How to Make an American Quilt (1995)

Great Film overall

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

I really liked this film, the same way I like the idea of someone in trouble (Finn) going to her country home and there finding a suitable distraction, until she will make her mind around her problems. That distraction was of course the stories of the magnificent women of her grand-mom's quilt making beehive.One thing I didn't like though in the film was how self absorbed and immature the leading character is. I found my self at the end caring more about the secondary characters than Finn! One point in the film that shows how Finn really is as a character is when Sophia Darling brings her the lost pages from her thesis. There, Finn is so typical and indifferent that instantly drove me away from her. This is the only scene in the film where Sophia actually wants to say something personal, to open up, but Finn is actually rude. It's like she's saying to her: "OK, old lady. Thank you for bringing me the pages and telling me I am a good writer. However, this doesn't mean I have to pay attention in whatever you have the urge to say. Actually, I already know your bloody story and I find it just pathetic. Now buzz off and let me be!" I don't have to say that from all the stories, of the "quilting beehive women", I was both drawn and saddened the most by the one of Sophia.Life played her such an unfair game: She wanted to became a diver and so she asked her beau to help her get out of that small town. But, as it usually happens, he got her pregnant instead and she had to get married and having to spend a lot of time home alone being a housewife. That totally killed her spirit and passion and left her a bitter old woman that blamed her husband for her life going wrong.Her husband (finally) realized that and made some efforts to get back together. He did that by building her a pond, in order to remind her her old free self. However, that ironically ended it all, since it was too painful for her to remember how she was (comparing to what she is). That was the saddest thing, to Sophia, since building a pond for someone who loved to dive was ironically sad and showed such lack of understanding, that it was almost disrespectful. And so they argued. She did try to make amends but it was too late. Her husband, partly because of disappointed and partly because of quilt, left her.And something last: If you wanna "watch" more stories about americal quilts that hide really fascinating stories, then you must read the books in the Shenandoah Album by Emilie Richards. There are 5 books in this collection, all best sellers...

I have watched parts of this movie more than once. The movie from start to finish only once. Each story unfolds like a facet on the quilt. Then as the main plot line draws to a conclusion, the thread that binds these stories together resolves each individual facet, to complete the whole.Quilting as I understand it, is bringing many contributions together to create a final product. Each little design tells a story and the master quilter put's these stories together , to convey a theme or message. I have not read the novel, but the movie conveys the message in it's title.The soundtrack is tranquil and adds to the mood.The interplay between Burstyn and Bancroft is a pleasure to watch. Winona is excellent.

The delight of the movie lies in the several stories, including the focal story of Finn herself. And what I'm struck by is how the quilt is a perfect metaphor for human life as it makes its way through the generations, particularly how women serve as the thread and fabric of life. First, think of the arts involving sewing or threading —which you can look at as "connecting"—and how they're almost universally performed by women. (You can tell me the human genome has nothing to say about gender behavior, and you can also tell me pigs can fly.)...For my complete review of this movie and for other movie and book reviews, please visit my site TheCoffeeCoaster.com.Brian Wright Copyright 2008

The thing with American Quilt, which you will especially notice if you have already read the book, is that it has a lot of contents to deal with in the ranges of a feature film. But Jocelyn Moorehouse obviously wanted to pack all the magic of the small stories of the women into this film, she wanted an entire quilt, full of bits and parts. It is only when understanding this that one can fully appreciate this wonderful piece. Fynn, escaping her partner and the life (marriage) probably unfolding before her, stays with her grandmother and -aunt for the summer. The serious young eccentric, a worried, messed-up hippie girl, confronts her future, her past and her present (dealing with gorgeous Johnathon Schaech chasing her with smiles and strawberries), when she dives into the life- and love stories told to her by the women in her grandmother´s quilting circle. The rest is magic. See the torture of love, the journeys of women and the revelations of grief and new beginnings, see what they hold dear, what will always stay with them, and learn what Fynn eventually comes to terms with: That life is not about perfection, it´s about balance, about putting the small things together, just like a quilt. So, okay, mechanically, Moorhouse really doesn´t have enough time for subtlety, and some characters and developments literally just fly by without any diving in. This will lead people to saying it´s superficial, but it´s not: It´s a journey, like looking out of a car window in another country: Just peeks. Bits. Parts. Parts of a quilt the movie leaves you to put together. If you do, like I did, it´s so moving and inspiring. Warm. The music of THE one-and-only Thomas Newman, the beautiful Winona Ryder, the charismatic ladies, the land, full of secrets and peace. This is what makes it special. Fast, but special. And the final highpoint, a literal "storm" that blows everything apart yet puts everything together, is a cinematic masterpiece, proof of heartfelt, imaginative work of both the writer and the director. They´re actually dreaming an ending together - just take this lovely movie in and stop bickering about reality. If you ask me.