An Unfinished Life

**_“How painful are honest words!”_** Shot in the spring & early summer of 2003, this sat on the shelf for over two years before finally being released in September, 2005. The script was written by Mark Spragg & his wife Virginia, which was published as a book the year after shooting completed. The Spraggs married Redford’s “The Horse Whisperer” with “Of Mice and Men” (think Crooks living in the stable). There are also bits of Jennifer Lopez’ “Enough.” It’s not as good as “The Horse Whisperer” or “Of Mice and Men,” but it’s still worth checking out if you like those movies or “A River Runs Through it” and “Legends of the Fall.” Redford was 66 during shooting and still lean, as well as formidable. Morgan Freeman was likewise 66. A couple of fragments of eye-rolling LIEberal talking points show up in the dialogues, but they’re so fleeting they’re not worth mentioning. Looking past that, there are quality life lessons that never get old amidst occasional predictableness. It runs 1h 47m and was shot in in British Columbia in Ashcroft, Savona, and Kamloops, which are located a 4-hour drive northeast of Vancouver on the other side of the Coast Mountains. GRADE: B/B-

I enjoyed watching this movie. It has the high quality I would expect from the director of What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, another movie that relies on a solid story and good acting to carry it through. The actors top to bottom are as good as they need to be. I especially like that the girl wasn’t turned into one of those witty, smart-mouthed sitcom brats you often see. The character is fairly serious and a few times comes out with an observation that is meaningful and believable. Like the comment to her grandfather that an old boyfriend of her mother only hit her Mom with words, like he did. In some ways the story was predictable and the abusive boyfriend was almost just a stereotype. Then again, the reason we have cliches and stereotypes is that they are common in real life, but they could has shown a greater imagination in presenter atheist woman beater, for example. Still, it is a movie worth watching, if not memorable or worth multiple viewings.