Okay, folks. A post everyday didn't happen. Movies just couldn't compete with doing Thanksgiving puzzles with my grandma. But, after today I will play catch up to make sure 101 movies are indeed covered by the time the ceremony rolls around in March. Let's take a look now at one of 1979's best, Kramer vs. Kramer.
Directed by Robert Benton, Kramer vs. Kramer examines what a home is and what it takes to be a good parent. Dustin Hoffman as the father and as skinny as I've ever seen him. Meryl Streep as the mother who leaves her unhappy life only to return for her son over a year later was so youthful looking I couldn't believe she was already nearly 30 years old. And an adorable 7 year-old Justin Henry as the son they both fight for. As the youngest Academy Award nominee in history, it's too bad his career kind of stalled after an entrance into the industry most actors only dream of.
This film won 5 Oscars, all in major categories, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay. I certainly understand why critics find this movie so compelling. It's hard to find a scene in the entire film that viewers can't relate to. I couldn't help but chuckle every time Justin's character Billy imitated something his father did. Walking to the bathroom and not flushing or trying to cook french toast and doing it incorrectly and making a huge mess in the process.
Although I loved the casting of Meryl Streep as the mother because of her innocence and ability to make you agree that she was justified in her leaving, the role almost seemed too small for Oscar. She was barely even in the film. It was so much more about Dustin Hoffman and his learning to be a good father than about the fight between the two parents about who Billy would ultimately live with. But then again, Dame Judi Dench won one for her seven minutes in Elizabeth, so I guess exceptions can be made.
As I was watching the film though I found myself reflecting on some of the exact same conversations I had with my parents growing up. Reading books together, requesting ice cream for dinner, asking what kinds of things we have now that they didn't have back when they were growing up. My mom loved to tell the story of the typewriter and how if you made a mistake you had to go back and do the entire page all over instead of just being able to hit delete. This story is a story that could happen to anyone.
All in all, the film is real, relatable, evocative, and still relevant 30 years later. And it doesn't hurt that the ending gives parents and children alike a warm and fuzzy feeling all over.
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