This was a beautiful movie on so many levels, an absorbing story about the healing bonds of family love and the resilience of the human spirit that is relevant for any time of year, but especially appropriate for the holiday season. Without exception, every member of the cast was wonderful. Cynthia Nixon invested her role with both a strong will and a frail constitution as well as obvious love for her husband and family. Her decline and eventual death were beautifully portrayed. Eva Marie Saint gave her "Grammy" an assured wisdom that skillfully avoided parody and was never intrusive. Ms. Saint's character had just the right balance of love for and exasperation with her son and devotion to her grandchildren. Kimberly Warnat shone as "Becca," signing her role with genuine fluency. Each of the other children in the cast was likewise excellent. SPOILER ALERT Scott Bakula's "Grins" sang, danced and played his banjo with such openhearted, natural joy. This father romped with his children as if he were one of them. His tenderness toward his dying wife, as he tried to heal her with the strength of his love and his own vigor and confidence was exquisitely moving. After his wife's death, his stunned helpless, grief and withdrawn loneliness were apparent in the slightest of his facial expressions and even in his bearing and posture. The manic, grieving anger and acute pain that poured out of him as he played his banjo faster and faster and faster reflected eloquently in the tension of his body, arms, hands and face. And as Christmas approached, Grins was the very image of a grief-stricken man who was sliding into chronic depression. Mr. Bakula brought a degree of emotion to each of these moments that flawlessly suited his character and indeed seemed to come from Grins' soul.
There was such easy rapport and genuine affection between all of the cast members that this fictional family looked and felt like a real one. The singing and dancing were woven seamlessly into the production and made to seem such a customary part of the community's way of life. Visually, the movie was gorgeous with a lovely soft focus and an aged appearance to the film. And while the material was at times poignant and sad, the movie never strayed into maudlin or became manipulative or cloying. Papa's Angels is a new holiday classic that I would love to see repeated each season. And I sincerely hope that CBS will release this movie to video very soon. I'll certainly be in line to buy it. Congratulations to everyone connected with the performance and production of Papa's Angels.
There was such easy rapport and genuine affection between all of the cast members that this fictional family looked and felt like a real one. The singing and dancing were woven seamlessly into the production and made to seem such a customary part of the community's way of life. Visually, the movie was gorgeous with a lovely soft focus and an aged appearance to the film. And while the material was at times poignant and sad, the movie never strayed into maudlin or became manipulative or cloying. Papa's Angels is a new holiday classic that I would love to see repeated each season. And I sincerely hope that CBS will release this movie to video very soon. I'll certainly be in line to buy it. Congratulations to everyone connected with the performance and production of Papa's Angels.
