangerous uai
sons.
She kids about the fact that she
has been a five-time bridesmaid
without becoming a bride at the
Oscars: "Well, I'm not married in
life. So we'll see."
Associated Press
Open adoption explores
two families' class conflicts
Immediate Family
Glenn Close, James Woods,
Mary Stuart Masterson, Kevin Dillon
directed by Jonathan Kaplan
Plaza
967-4737
OOP 12
If you're in the mood for a good
cry or a good laugh, it's definitely
worth your time to go and give
up $5 instead of waiting for HBO to
see Immediate Family. It's one of Co
lumbia Pictures' latest, starring four
accredited artists, including Academy
Award nominee Glenn Close, James
Woods, Kevin Dillon, and Mary
Stuart Masterson.
Immediate Family is a heartwarming
and at times funny story about a suc
cessful married couple who are des
perately trying to start a family, but
can't.
Linda and Michael Spector, played
by Close and Woods, see parenthood
through the eyes of all their friends,
but can't experience it for themselves.
Close and Woods are the only ones
in their group who can stay out late
because they don't have to pay the
babysitter for extra hours. Most ev
eryone they know and interact with
either have children already, or have
one or two on the way.
The couple wants children so badly
that they put themselves through
rigorous clinical testing and planning,
trying to medically reproduce fertili
zation. When even science fails, they
finally decide to try a new kind of
parenting called open adoption. This
policy requires the real parents to
meet and get to know the adopting
parents. The Spectors meet teenager
Lucy Moore and her boyfriend, Sam,
played by Masterson and Dillon.
Lucy is expecting a bundle of joy
in a few weeks that could be the
answer to the Spector's prayers. At
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this time in her life, she knows that
caring for a child would not be the
best thing to do. Although she and
Sam have a great deal of love be
tween them, they realize that the
Spectors have everything else a child
needs, plus love. Still, Lucy is not
sure about giving up the only thing
that has brought her closer to Sam.
The cast of Immediate Family is
extremely believable, especially Close
as Linda Spector. I was a little un
sure of how convincing she would be
because of the image from her role in
Fatal Attraction, but she was superb
in portraying the kind of emotional
war that Linda underwent. Close, a
well-noted actress, has four Oscar
nominations, a Tony Award, and five
Academy Award nominations under
her belt.
Woods emerges as an exciting lead
ing man with the role of Michael.
Some of his former films include
Eyewitness, Against All Odds, My
Name is Bill W. , and television's Prom'
ise. He is also known for his work on
Broadway in projects like "Finishing
Touches," and "Moonchildren."
Woods has an Oscar nomination, a
Golden Globe, and two Emmy
Awards.
Masterson captures audiences with
her simple yet noteworthy style as
Lucy. Her previous credits include
Heaven Help Us and Some Kind of
Wonderful. She has also been on
Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories
television series.
Dillon is the perfect fit for the
character of Sam, as a tough guy with
a big heart and a lot of love for Lucy.
Previous credits include Heaven Help
Us, Platoon, The Bbb and War Party.
The film is directed by Jonathan
Kaplan from an original screenplay
by Barbara Benedek. Benedek came
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up with the story when she observed
that many of her friends who had
waited until their mid-30s to have
children were encountering difficul
ties. The central theme lies in the
delicate and complicated relationship
that develops between the Spectors
and Lucy and Sam.
"When these characters meet,
they're all at very low points in their
lives," said Kaplan. "They belong to
two very different cultures, and there's
a 20-year difference." While the
Spectors appear to have everything
that Lucy wants (including stabil
ity), she has the ability to do what
they can't. She can create life.
Lawrence Kasdan, who had wanted
to sponsor a solo Benedek screen
play since they and Close had worked
together on The Big Chill script, agreed
with Benedek that the concept of a
professional couple struggling to have
child had great potential.
"I liked the idea of getting back to
a basically sympathetic role," said
Close. "Having come off Fatal At'
traction, and Dangerous Uasons, I
wanted to do something on the heal
ing side of life."
Immediate Family is indeed quite
healing. It makes you wonder about
the time in your future when you
will have to think about becoming a
parent. Wow, can you imagine look
ing, sounding, and acting just like
your mother or father? It also has a
greater message for moviegoers.
Immediate Family shows the real-to-life
struggles of two couples, each from
two distinct classes and probes the
class distinction in our society. The
movie proves that people can find
common ground no matter where
they come from.
The Ratings
O miserable
GO mediocre
OOO enjoyable
OOOO quite good
OOOOO unmissable
5:00-9:30
Buffet 1 1 :30-2:30 Frl &. !
ALL ABC PERMITS
5:00-10:30