Bumpy Feast Still Pulls the Heartstrings
Portland professor and one-time author Harry Stevenson (Morgan Freeman) tends to be an astute observer of the human condition. In fact, in the middle of crowded bar he’s the only one who notices coffee shop owner and best friend Bradley’s (Greg Kinnear) wife Kathryn (Selma Blair) fall in love with another woman right in plain sight. Later, he’s also the only person to catch the fact barista Oscar (Toby Hemingway) falls head over heels right at the same moment beguiling job seeker Chloe (Alexa Devalos) does the same right in the middle of a frantic morning rush.
Morgan Freeman and Greg Kinnear in MGM's Feast of Love
But all this observing masks the scars of a past tragedy still deeply affecting things within Harry’s own life, adoring wife Esther (Jane Alexander) hoping beyond hope someday the two of them can repair the damage and move on with the rest of their lives together. Add to the equation a sexy real estate agent named Diana (Radha Mitchell) looking for stability and a wealthy hunk named David (Billy Burke) trapped in a dying marriage but making all the wrong choices to escape it and what’s left is a love tableau unlike any this eclectic group of friend and acquaintances can even remotely anticipate.
Based on the acclaimed novel by Charles Baxter, Oscar-winning filmmaker Robert Benton’s (Kramer vs. Kramer) latest drama Feast of Love is a rapturous journey of the heart worthy of praise. It is emotionally spellbinding, this saga of interlocking stories and complex characters all trying to deal with the sometimes delightful, sometimes tragic and all times dynamic pangs of love a fascinating journey I definitely enjoyed.
So what’s the problem? Plenty, unfortunately, not the least of which is the fact Allison Burnett’s (Autumn in New York) creaky screenplay tends to rely on platitudes and easy clichés to get its point across. The writer allows the characters to completely disappear from the melodrama just as they should be soaring to another level. There is a glossy verisimilitude to all of this that at times borders on the annoying, while some of the events are so hackneyed and contrived they almost made me sigh in painful frustration.
Thankfully Benton does not allow this to pass. As per usual (The Human Stain notwithstanding), the filmmaker has cast his picture to absolute perfection. Davalos and Hemingway make a pricelessly endearing pair, while Blair makes the most of her limited screen time finding a way to pain a terrifically indelible portrait of sexually ambiguous angst. Mitchell is as solid as ever, Alexander is a magical joy and the always reliable Freeman (although if the guy delivers another holier-than-though narration I might just have to shoot myself) is a stolidly invigorating presence constantly keeping things from going off-track.
Yet the real standout here is Kinnear. This might just be the best performance of the veteran character actor’s entire career. Bradley goes through a whole tidal wave of highs, lows and brutally psychologically debilitating in-betweens, Kinnear making me believe in vivid three dimensional Technicolor each and every one of them. Try as I might (and considering just how maudlin Burnett’s script gets trust me I tried) I just couldn’t stop pulling for the guy, and by the time things started rushing to their cacophonous conclusion I to my happy surprise I discovered I really did want to see Bradley find his heart’s desire.
I just wish Benton had taken a moment or two to polish the screenplay himself before deciding to direct it. There are moments where the film is about as subtle as a daytime soap opera, while its final observations about love aren’t exactly revolutionary. The ground the movie covers has been well trodden many times before and to much greater success, and for all its dramatic strengths, solid performances and explicit sex scenes what the story ultimately says here isn’t all that profound.
Still, even with so many strikes against it I can’t help admitting to finding Feast of Love a sublime joy from time to time. As familiar as some of it is the film is so confidently directed and so brimming in emotional truth I’m more than willing to give it a shout of modest appreciation. More, it ends beautifully, and any film that can send me out with a well-earned smile deserves a recommendation no matter how slight it might actually be.
Film Rating: êê1/2 (out of 4)
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