Lake City

Lake City_720p(480P)

source: Lake City

I found it hard to look at this movie and see Sissy Spacek and Tom Garity as mother and son. Her lack of the typical Hollywood look made her an odd choice for stardom in the 1970's, but she remains one of the best discoveries of that era. Her decision to move out of the limelight has kept her youthful beyond her years. She doesn't look as if she could be Garvi's leading lady, but maybe older sister. So in this character-driven drama, as you get to know these people, it comes as a bit of a surprise when it is revealed that he is her son. He shows up after being away for years, and she tells him without hesitation that this is still his home, and that includes the little boy whose connection at first it's on explained. Garvi is on the run for reasons he is keeping to himself, and his return home has mom Spacek wondering just what he's hiding. The sudden appearance of the little boy's mother reveals a few more details, as does the presence of a rather seedy character who gives indication that's Garvi is involved in something truly shady. It's also obvious that the little boy is indeed Spacek's grandson, but Garvi refuses to tell him. Spacek slowly bonds with the little boy, often cross with him, but apologetic to him almost immediately. The earthy and practically angelic Spacek only shows minor signs of age, and her earth mother performance is extraordinarily nuanced and strong. Garvi, too, is a great find, combination John Garfield and James Dean, handsome but troubled. Colin Ford holds up well as the sad little boy opposite the amazing Spacek, and adds the right sort of quiet hostility to play Garvi's son believably. My one wish in my life is to see Spacek on stage. She would certainly be an amazing Amanda in "The Glass Menagerie". I have said in several of my reviews that Spacek is among the best of her generation, and nobody expresses down to earth Southern charm and simplicity like her, yet making her characters extremely complex at the same time. Other than Dianne Wiest, I can't think of many actresses I'd picture as the perfect mother, which indeed is much more difficult to play than it sounds. This drama instantly grabs you, ingeniously using an unsteady camera in the tense moments to represent the emotional upheaval these three characters go through in 90 minutes. The flashbacks to what lead to Spacek and Garvi's estrangement is truly shattering. It's the human dramas like thus that Hollywood should be focusing itself on rather than the predictable headache inducing crud it focuses on.

The critic quotes on the front and back of the DVD case for "Lake City" suggest that the movie is a thriller of sorts, but it really isn't (more about that shortly). Instead, the movie is for the most part a look at different characters intertwined together, and their various weaknesses and motivations. The actors do a pretty good job with what they are given, I admit. Also, there are some good dramatic moments here and there, but the movie as a whole does not work. There are a number of moments where you expect characters during stressful and/or painful moments to ask some obvious questions, but they never do for some reason. In fact, at the end of the movie there are a number of plot threads that haven't been properly completed. The movie's main mistake comes in the last ten or so minutes, when it suddenly turns from a sober domestic drama of sorts into a violent thriller - which feels REALLY out of place. This movie feels more like a rough draft that hasn't gone through some serious rethinking and polishing, so it's easy to see why it was barely released to theaters.

like the other reviewers, I thought this was an excellent film with excellent directing, cinematography, and most of all acting, by all members of the cast. the only reason I didn't give it 10 stars is because I was a little unsatisfied with the ending, because it didn't clue us in on what was happening. where was he "coming back" from? they were moving, but to where? will they all stay together and where? what happened to the money and the heroin left in the drawer in the barn? maybe I'm clueless but had to repeat that last scene on the porch to even clarify that she said to call him when he starts back. ah well, guess need to leave it to the imagination.

This movie needs to be seen! It is very reminiscent of "Witness" in that someone is hiding in a rural setting from criminals. The acting is impressive: Sissy Spacek, Troy Garity, Keith Carradine, Rebecca Romijn, Dave Matthews (yes, THAT Dave Matthews), and Drea de Matteo (in a small part) are fantastic! I started to watch it because I've been a big fan of both Spacek and Garity, and I was pleasantly surprised. The story begins with several questions that are eventually answered, and by the second half of the film I was on the edge of my seat. Please, if you get a chance to watch this (like I did on one of the Showtime channels) you will not be disappointed. One spoiler...if you're a "softie" like me, you may be shedding a tear or two by the end.

