A light in my heart ( Unhook the Stars ) is an American- French drama film by Nick Cassavetes from the year 1996.

Action

Mildred Hawks is a widow who lives with her daughter Annie in the house that her husband is her, together with savings of where they live, has left. Her relationship with her daughter is strained and shortly after Annie leaves the parental home. Her older son Ethan has already moved away.

Mildred feels lonely and empty. In addition to delivering newspapers, there is no meaningful employment for them. At this time throwing her neighbor Monica Warren her husband and father of her son, Frankie Warren out of the house, after he had defeated in battle. Since Monica has no one to take care of her son Jake while driving to work in the dairy, she rings in her previously unknown neighbor Mildred and asks her to take care for the transition to Jake. Mildred befriends the boy and makes Monica offered the opportunity to permanently take care of Jake, what these rejects, because it assumes that Mildred would demand money for the care. When this misunderstanding is dispelled, Mildred Jake brings to school every day, gets him there again, it is preparing meals and doing something for his education by she reads him the article from a dictionary. Both Mildred and Jake feel about this probably because they like to Mildred again has a job and someone cares neatly around Jake, what was not always with Monica, which is not exactly embodies the ideal image of a mother is the case, because they constantly smokes is often drunk and otherwise very chaotic and self-centered lives.

During this time, Mildred receives a visit from her son Ethan and his wife Jeannie. The two are expecting their first child and want Mildred to pick up to San Francisco, not without ulterior motives that Mildred can then take care of their offspring. Mildred asks her son to think it over first.

One day Monica wants to thank Mildred for their help and invites them to a visit to the pub. Here Mildred learns the truck driver Big Tommy Bellaveau know that she drives homecoming after Monica is with another man just disappeared in the course of the evening, without saying goodbye to what Mildred has little disappointed. Big Tommy says Mildred ago from Miami, where he was driving his truck on a regular basis. When adopting a romance between the two suggests that initially but finds no further deepening.

As Mildred visits her wealthy son and her daughter- in San Francisco, shows of her spacious rooms in his house, which they could inhabit and also offers her an alternative to buy an apartment. At first glance, everything looks very harmonious, but when his wife makes a small objection to showing the true face of Mildred's son, as he then lowered his wife with words, as if she were his serfs. As Mildred then refuses to move in with them and take care of her unborn baby, he accuses her of prefer to take care of the " bellows " her neighbor.

After Mildred is back home, the husband of Monica takes several attempts to reconcile with his wife, which it first declines and enjoys going to see him beg before her. After Mildred had advised her not to push the game too far, because love sometime goes by when she does not reciprocate, she agrees to her husband's return.

Now Mildred is no longer needed in order to take care of the little Jake and she again feels lonely and out of place. Therefore, Mildred sold their house and decides to pull away. As she packs her bags, she receives a call from the truck driver Big Tommy and arranges to meet him for dinner. When she comes home, there appeared her daughter Annie again and tells her that she move back with her and wants to continue her studies, but Mildred tells her that this is no longer possible because they sold the house and pulls away from here.

On the day of departure Mildred Annie and her boyfriend will be driven to the airport. The end of their journey, she reveals neither her daughter nor the audience.

Reviews

James Berardinelli wrote on ReelViews, the film was a " pleasant " not sentimental character study. He was " committed" and mix to a " satisfactory ", the elements of a comedy and a drama film. Berardinelli praised the " openness" and "honesty" of the script. He also praised the representations of Gena Rowlands, Marisa Tomei and Moira Kelly.

Awards

Gena Rowlands and Marisa Tomei were nominated in 1997 for a Screen Actors Guild Award. Jake Lloyd was nominated in 1997 for the Young Artist Award. Nick Cassavetes won a prize in 1997 by the Portuguese Festival Internacional de Cinema do Porto.

Background

The movie was filmed in Salt Lake City and San Francisco. He was shown only in a few cinemas in the U.S., where he recorded about 235 thousand U.S. dollars.

Swell

France 1996 in film Screenplay Film score Phedon Papamichael

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