In the Gloaming

• Director: Christopher Reeve
• AMG Rating:
• Genre: Drama
• Movie Type: Family Drama
• Themes: Mothers and Sons, Living With AIDS, Dying Young
• Main Cast: Glenn Close, Robert Sean Leonard, David Strathairn, Bridget Fonda, Whoopi Goldberg
• Release Year: 1997
• Country: US
• Run Time: 62 minutes
• MPAA Rating: PG

Plot

Actor Christopher Reeve made his directorial debut with this dramatic made-for-cable movie about the effects of AIDS on a family. Robert Sean Leonard stars as Danny, a son who returns home to his parents to be with them in the final days of his battle against AIDS. The stress of the situation brings out the tensions and anxieties that the family members have been quietly bearing for years. Glenn Close stars as Danny's mother, who grows closer to her son through the tragedy. David Strathairn stars as his father, who struggles with the reality of his son's life and illness. Whoopi Goldberg and Bridget Fonda appear as his nurse and his sister, respectively. Beautifully filmed in Westchester, New York and sensitively directed, this film was nominated for four Emmy Awards. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide

Review

Spare, elegiac, and beautifully crafted, this AIDS drama benefits immensely from its tiny cast, gorgeous upstate New York setting, and episodic plot, all of which put maximum focus on the actors and the emotional nuances between their characters. Glenn Close and David Strathairn pick up the silences, compromises, and subliminal connections of a well-to-do married couple with consummate ease. Bridget Fonda glides briskly through her supporting role as their brittle yuppie daughter, while Robert Sean Leonard emanates resignation and the hope for reconciliation as the AIDS-stricken son who's come home to die. Even Whoopi Goldberg, in the stereotypical African-American enabler role of the nurse, who shepherds Close's character from denial to acceptance, turns in a serene, lovely performance in only a few minutes of screen time. Adapted by Will Scheffer from Alice Elliott Dark's acclaimed short story, In the Gloaming marked a promising debut for actor-turned-director Christopher Reeve. Released the same year as the overwrought Twilight of the Golds, another made-for-cable tale about a monied family struggling with homosexuality, this is one of the truest and least sanctimonious AIDS films yet produced. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

Cast

• Glenn Close
• Robert Sean Leonard
• David Strathairn
• Bridget Fonda
• Whoopi Goldberg

Credit

Bonnie Timmermann - Co-producer, Jane Greenwood - Costume Designer, Christopher Reeve - Director, David Ray - Editor, Frederick Zollo - Executive Producer, Nicholas Paleologos - Executive Producer, Dave Grusin - Composer (Music Score), Andrew Jackness - Production Designer, Frederick Elmes - Cinematographer, Nellie Nugiel - Producer, Will Scheffer - Teleplay By, Alice Elliott Dark - Book Author

Similar Movies

An Early Frost; Longtime Companion; The Lost Language of Cranes; Philadelphia; Our Sons; The Twilight of the Golds; The Event

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