reviewed by: Charity Bishop
       

In life, we are not always given the answers. We just have to trust that the outcome will be happy. The novel Empire Falls is all about one man's journey through life while caught between the past and the future. For the independent production, two-night presentation by HBO, the author gave us a witty and sarcastic glimpse at some real-life problems, but ultimately the film has no true conclusion. It just abruptly... ends.

The small seaside town of Empire Falls has been under the influence of the Whiting family for as long as anyone can remember. Most of the inhabitants are impoverished but happy, content with mediocre life and the little incidents that make them laugh. The current ruling hand in this miniscule empire is Francine Whiting (Joanne Woodward), a coldly manipulative woman who has been on her own for over thirty years, ever since her husband went out to the gazebo and calmly shot himself in the head. Owning half the businesses in town, her primary interest is Miles Roby (Ed Harris), the general manager of her diner. She has promised to leave the business to him in her will as long as he maintains the place for her. Miles has just come home from a vacation up the coast with his teenage daughter, Tick (Danielle Panabaker).

Reeling from the proceedings of her parent's semi-finalized divorce, Tick is forced to endure her mother's plans for immediate remarriage to the owner of the local health spa. Janine (Helen Hunt) is obsessed with losing weight... and fighting with her ex-husband. Miles' younger brother David (Aidan Quinn) believes that his unhappiness stems from remaining in Empire Falls, and encourages him to wriggle out from underneath the thumb of Mrs. Witting, whose crippled daughter has recently returned in the knowledge that Miles will be eligible again. Having nursed affection for him ever since her spontaneous childhood, Cindy (Kate Burton) is hoping that this time she may have a chance. Throughout the trials that Miles faces, everything from his shiftless father (Paul Newman) running off with the church fund, to a shooting at the local high school, he is constantly drawn into the past, attempting to discern the events that lead to his mother's tragic death (Robin Wright Penn), and her clandestine affair with Mrs. Whiting's husband (Philip Seymour Hoffman).

The film has a lot of wonderful things about it, not the least of which being a cast of unique and eccentric characters that feel as though they're right out of the pages of a Jan Karon novel. The worthless old man with crumbs in his beard. The senile pastor kept in line only through the efforts of his insubordinate. The charming flashbacks as the viewer attempts to figure out, along with Miles, just why he is the way that he is. Nostalgia is almost as inescapable as the charm and subtle humor, such as Mrs. Whiting's infamous cat, who successfully mauls the interior of Miles' car. But not everything about Empire Falls is happy, and it tackles some very dark topics. One of Tick's schoolmates is a loner, extremely poor, and picked on mercilessly by fellow schoolmates. After leading on the audience to feel sorry for him, the film calmly walks him into the center of the school art class and has him pull a gun. Even though these actions are questioned, and hinted up to in the travesties the boy commits (including murdering a dog -- implied but not shown), we are given no sense of closure on the event. Mrs. Whiting is an intriguing character suffering from -- what, guilt? anger? We never find out. I did enjoy this film, but didn't appreciate being left with so many unsolved threads. I want to know what will happen to the characters, beyond the tongue-in-cheek epilogue.

HBO produced an entertaining production, but it does contain language, violence, and sexual content. Tick plugs her ears in annoyance while overhearing her mother and her boyfriend having sex in the next room. They are later shown in the throes of similar passion in his office; Janine's shirt rides up and shows off half her breast. There are a couple of frank sexual discussions, one of them involving the f-word (which is used twice overall). Miles' father calls him from a bar in the Keys that has bras hanging from the ceiling. Jesus' name is abused several times, along with general profanity and numerous instances of the s-word. A boy is shot in the forehead, with bloody results; other students and teachers are also killed. Tick's former boyfriend has a history of abuse, and slaps her to make her keep quiet. Miles becomes engaged in a fistfight, with bloody results. It's implied that a man shoots himself in the head. One of the characters is a devout minister, but his retired superior uses occasionally foul language (he's senile). Minor characters smoke pot.

Janine's divorce isn't finalized, which means she's involved in an adulterous relationship. We learn through flashbacks that Miles' mother was as well, although it's never graphically shown. I found it to be very interesting, quietly amusing and ultimately soul-searching, but on reaching the end of a novel, you should feel something apart from disappointment. I didn't feel that the characters were given closure, and that, to me, is important.