Once Around
by Lasse Hallström
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DVD details
Actor: Danny Aiello, Gena Rowlands, Holly Hunter, Laura San Giacomo, Richard DreyfussDirector: Lasse Hallström
Brand: Universal Studios
Producer: Richard Dreyfuss
Producer: Griffin Dunne
Cinematographer: Theo van de Sande
Editor: Andrew Mondshein
Producer: Amy Robinson
Producer: G. Mac Brown
Writer: Malia Scotch Marmo
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: Spanish (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.66:1
Running Time: 115 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2010-06-01
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Universal Studios
DVD Reviews of Once Around
DVD Review: One of the Best
Summary: 5 Stars
This is one of the best movies I've ever seen.
I loved everything about it: the acting, directing, and screenplay are top-notch. Richard Dreyfus knocked me out with his brilliant, ought-to-get-an-Academy-Award performance as the Lithuanian suitor. He is so intensely outgoing, he wants so much to embrace and touch people that it hurts to watch him. He is vibrant, enthusiastic, life-loving and warm, but one of the pivotal themes of the movie is that he is socially very clumsy. Typically, in a social situation Dreyfuss gives it his all with zeal and falls flat on his face.
There are equally brilliant performances by Danny Aiello as the bride-to-be's father and Holly Hunter as the bride to be.
The story is about an Italian-American woman from an upper-middle-class family in Winchester, Massachusetts. I mention the location because one of the charms of the movie is its attachment to place. Not only does Holly Hunter carry off the Boston accent perfectly (often attempted, seldom achieved), but the subtle social nuances are embroidered in the story. If you are not from this area, unfortunately, they will be lost on you. If you are, it will be a rich experience. Holly meets Richard Dreyfuss on a trip to Aruba. Dreyfuss falls madly in love with her, and she starts to fall in love with him. They see each other back in the States and decide to marry. A source of tension and drama is that Holly Hunter and Richard Dreyfuss are "odd ducks." The other members of the family have always handled their rara avis daughter with love and understanding (with the possible exception of her younger sister). But the pair of them start to rub these traditionalists the wrong way, and to an escalating degree.
One of the most affecting moments is when Holly Hunter's family gives a memorial service for Danny Aiello's mother. It is a large gathering of the family. Close friends and relatives get up on stage and make heartfelt speeches.
When Danny Aiello steps on stage to sing "Mama," the room goes quiet. When he finishes, everyone is overcome.
At that moment, Richard Dreyfuss insists on taking the stage to make his own speech. Danny Aiello's wife gasps, because she knows that somehow this would absolutely be just the wrong thing, perhaps the straw that breaks the camel's back after a series of so many resoundingly off-key gestures so many times by Dreyfuss.
But I found myself rooting for him and his bride when I thought the director and screenwriter didn't want me to. I thought they meant Mr. and Mrs. Danny Aiello and family to be the heroes and Holly Hunter and Richard Dreyfuss to be--not the villains, but the losers, the misfits, the inappropriate ones.
I won't tell you how the movie turns out, but it had me emoting and emoting and emoting and sometimes thinking and it had me to-ing and fro-ing, sometimes confused, and at one time sobbing deep, aching, profound sobs.
I must mention that in Dreyfuss's brilliant characterization of a Lithuanian man, he created a Lithuanian man. I don't know if it was his idea or the director's, but two devices that were used so brilliantly were music and religion, when Dreyfuss marries Holly Hunter and when their first child is born.
The marriage ceremony takes place in a real Lithuanian church with a real Lithuanian priest singing the real Lithuanian mass, which is chanted in a deep basso voice, something like the Orthodox Russian mass. The scene in the hospital room with Holly and the baby is totally awesome. There is beatific Holly, holding her newborn child, and in comes Richard Dreyfuss bringing a small chorus of Lithuanian women folk singers in beautiful folk costumes replete with flowers and embroidery. They sing several of the most beautiful a capella folk tunes. It is a magic moment.
If you like character driven movies, I can't recommend this movie highly enough.
Description of Once Around
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