- published: 03 May 2011
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Wildflowers is a 1999 drama film directed by Melissa Painter. It stars Clea DuVall, Daryl Hannah, Tomas Arana and Eric Roberts. It features former United States Poet Laureate Robert Hass reading some of his own poetry. Filmed in San Francisco and Marin County, California, it was given a limited theatrical release and received a mixed reception from critics.
Clea DuVall stars as Cally, a 17 year old who has been raised by her father, not knowing her mother. When Cally meets a mysterious woman called Sabine, she becomes obsessed with her.
Wildflowers premiered at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival. It was given a limited theatrical release in the United States on September 1, 2000. In the US it grossed $5,365.
At the 2000 SXSW Film Festival, Melissa Painter won the SXSW Competition Award for best Narrative Feature. Review website Rotten Tomatoes gave Wildflowers a "rotten" rating of 50% based on six reviews.Metacritic gave it a "generally negative" rating of 28% based on seven reviews. In a review for The New York Times, A. O. Scott called the film dreamy and impressionistic, but ultimately empty. He praised Clea DuVall for her "intuitive grasp of emotion". Writing for The Austin Chronicle, Barry Johnson called the film poignant. He praised Painter for her "lyrical, intimate direction" and DuVall for her "impressive, nuanced performance".Christopher Null called the film bizarre and incomprehensible, "utterly hopeless as cinema".
When a scion of LA industry dies in the arms of a prostitute who won't hand him his heart tablets, his three squabbling adult children head for a weekend at the family's remote, high-desert cabin to sort out the estate. Ethan, the ambitious, cruel eldest brings his mousy wife Jackie. The ne'er-do-well brother Dennis, with an alcoholic past and big gambling debts, brings his new girlfriend, Zoey. The youngest, Audrey, seems detached. At a rural gas station, Dennis rescues a woman from an abusive boyfriend, and he invites her to stay with them. She's Nichol, and she looks vaguely familiar. Who's aligned with whom in the struggle for money and control? Who's weak, who's strong?
Keywords: female-nudity, hitchhiker, independent-film, inheritance, lesbianism, threesome
Actors: Albert Wolsky (costume designer), Carlo Ponti (producer), Basil Hoffman (actor), Suso Cecchi D'Amico (writer), Sophia Loren (actress), Susan Sarandon (actress), William Devane (actor), George Fisher (actor), Richard Libertini (actor), David Doyle (actor), Gigi Proietti (actor), Edward Herrmann (actor), Danny DeVito (actor), Ruggero Mastroianni (editor), Mario Monicelli (director),
Plot: Maddalena and Michele fall in love in Italy in the 1960s, while working at a meat factory in Emilia stormed by the workers' protest, but their love can't be, because he is married and Italy has no divorce. So she persuades him to move to the U.S., and joins him four years later, bringing a Mortadella (sort of salami, processed pork anyway) as a present. But Customs do not allow processed meat to enter the U.S., so she is held at JFK airport but refuses to give in (she indeed is a very strong woman). In the meantime, she discovers the truth about Michele and a few things about the US.
Keywords: bigamy, commedia-all'italiana, custom, customs-officer, divorce, female-nudity, fiancé, food-in-title, gift, italian-american