Product Description

Following the death of his parents young Collin Fenwick (Edward Furlong) comes to a small southern town to live with his father's cousins Verena and Dolly Talbo. He soon discovers that the Talbo household is anything but normal. Verena (Sissy Spacek) rules the house as well as the entire town with a stern hand. Meanwhile her older sister Dolly (Piper Laurie) charms Collin with her gentle romantic spirit. To escape Verena's oppression Dolly Collin and the Talbo's eccentric maid Catherine (Nell Carter) run away to an old tree house in the woods. But their adventure sparks a series of events that will change not just their lives but the future of the entire town as well.Running Time: 107 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 794043803628

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #41389 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2005-04-19
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 107 minutes

From The New Yorker
Truman Capote loosely based his 1951 novella on his childhood with spinster aunts in the South. In Charles Matthau's sentimental adaptation, Piper Laurie and Sissy Spacek, who were a mother and daughter in De Palma's "Carrie," are reunited as the sisters. Spacek smartly underplays the proper Verena's businesslike brilliance. As Dolly, Laurie has been saddled with too many saintly attributes, but she makes her character an ethereal earth mother, giving her the weight to carry her head-in-the-clouds lines, and delivers a remarkable performance. The cast is filled with wonderful actors: Walter Matthau (the director's father), Roddy McDowall, Mary Steenburgen, Jack Lemmon, and sleepy, doe-eyed Edward Furlong as the sensitive young narrator. But the writers, Stirling Silliphant and Kirk Ellis, underestimate the poetic power of Capote's quiet storytelling, underlining emotions that should merely be suggested, and, though Matthau's direction is clean, he compounds their mawkishness by cueing the audience's responses with syrupy music. It's not a bad film by any means, just an obvious one. -Bruce Diones
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

The Grass Harp
If you like movies like "Fried Green Tomatoes" and "Crimes of the Heart", or "Practical Magic" then you'll love this Southern tale. The story is told through the eyes of a young boy recently orphaned by his mother and a seemingly uncaring, grieving father. Sent to live with a mis-matched pair of spinster Aunts, the boy learns that love is not always what it seems and can be found in the most unlikely characters.

The Grass Harp
Excellent movie...well written, directed and acted. Superior cast and of course its' Truman Capote at his best!

Lovely performances and interesting casting
I adore this movie. I saw it quite awhile ago, so I can't give many specifics, but you can read the other reviews for commentary on the performances. An ensemble cast rather than a real star turn for anyone, with the exception of Piper Laurie. Laurie is always wonderful in her varied roles, and this is a very sweet and graceful conception of a child-like character. She never plays it for laughs, and the portrayal does not indicate that childlike here is equivalent to childish or emotionally disturbed. Poor Sissy Spacek is cast as a typical "old maid/prude", unfortunately; the writer(s) might have made the two women's roles less extreme in their behavior, but it does contribute to the reconciliation at the end. I think I will put this movie on my wishlist. By the way, I came across this movie on an [...] list that gave a rundown of all the movies the very interesting Mia Kirshner has been in. I don't remember her being in the movie, and apparently she had a small role, but it makes me even more eager to see the movie again. She's hot, and I love her on "The L Word". One more note--I have never particularly liked
Walter Matthau, but he does an amazing job with his role. It's worth it to see the very elderly Matthau wrap up his career with an attractive acting job. The title of the movie aptly reflects the airy tone of the story--there is a kind of windy music flowing throughout the performance.
See it at least once!