Loggerheads (2005)

the audience applauded

I'll tell you why so serious

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

The Sundance cable blurb suggested this was a "low-budget" film worth seeing. A few minutes in I thought I was watching the Lifetime channel for women, but then it showed some interesting story angles and some very nice scenery and I was hooked. The symbolism of sea turtles needing to return to their origins was a little heavy, however, as was the casting of attractive blondes to demonstrate genetic linkage and suggest I suppose why the adoptive mother might have picked the child in the first place. Minor comments.Having come to this film without any foreknowledge of it, I did not catch on to the secondary theme until the red apple pie was about to be delivered to the new neighbors. I was also confused by the way scenes were begun and ended in different times and places until finally I realized how it was tracking in a technical sense to its inevitable conclusion.Still, I was unprepared for the sudden turn about thirty minutes from that conclusion, in which the woman hired to find the son unexpectedly dropped her bombshell. Clumsy editing? I don't know. Normally when I like a film up to a point then lose interest as it dissolves into clichéd denouement I feel cheated. Yet this was such an excellent presentation on the whole I cannot find much fault. I guess I just missed something where redemption and reconciliation might have been more explicit.Much above average for a so-called low budget film.

I rented Loggerheads this past weekend and I can not begin to say how grateful that I am to have picked up that video.Loggerheads is the most beautiful, mesmerizing movie that I have had the pleasure to view in a very long time. Too many times, movies as beautiful as this are put on the shelves at the local blockbuster to be passed by, when they deserve to have their own section and be spotlighted.From the mesmerizing scenery of the Blue Ridge Parkway to the beaches of North Carolina, Tim Kirkman gives us a breathtaking view while enriching us with a magnificent and heart wrenching story of a lonely drifter, his birth mother, his adoptive family and how their stories all tie together.It's 1999 and Mark, played by the beautiful and very talented Kip Pardue, is a drifter sleeping on the beach (Kure Beach) after leaving home at the age of 17. He is trying to save the endangered "Loggerhead Sea Turtles". This is symbolic as the story unfolds because the Loggerhead Turtles lay their eggs in their nest on the beach and then the mother's abandon them. The eggs are hatched and the babies find their way to the open sea by following the moonlight. And every year, somehow, the turtles find their way back to the same beach to lay their eggs again. Mark as you will discover, feels abandoned in much the same way.He befriends George, played by the handsome and amazing Michael Kelly, is a very sweet soul who takes Mark in and gives him a friend and a place to stay. He becomes Mark's confidant and eventually his love.The story takes place in 3 different years, which Mr. Kirkman takes great strides to help us, the audience, always know the year we are in.In early 2001, we are introduced to Elizabeth and Robert, played by Tess Harper and Chris Sarandon. Robert is a minister in a small town called Eden. Elizabeth is his wife and we learn that they had an adopted son whom left home years ago upon their learning he was gay. They are very old fashioned in their beliefs and therefore, they let him go, never to try and find him. Thus, abandoning him, in my book. Elizabeth tries to come to terms with this decision throughout the movie but realizes as the movie goes on that perhaps this was not the right choice.It's 2002 and Grace (played by the awesome Bonnie Hunt), living in Asheville, N.C. is looking for her son that she gave up at his birth. She was only 16 and her parents forced her to give him up for adoption. Since then she has felt only guilt and grief and needs to find him to feel whole.This beautiful movie is about abandonment, guilt and trying to resolve these feelings. It shows us insight to why these characters feel the way they do and why they feel the need to change. It gives us a character such as Mark, who is sick, yet manages to stay positive with his own beliefs but yet is so full of emptiness and yearning for something that he needs.I can't say how very beautiful and poetic this movie is. I can only recommend that you rent or purchase it.

This is a beautiful, tightly written movie about three families and how they intersect. Its primary topic is adoption, and the quest of a birth mother to find her child (Mark) who she had given away for adoption. The three families are the child himself, now in his 20's, his birth mother, and the family who adopted him. It takes place in North Carolina with breathtaking views of the ocean and mountains of that state.Homosexuality plays an important role in the film. Mark, who is HIV positive, was totally rejected by his father, a homophobic fundamentalist minister. He becomes a wanderer, and feels rejected and unloved. After he leaves home, he is befriended by a local, and connects with him. But above all, it's a wonderful story full of human emotions, of longing, and resolution. And unlike similar movies with different plot lines that converge, the plots here were all intelligible, coherent, and held your interest to the end. The acting and cinematography were superb. The loggerheads refer to sea turtles, and have metaphorical implications. The movie stays with you after you leave, and is well worth seeing.

I too was lucky enough to see this at the festival, and it's stayed with me. Yes, it's a little slow moving, but it's thoughtful and kind and the performances are wonderful. Tess Harper (and her eyes!) gives her best performance since Tender Mercies (a film that this is clearly related too) and Bonnie Hunt is revelatory. I've never seen her in such a demanding role, and she rises to the occasion. The photography is gorgeous, and the Patti Griffin songs just perfect. If only there was a soundtrack, I'd recommend that too! All in all, this director is one I'm going to keep my eye on, I think he's got a smart and kind storytelling sense. See it if you have the chance!