"Unhook the Stars"
                             A Film Review by
                           Linda Lopez McAlister
                           on "The Women's Show"
                          WMNF-FM 88.5, Tampa, FL
                               March 8, 1997

Last night a film called "Unhook the Stars" opened at the Tampa Theater. One
of the significant things about it is that it marks the feature film debut of
Nick Cassavetes, the son of the late independent filmmkaer John Cassavetes and
actor (and star of this film) Gena Rowlands. I haven't yet figured out what
the titlel means, but perhaps it has to do with changing all those things in
ones life that seem to be fixed in place. At any rate, that's what happens to
the central character in this film, Mildred, who's a fifty-something widow
living, as the film begins, with her rebellious and angry daughter Ann Mary
Margaret (played by Moira Kelly) in a large and imposing old house. Mildred
focuses her intense attention on trying to get her daughter to do the things
she wants her to do, i.e., get a job, go to college, act responsibly; she gets
her a paper route, covers for her when she doesn't come home in time to do it,
she gives her money, cooks and washes for her, etc. --all to no avail. All
this attention is interpreted as her trying to run her daughter's life and is
bitterly resented. When Ann Mary Margaret finally storms out and goes to live
with her boyfriend, Mildred is left alone cleaning her empty house.

    Just at this point her neightbor from across the street, Monica (Marisa
Tomei) a young woman in a troubled marriage whose husband has just left after
an episode of domestic violence, comes knocking on her door looking
desperately for someone to watch her 5 year old son while she goes to work.
Mildred graciously agrees to do so, first for the day and subsequently on a
regular basis. The scenes with her an J.J. (Jake Lloyd) reveal how wonderful
Mildred is with small children and she'obviousl enjoys tremendously the
opportunity to relivie an earlier period in her life mothering a small child
again. He becomes her best friend. She also serves as a kind of surrogate
mother to Monica, who, despite her nasty temper, promiscuity, and heavy
partying ways is still portrayed as a basically nice, if somewhat screwed up
person. In her gratitude to Mildred for helping her through this tough time,
she takes her out on the town one night, drinking and playing pool at a local
tavern with a bunch of guys including a French Canadian truck driver (Gerard
Depardieu) who takes a fancy to Mildred, much to her surprise.

     One of the rare and welcome things about this film is that Cassavetes and
his co-screenwriter Helen Caldwell, allow you to watch these events unfold
without letting the audience suspect in advance where it's going to end. .
This film has Mildred moving in a variety of different directions as she
struggles to find her way to the identity that feels right for her at this
stage in her life.. She doesn't know, for most of the film, where she's going,
so there are false starts and stops, periods when things look very ominous and
bleak, other times when there are moments of false hope that are then dashed.
She's faced with a variety of decision points and changes of direction. At the
beginning of the film her knee jerk reaction is always to behave and choose
just those things that society's scripts tell her is appropriate for a woman
of her age. She doesn't even hesitate before saying "yes" when her son and
daughter-in-law ask her the first time to move with them to San Francisco. As
events ensue, however, Mildred is forced to stop and think and to question
such glib assumptions about what fifty-something about-to-be-grandmothers
should desire and begins to address the question instead of what does Mildred
herself want.

    It would not do for me to reveal the answer to this question--in part
because it would spoil the film for you and in part because Cassavetes and
Caldwell do not let us know the actual answer to that question. But Mildred
knows--and that's what matters.

    "Unhook the Stars" is a rare and quite wonderful film about a woman
aging and dealing with the empty nest syndrome and widowhood with intel-
igence and courage.  I recommend it.

    For the WMNF Women's Show, this is Linda Lopez McAlister on Women and
Film.