Shadrach (1998)
Narrated in Martin Sheen’s soothing Southern twang, Shadrach chronicles a young boy’s adventure when he stays at a friend’s house while his parents go out of the state for a funeral. Set in the early 1930s, before the repeal of Prohibition, Harvey Keitel makes corn moonshine, while his wife Andie MacDowell manages their brood of children and cools off in the summer heat with an unlimited supply of beer. While playing outside one afternoon, Scott Terra and Jonathan Parks Jordan discover John Franklin Sawyer—in his first and only movie—sitting in the backyard. He’s ninety-nine years old and has walked hundreds of miles to return to the plantation on which he was born into slavery. He wants to be buried on the land of his family.
This is quite an odd request, and as the white family accepts the former slave into their home and try to make his last days pleasant and comfortable, the audience is treated to a surprisingly moving film. Harvey Keitel is absolutely hilarious, spewing more obscenities than regular words and making the audience laugh nearly every time he opens his mouth. Andie MacDowell is incredible in an against-type role she’s never played before. Low-class, swilling beer in the afternoon, cozying up to her husband at night—how fun is it to see the glamorous model in such an unglamorous role? She just can’t help looking beautiful, but it’s her acting that shines in this movie instead of her pretty face. She’s kind and sensitive, worn-out but not beaten, and shows a subtle maturity she doesn’t usually show in her other movies.
I enjoyed this movie and felt it had more to offer than others of its kind. The flow is engaging, the ups aren’t corny, and the downs aren’t upsetting. Check it out!
Kiddy Warning: Obviously, you have control over your own children. However, due to racial language, I wouldn't let my kids watch it.
More Andie MacDowell movies here!
This is quite an odd request, and as the white family accepts the former slave into their home and try to make his last days pleasant and comfortable, the audience is treated to a surprisingly moving film. Harvey Keitel is absolutely hilarious, spewing more obscenities than regular words and making the audience laugh nearly every time he opens his mouth. Andie MacDowell is incredible in an against-type role she’s never played before. Low-class, swilling beer in the afternoon, cozying up to her husband at night—how fun is it to see the glamorous model in such an unglamorous role? She just can’t help looking beautiful, but it’s her acting that shines in this movie instead of her pretty face. She’s kind and sensitive, worn-out but not beaten, and shows a subtle maturity she doesn’t usually show in her other movies.
I enjoyed this movie and felt it had more to offer than others of its kind. The flow is engaging, the ups aren’t corny, and the downs aren’t upsetting. Check it out!
Kiddy Warning: Obviously, you have control over your own children. However, due to racial language, I wouldn't let my kids watch it.
More Andie MacDowell movies here!