David's Mother (1994)

Thanks for the memories!

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

I am watching this film at the moment on channel 61, At the point where Sally and John have the row about her leaving and not telling him, the actor changes and so does his clothes! Suddenly a much younger man is in place of John wearing a white cable knit sweater. This happens three times and then Sally becomes a younger version of herself, different hairstyle, makeup and clothes! I am puzzled as to how this film, that has received such great reviews and nominations for the acting, can be so badly edited. I have found this so distracting I had to break away and look the film up to see if anyone else has noticed this.Otherwise, it is a good film but I am being penickity perhaps.

David's Mother is such a beautiful film. While I tend to agree that most made for TV movies are terribly weak and mediocre, but when they are good they're brilliant. I'd only say that about one in a thousand are as great as this one, people that like to think of them all the same have obviously never seen one like it. In terms of pure heartfelt emotion and genuine portrayals of human beings, in my opinion it's superior to most epic Hollywood dramas. To me the acting was great all around- Stockard Channing was good as the better-off but loving sister who fears for Sally's future but is gradually losing her patience, although she kind of overdoes it in a few scenes. I thought Sam Waterson was brilliant as a kind and sweet friend to Sally and David. I love him in the scene where he takes a firm hand to David and forces him to stop tantruming like a baby and learn how to press the damn button! They also made great use of Chris Sarandon. The flashback scene that shows how he removed himself out of the picture and Sally's life was very powerful and heartbreaking-I had teary eyes! Even the girl that played Sally's fiery daughter was very memorable and played her small part really well. She was more than a match for Alley's wit. I love a comical scene where they have a silly little slapping match over a phone call! ::: Michael Goorjian was just phenomenal in his rather demanding role. I've seen him in one or two other things, but nothing even approaching the moving performance he gives here. What can you say? He *is* that character, he seems a hundred percent absolutely real. If you were to see him in the street, you'd probably stare and think it was real. In fact, a few times in the picture you can see members of the public doing just that! When I first saw this I was mesmerized by him. He doesn't speak a word yet speaks volumes with his silence. I think he's his best in the final scene where he's all worked up and upset at the forced separation-which may be hurting him then, but is really all for the best. There's just one teensy little 'goof' that he does in the whole thing. During the carousal scene, bless im', he looks right at the camera for a split second! ::: Kistie Alley was also terrific and probably is what makes the film work the most. She's so funny and likable, but you get the sense that this woman has become hardened over the years and knows exactly how to use her sparkling wit to keep people at arm's length, and that she has little time or regard for anyone outside her own little world. She was indeed strong to take on the burden all by herself, but also such a coward, pushing people away and allowing her life to grow ever smaller, until it's just the two of them. She lives only for him, only feeling any self-worth by caring for her precious, poor helpless David, whom she gradually learns over the course of the flick is only as helpless as she allows him to be. And she learns the always difficult decision that, if she really loves him she's got to let him go. Not(as some viewers claim) forever, just long enough to let him grow and learn a little, and they'll both be so much happier for it... That's what makes this movie so great. No offence, but the other reviewers who say this drama and its ending are depressing don't know what they're talking about. It wasn't an institution at the end, and the scene of the two of them walking that plays over the credits isn't showing how it used to be, it's obviously later, showing that she's free to see him whenever she wants. This is a tremendously hopeful film, it once gave me a lot of strength. I love the realistic message that, although sometimes change can be painful at the time, when the worst part's over, then life can truly start to begin. What really was depressing was the rotten situation they were in before. It's frightening how isolated we can become from everything, and it's not as hard as you might think. It's such a great portrayal of hope because it's done in such an honest and true to life way. You can turn it around, y'know? You can have a life, and it can all start with something as small as pressing a button on a VCR! Take care, bye now.

I must confess to a partiality for this type of film and did enjoy this one. However, I found it too much on the negative side and with a too low feelgood factor. I thought that David's "performance" was excellent and extremely realistic ( I am assuming the actor concerned is not autistic in real life ) but I thought that David's mother, as personnified by Kirstie Alley, went a bit over the top. Of course, the situation is difficult to live but one cannot even detect a glimmer of hope in Alley's attitude towards John who was an extremely kind and understanding man and willing to tackle the problem of David. All the mother can do is tell him to get lost ! - it's pushing the negative dramatic element too far in the direction of pessimism. Of course it must be very difficult to bring up a child like David, but one would have thought that John's presence would change things for the better. One saw this very briefly with David learning to operate the VCR but the optimism stops there.It's all well and good trying to be acutely realistic and doubtless this film corresponds perfectly to real live situations which have been lived. But I think that Cinema is there to make us dream, albeit only a little in some cases, and the viewer needs some "positive elements" to enable him/her to feel good about watching the film. After all, it IS a film and not a real-life documentary. Basically, one is left with a bitter aftertaste in one's mouth because of Kirstie Alley's boorish, offhand and uncompromising attitude with all those around her. One would have expected this attitude of course to dominate initially but to gradually disappear as the story unfolds throughout the film. Unfortunately this does not seem to be the case and whilst there is a minimum of gratitude on the part of Alley towards the John element, one feels that deep down she has not really changed that much and intends to continue as before. Big deal !So, all in all, good acting ( beautiful actors, John is very handsome and Kirstie Alley, when properly dressed up is pretty sexy ( for me, at least !! ), but an overly negative storyline which could have been improved upon without going too much in the other direction !

Dealing with an autistic child, his demand for the family's attention, and their inability to focus their lives on anything other than this child. Realistic rather than sentimental, an unpleasant topic successfully presented with first-rate editing, acting and direction. Kirstie Alley, as the child's harried mom, comes up with a mesmerizing and utterly convincing portrayal.