Based upon the book of the same name by Billie Letts, this film was a more than favorable surprise. It is simply a compelling bewitching, and recent film. Well directed by television stale Matt Williams, the movie exudes a obvious folksy charm that grabs the viewer from the secure go and keeps that viewer enthralled until the final scene.
The film centers around Novalee Nation (Natalie Portman), a very pregnant seventeen year extinct, who, with her boyfriend, lowlife Willy Jack Pickens (Dylan Bruno), pulls up to a Walmart’s in Oklahoma where he abandons her. So, with virtually no money, literally barefoot and pregnant, and nowhere to go, she sets up camp in Walmart by night and explores the town by day, making friends with a number of memorable characters.
She unexpectedly has her baby at Walmart’s, making her into a minor local celebrity. While at the hospital convalescing, she meets a sassy, brassy nurse, Lexie Coop (Ashley Judd), who befriends her. She is showered with gifts and her mother, Mama Lil (Sally Field), a floozie who discovers her daughter’s whereabouts courtesy of the media hoopla, pays her a visit. Having abandoned her once before, she is there long enough for Novalee to be abandoned, yet again.
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Along comes Thelma ‘Sister’ Husband (Stockard Channing), an eccentric but kindhearted recovering alcoholic who scoops Novalee and her baby up and takes her to her home. This would be the beginning of a whole fresh life for Novalee, one that would be enriched by the people whom she meets and the experiences, both advantageous and awful, to which she is subjected. It becomes the memoir of her personal and emotional odyssey, as well as the tale and growth of those with whom she most closely interacts. It is a tale about life, relationships, responsibilities, savor, and the ties that bind.
It is also the tale of Willy Jack Pickens and the direction his life takes subsequent to his abandonment of Novalee. After some abominable breaks, he gets talent agent, Ruth Meyers (Joan Cusack), to impress him on in hope of furthering a musical career. Unlike Novalee, however, he does not occupy well to the vicissitudes of life and begins a free topple in a downward spiral. His waterloo culminates in a dramatic meeting with Novalee after many years, a meeting that sets her free from her past, free to adore the one person who loves her for herself.
Natalie Portman delivers her best performance to date. In the role of Novalee, she mixes innocence with wonder at what the world has to offer her. She adds a positive sweetness, poignancy, and determination to the role that translates into a fantastic vulnerability laced with steel. It is this quality that gives Novalee the will to go on when the odds are so against her, and that is objective what Natalie Portman conveys to the viewer.
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Stockard Channing is large as the eccentric and kind Thelma ‘Sister’ Husband, a woman who never had children of her maintain but is truly a mother at heart. Nurturing her garden, as well as Novalee and her baby, flowers and plants are not the only things that thrive under her care. A veritable Mother Earth, she is the kind of person who brings out the best in others, and Novalee and her baby are no exception. Stockard Channing, a gargantuan, though underrated actress, brings this home to the viewer in spades.
Ashley Judd is terrific as the wide eyed, “looking for fancy in all the contaminated places” Lexie. She comes across as sassy and brassy but is really only looking for someone to like her for who she is and not for the sex she has to offer. Judd delivers the nuances that this role demands. James Frain is sensational as the terrorized, sensitive, and kind Forney Hull, the town librarian’s brother who befriends Novalee. He plays the role with such vulnerability and imbues him with such goodness that the viewer cannot succor but care deeply for him. It is also almost hard to fill that James Frain is British, as he has an American accent so down pat.
Dylan Bruno is perfect as Willie Jack Pickens, the country obedient customary boy who ruins his fill life and almost ruins Novalee’s. Joan Cusack shows her deft comedic flair in the diminutive, but memorable role of Ruth Meyers, and Sally Field leaves her price in her cameo role as Novalee’s mother. All in all, stellar performances are given by the entire cast. This is a well directed film that should not be missed.
Outstanding performances by Natalie Portman and Ashley Judd highlight “Where The Heart Is,” a warm and grand film directed by Matt Williams. On their map to California from Tennessee, single and pregnant Novalee Nation (Portman) is abandoned by her boyfriend Willy Jack (Dylan Bruno) at a Wal Mart in Oklahoma. She has no friends, no family and only a few dollars in her pocket. Lost, with no one to turn to and no station to go, she takes up location in the Wal Mart for the next six weeks, where destiny has placed her for the birth of her daughter. Mercifully, fate brings Forney Hall (James Frain) to her, a young man who lives nearby above the town library with his sister, and he delivers the baby. What follows is a fable of very exact people who are honest trying to live their lives as best they can, seeking the reliable in themselves as well as others, and striving to fill on to the vital things as they sort and sift through all the obstacles life has to throw at them, and does. Throughout her travails, Novalee’s life is touched by those in need themselves, beginning with Lexie Coop (Judd), the nurse who befriends her when she needs it most, and “Sister” Husband (wonderfully played by Stockard Channing), who takes her in when she and her newborn baby have nowhere else to go. From the new by Billie Letts, Williams and writers Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel have presented a truly heartwarming film, told through characters with whom the audience can readily identify and empathize; a narrative of compassion and cherish that aptly illustrates the magnanimity of the human spirit, as well as the depths of sinful to which it is generous of descending. When Novalee is in the hospital, her mother, Lil, (an uncharacteristic role for Sally Field in a terrific cameo), who had abandoned her when she was five years weak, shows up after seeing the record of the “Wal Mart Baby” on television, only to retract from her. In another exacting scene, Lexie tells Novalee of coming home from work early and catching her boyfriend abusing two of her children, a scene which is all the more effective because the crime is not shown; we peer only Lexie and her children as she describes what happened. And it is harrowing. Their work here firmly establishes Portman and Judd as two of the finest young actresses in film today; Channing has never been better, while Frain and Bruno must be given credit for adding so grand to this good endeavor, as well as the rest of the supporting cast which includes Joan Cusack (Ruth Meyers), Keith David (Moses) and Richard Jones (Mr. Sprock) . A spacious memoir and obliging performances all around acquire “Where The Heart Is” an unforgettable film that will end with you, in your heart and in your soul, for a long, long time.
