Digging to China *** (1997, Kevin Bacon, Mary Stuart Masterson, Cathy Moriarty) – Classic Movie Review 3240

‘My mother lived in one world. I was always looking for another. Once I tried to squeeze down a rabbit hole. Then I tried digging all the way to China. ‘

The actor Timothy Hutton directs this well-acted, odd 1997 drama set in Sixties rural Pennsylvania, where 10-year-old Harriet (Evan Rachel Wood in her movie feature debut) is growing into adolescence and away from the drab motel where she lives with her alcoholic mother Mrs Frankovitz (Cathy Moriarty) and promiscuous sister Gwen (Mary Stuart Masterson). She doesn’t feel needed by them and longs to leave her home, be taken away by a UFO or dig all the way to China.

[Spoiler alert] When her mother dies in a car accident, she starts to make plans. One day a car breaks down outside the motel. Inside are a woman and her 30-year-old mentally retarded son Ricky (Kevin Bacon). Ricky and Harriet, both misfits, are drawn together, becoming soulmates, and they weave a plan to alter their destinies. Apart they were strange, together anything can happen…

It is an original screenplay, written by Karen Janzsen.

Also in the cast are Marina Seldes, Amanda Minikus, Gareth Williams, Nicole Burdette, Bing Putney, Annie Jaynes, Joanne Pankow, J.C. Quinn and R Keith Harris.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3240

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