Directed reportedly by both Perry Moore and Hunter Hill, "Lake City" is a fairly decent movie despite it's terrible music and thrown together badly clichéd and unneeded ending. The central actors of Billy, Clayton, and Maggie manage to share a good interaction, and I enjoyed their nurturing of the young boy. All three actors did a good job, but despite their performances and well written dialog, the producers and directors skimped on the score/soundtrack involved, which sounded of a poor quality out of the elevator or supermarket. The amped up violence at the end was hardly worth the shock value either, and was unimaginative and seen before much better done in other movies. So the movie is kind of a mix - it didn't really need all the thrill or suspense, and had a professional enough cast to make the story work without the drug side-story. Give it a mixed review: 6/10....could've been better

Excellent movie! Sissy Spacek has such a quiet beauty about her! Love the ways she can make you feel her emotions with just a look. Wish she made more movies. This movie was very touching especially the scenes with Sissy and the boy. A great deal of emotion and power dealing with the death of a loved one. Loved the location of the movie and the cinematography. Beautiful landscapes with great small town shots. You could really feel the beauty of belonging to something like this farm and family through the emotions expressed by just a look from Sissy. I thought the whole cast was great. Rebecca Romijn played an excellent part as a small town Sheriff. I highly recommend this movie.

'Lake City' is a film written and directed by Perry Moore and Hunter Hill, about a man named Billy (Troy Garity) running away back to his home down South and his mother Maggie (Sissy Spacek) to escape his drug connections. In tow, he has Clayton (Colin Ford) his girlfriend's son and a large amount of drugs sought by Red (Dave Matthews), a nefarious dealer. Though he does his best to keep his head down and readjust to life in the small town, his old life (and tragedies therein) proves too difficult to shake off, forcing a direct confrontation with both the life he has created (and destroyed) for himself and the life that he was running away from when he left. Sissy Spacek as Maggie is clearly the rock at the center of the film, around which all other elements orbit and evolve. With each and every glance and turn of her sturdy but weathered face, she conveys the wisdom and strength of the 'people of the land', to spin a tired phrase, and the environment that they live in. Though the film's story ostensibly hinges on the actions taken by Billy, it is Maggie who is the film's heart and soul, personifying all of the conflicted feelings that Billy has about the rather double-edged notion of home, where you can count on everyone knowing who you are, but also on being the same person that you were when they first met you. Maggie's relationship with Billy is a complicated (and frequently tense) one, but as convincing as Garity is as a drug user, it is Spacek who lets us know just where the divide between them lies. 'Lake City' is a very solid film, and I highly recommend it. It may be a little hard to track down(it is available on Netflix), but I suggest you do; you won't be disappointed.

The title refers to the small town where most of the movie takes place. I had "Lake City" on my list of prospective rentals but it appeared on network TV recently. It has some interesting elements, but overall I didn't find it to be a particularly interesting movie. One reason is Troy Garity as Billy. I don't find Garrity to be a particularly interesting actor, and his voice has a distracting, unsatisfying quality about it. Here Billy has gotten too close to the criminal drug element, and he needs to get away quickly. So he takes a road trip to his mother's home on some land outside Lake City. (It was filmed in Virginia.) Sissy Spacek is his mother, Maggie, who cares about her son but is unhappy with his propensity for trouble. One of Billy's old friends is Rebecca Romijn in her "southern voice" as Jennifer, a cop in the small town. A side story involves a group buying up land for a development, and Barry Corbin as George is a friend of Maggie's and tries to convince her to sell, because they can both get a much better price if they sell together. (I once worked with Corbin in "A Face to Kill For" and it is always nice to see him on screen.) The movie has a rather predictable element of friction between son and mother. Also predictably the crooks show up looking for Billy. Also predictably Jennifer gets involved in defeating the crooks.