Cavedweller

Starring:Kyra Sedgwick, Regan Arnold, Aidan Quinn, Jill Scott (II), April Mullen, Vanessa Zima, Sherilyn Fenn, Kevin Bacon, Jackie Burroughs, Myron Natwick (II), Mat Langford, Zach Nicolino, Edie Inksetter, Panou, Bobby Prochaska, Brian Paul, Deborah Grover, Joan Massiah, Paul Brogren, Barry Walsh
Director: Lisa Cholodenko
Studio: Showtime Ent.
Product Type: DVD

Description

Based on the New York Times' Best Selling Novel by Dorothy Allison, "Cavedweller" tells the story of Delia (Sedgwick), a determined young mother who decides to return to her rural southern hometown after the unexpected death of her second husband (Bacon). There she must face the two daughters and abusive husband (Quinn) she abandoned a decade ago.

Customer Reviews:

Hmmmm...............2005-08-29

My wife and I had no previous exposure to the books upon which this Showtime movie is based, but found it to be pretty flat.
The Southern stereotypes were WAY OVERDONE and were downright hilarious.... kind of like Hollywood's idea of what the South is like.

Kyra Sedgewick's charachter is totally unlikeable and gives you no sympathy for her plight.

My wife blurted out once or twice.... the best way for this movie to progress would be for this piece of white trash (Sedgewisk's character) to die and maybe the three daughters could get some inheritance money from their musician father's estate and get a real life away from this dysfunctional mom.

It certainly did not appeal to the "chick-flick" side of my wife's emotions at all....

Give me a good movie like THE STRAIGHT STORY or DOOR TO DOOR anyday over this.

Another good film from Cholodenko.......2005-04-21

Following the death of long-time lover and rocker Randall (Kevin Bacon), Delia (Kyra Sedgwick) packs up their resentful daughter, Cissy (Regan Arnold), leaves California and heads for home in rural Georgia. Even though Delia has been gone for more than a decade, she's still remembered in Cayro as the woman who ran off and left her husband and two small daughters for a passing rock star. In her long absence, Delia's two abandoned daughters Dede (April Mullen) and Amanda (Vanessa Zima) have been raised by her husband's sour, wizened mother. Delia never divorced husband Clint (Aidan Quinn). He is now extremely ill and close to death.

Through flashbacks, Delia's abusive marriage to Clint is revealed. Leaving a gun-toting, abusive husband was as easy as stepping into Randall's tour bus and being whisked away to California. There's not much point in comparing Clint to Randall--even Delia's abandoned daughters understand her choice when they pick over their mother's rock-star memorabilia.

"Cavedweller" is the study of a portion of Delia's life. She's not particularly easy to like, and while it's perfectly understandable that she left her revolting husband, it's not so acceptable that she left her two daughters behind. The film doesn't waste scenes on any heartfelt confessions/motivation speeches. We don't, for example, see Delia beating her chest in demonstrative scenes of self-recrimination. Whatever remorse or regret Delia feels remains, for the most part, largely unspoken. Delia's decision to return to Georgia appears to be guilt-driven. It seems simplistic for Delia to expect an 'instant relationship' with her two estranged daughters, but her decision to return was as easy to make as the decision to leave in the first place. The hard part is living with those decisions. Just as Delia lived with the guilt of abandoning her two daughters, now she must live with the decision to return. Delia's rugged determination is clearly part of her nature. Kyra Sedgwick delivers a good, solid portrayal of a character who makes an irreversible decision but then finally faces it.

Director Lisa Cholodenko's career seems to focus on portraits of unfathomable women (Syd played by Radha Mitchell in "High Art" and Jane played by Frances McDormand in "Laurel Canyon"). Delia is an equally difficult character. The film is just a fragment of Delia's story. We really have no idea about her life with Randall--except for some hints that he was less-than-perfect, and the end of the film doesn't really bring any conclusions. But Cholodenko's female characters are never that easy to read, and in a sense, their stories are never 'over'. Intriguing ciphers, they present a puzzle for the viewer's interpretation, and this is why I enjoy this director's films so much. "Cavedweller" is based on the Dorothy Allison novel--displacedhuman

"Those people are not gonna be happy to see you".......2005-04-03

Cavedweller has always been one of my favourite Dorothy Allison books, so I was really excited to view this movie adaptation staring Kyra Sedgwick, who also happens to be one of my favourite actresses. The results are sort of mixed; the film has some wonderful performances, especially by Sedgwick, but the writers seem to have done a slash and burn job on much of the story, because gone is most of the content that actually gave the novel its name.

The producers have obviously decided to concentrate much more on Delia Byrd's character and her reconcilement with her two estranged daughters, rather than also focusing on her children's cave dwelling exploits. This is perfectly fine, except that I can't help thinking that they may have done the novel, and by turns, Allison a slight disservice.

Kyra Sedgwick stars as Delia Byrd. As the film opens, Delia loses her errant rock-star husband, Randall (Kevin Bacon), in a car accident. Her daughter Cissy (a terrific Regan Arnold) unreasonably blames her mother for dad's death; her father meant absolutely everything to her. Emotionally fraught, and at-a-loss, Delia decides to take her angry, and heartbroken young daughter from Los Angeles back to her hometown in rural Georgia, where Delia left behind her two daughters and her abusive husband, Clint (Aidan Quinn)many years ago, to join Randall on the road. Delia's best friend Rosemary (singer Jill Scott), warns her against it, but Delia is determined to reclaim her daughters.

Upon arriving in Georgia, however, Delia finds that she is not remembered fondly. The townsfolk humiliate her by accusing her of abandoning her children. Her introverted grandfather (Myron Natwick) reluctantly takes her and Cissy in, but Delia soon learns that Clint is dying, and that her daughters, Amanda (Vanessa Zima) and Dede (April Mullen), are living with Clint's religiously conservative mother (Jackie Burroughs). She has no intention of letting the girls see Delia, but realizing he has wronged her, Clint, who is slowly fading, agrees to help Delia get custody of the girls, in exchange for her caring for him until he dies.

Delia gradually learns how to become a mother to her two daughters again, but things haven't turned out the way that she had hoped. She regularly seeks consolation with the local priest, and confides to him that her "daughters are still like strangers to her." She has found herself plunged into a totally foreign landscape, where she is forced to question her place in the world.

As Delia tries to cope with Clint's debilitating illness and the uneasy relationship that is forming with Amanda and Dede, she recalls with horror the terrible physical abuse she suffered at the hands of her ex-husband. The priest even tells her that if she hadn't left him she would have died. In an attempting to reconnect with her older children, Delia must also face the demons of her past.

Cavedweller is certainly worth viewing for Sedgwick's totally affecting and moving performance. She manages to convey an astonishing mix of vulnerability and gutsyness as she refuses to be daunted in her quest to remake her relationship with her daughters. Regan Arnold is also good as Cissy, and her modern Southern Californian look - hip sunglasses and figure hugging outfits - juxtaposes nicely with the attire of her more sheltered and protected half-sisters.

It's just a pity that there fails to be an adequate resolution to the story. Much of the developing dynamics between the characters, especially between Delia's daughters, remain unanswered. Also, once Clint dies, the film just ends, and it remains unclear whether Delia will return to Los Angeles, taking all her children with her or stay in living in Georgia. However, despite the story's shortcomings there's still much to admire in this quiet little movie that explores how an independent, spirited woman is forced to confront and meet head-on a difficult turning point in her life. Mike Leonard April 05.

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