Hey folks, again this week, I am reviewing a movie for Movie Monday. As you all have probably fiqured out by now, my reviews have much less with do with any critique of film making in the abstract, and much more to do with the films affect on me, and my ability to connect on an emotional basis. Having said that, please know that I LOVED Martian Child and urge you all to see it.
I knew I was in trouble when I started misting up during the previews for the coming attractions. I didnt know how much "trouble" I was in till I found myself sobbing throught most of the movie and on the way home after. The movie, Martian Child, starring John and Joan Cusack as the adoptive father and aunt of Dennis. It is a very moving movie about this young boy who has had lots of pain in his young life, and the adoptive father who takes him home and finally manages to reach him. Dennis has abandonment issues which he has learned to cope with in his own bizarre way. John Cusack, as the father, has to deal with these issues and behaviors, the "trouble" they get him, as the parent, in with those in the outside world--in school and the human services agency, and with his own doubts about being able and ready to raise a child on his own.Reading the reviews after seeing the movie yielded mixed reactions. Accusations of being too idealistic, and too "upbeat", while perhaps being technically correct, miss the point. This is not a logical movie but a movie from the heart. Regardless of whether this movie is "realistic" it is something more important......it presents hope and possiblity. It is, after all, not a textbook case of how things DO happen, but a vision of how they COULD happen if we are open to the possibilities. That this movie is based on a real event hints, however, that on rare occasions, things really DO turn out for the best. I find that something to mist up about. Check it out, maybe you will feel that hope and the power of love also.