When you find an author you really enjoy reading, its always a pleasure to pick up their latest book. Pat Conroy has always been a personal favorite. His Southern-set stories of family, conflict and the drama of life strike an incredible chord with me, from “The Great Santini” to “South of Broad”.
I didn’t know what to expect when I heard that Barbra Streisand was set to direct and star in the screen adaption of THE PRINCE OF TIDES.
I didn't expect this brilliant film that, for me, is near perfect from its first shot to its last.
Nick Nolte is football coach Tom Wingo, out of work and in a failing marriage with his physician wife Sally (Blythe Danner). His joy is his three daughters, the oldest of which clearly sees the growing cracks in her parent's marriage.
Tom is pulled from the deep south to NYC when his famous twin sister Savannah (Melinda Dillion) tries to commit suicide.
Tom reluctantly goes to a city he detests to help Savannah's psychiatrist get to the core of Savannah's troubles.
Dr. Susan Lowenstein (Streisand) asks Tom to reveal the details of Savannah and his childhood and the film deftly flashes back and forth between modern day and their formative years.
We meet them as children, along with their brother Luke, who met a violent death several years before.
Their mother Lila (Kate Nelligan) is a true southern social climber, with children she loves and a determination to not acknowledge anything bad in their lives, the "southern way" as Tom puts it.
Their father Henry (Brad Sullivan) is a violent alcoholic whose rage echoes through their adulthood.
As Tom opens up more and more to Dr. Lowenstein, he finds his own life torn apart by the revelations within.
We meet Susan's husband Herbert (Jeroen Krabbe) a famous violinist, her son Bernard (played by Streisand's real life son with Elliot Gould, Jason Gould) and Savannah's gay neighbor Eddie (perfectly played by George Carlin).
As Tom opens up to Susan, they find themselves drawn together and the last half of the film follows Conroy's book perfectly, with both families relationships merging across generations.
Streisand has assembled an incredible team on the film and they are all in top form. James Newton Howard's music is his all time best score, matched with the photography of Stephen Goldblatt (The Cotton Club, Outland) and Nolte's voice-over narration of long passages lifted directly from Conroy's book draw you deep into these families.
Nolte has never been better than he is here, playing a man that pushes emotions aside with humor, but facing a lifetime of them at once.
Conroy adapted his own book for the screen and the writing is perfect. Nolte's narration grabbed me from the opening frames to the final moments.
THE PRINCE OF TIDES is one of my favorite films and one we revisit every couple years. It's tragic and powerful.
The scenes with Tom and Susan slow dancing in the Rainbow Room on top of 30 Rock have special echoes for my wife and I as that was the site of our first official date as a couple nearly three decades ago. Dressed up, slow dancing to a full orchestra with a top floor view of New York City: romance defined.
In my all time TOP 10 movies, THE PRINCE OF TIDES is a near flawless experience (kind of like that first date in the Rainbow Room) and gets an A+.
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