Themes: Living With Disability, Mothers and Daughters, Single Parents
Main Cast: Kathleen Turner, Tommy Lee Jones, Asha Menina, Shiloh Strong, Esther Rolle
Release Year: 1992
Country: US
Run Time: 109 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG13
Plot
In Michael Lessac's lugubrious House of Cards, women's intuition beats out psychology in the battle against autism. The story begins in Mexico, where a little girl named Sally Matthews (Asha Menina) lives with her parents, scientists studying ancient ruins. When her father falls to his death, Sally is comforted by a Mayan mystic that tells Sally her father has gone to the moon. When Sally, her mother Ruth (Kathleen Turner), and her brother Michael (Shiloh Strong) return home to North Carolina, Sally begins to retreat into autism. She first stares silently at the night sky. Then she shrieks when Ruth wears a baseball cap the wrong way. Finally she develops the habit of scaling the roof of the house and other tall structures. This makes Ruth realize that there is something seriously wrong, and she takes her to see Dr. Jacob Beerlander, a psychiatrist who is an expert in autism. As Sally retreats more and more into herself, Beerlander and Ruth clash over the scientific approach versus the intuition of a mother. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
Park Overall - Lillian Huber; Michael Horse - Stoker; Anne Pitoniak - Judge; John Bennes - Taxi Driver; Joaquin Martinez - Selord; Nick Searcy - Construction Driver; Mali Finn; John Henderson - Bart Huber; Jacqueline Cassell - Joey's Mother; Craig Fuller - Roy Huber; Rick Marshall - Frank Stearson
Credit
Charley Beal - Art Director, Edward Khmara - Associate Producer, Jonathan Sanger - Co-producer, Julie Weiss - Costume Designer, Tony Gittleson - First Assistant Director, Michael Lessac - Director, Walter Murch - Editor, Vittorio Cecchi Gori - Executive Producer, James Horner - Composer (Music Score), Jeff Goodwin - Makeup, Peter Larkin - Production Designer, Victor Hammer - Cinematographer, Wolfgang Glattes - Production Manager, Vittorio Cecchi Gori - Producer, Lianne Halfon - Producer, Dale Pollock - Producer, Wolfgang Glattes - Producer, Gianni Nunnari - Producer, Leslie Rollins - Set Designer, Greg Hull - Special Effects, Edward Khmara - Screenwriter, Michael Lessac - Screenwriter, Robert Jay Litz - Screenwriter, Gianni Nunnari - Co-Executive Producer
House of Cards is a 1993 drama film directed by Michael Lessac and starring Kathleen Turner and Tommy Lee Jones. It follows the struggle of a mother to reconnect with her daughter who has been traumatized by the death of her father.
Synopsis
Following the death of her husband, Ruth Matthews (Kathleen Turner) moved her family to a quiet suburb, hoping to put the past behind them. While her son Michael (Shiloh Strong) is able to adapt, her daughter, Sally (Asha Menina), is apparently traumatized by the experience and starts displaying unusual behavior. Ruth seeks the help of Jake Beerlander (Tommy Lee Jones), an expert in child autism, to help Sally.
