An award-winning saga inspired by a true story
Midwest Book Review | Oregon, WI USA | 07/12/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"An award-winning saga inspired by a true story, When I Find the Ocean is a movie about a young girl coming to terms with the loss of her father. The ocean claimed the life of Lily Strickland's father; lacking a way to say goodbye, she leaves her grandparents and mother to confront her own fears amid the challenges of the wilderness. A deeply emotional, family-friendly movie unfolds, shot against breathtaking seacoast, river, and forest natural scenery. Highly recommended. PG, 104 min., closed captioned (but not subtitled)."
Good Grief!
Jackie Rowles | Toledo, OH | 09/01/2008
(1 out of 5 stars)
"This movie boasts that it is a "family" movie and is rated PG. So far, so good. The cast is quite good--Diane Ladd, Lee Majors and Graham Greene. Greene is an excellent actor and has received an Oscar nomination in the past. Well, there won't be any bids for the Oscar on this one.
Despite calling itself a family movie, you get to watch a little girl who cannot come to grips with her father's death, child beating (welts and cuts are all over her back making you wonder how she can walk without crying), a child who has been told that her stepfather to be is going to kill her dog, a child running away and getting caught by the type of animal traps that will snap your leg off, two mountain men left over from Deliverance who slobber over the fact they caught a pretty girl in their trap, a panther stalking the child, the Ku Klux Klan in action and a Black mother and child burning to death in their home.
The camera work is clumsy and toward the end of the film it becomes atrocious. This is the first film I have ever seen where different scenes are not blended together. When the scene stops, the screen goes black until the next scene appears. At first, our family thought the TV had broken. Then we were sorry it hadn't.
I note that the film festivals where the film has won awards are for amateur film makers. So, maybe I'm being too hard. Still I can't help but wonder how really good actors got caught in it. They have a terrible time trying to portray their parts due to the script which is mostly in single sentences. None of the parts are rounded out so all of the acting stays on the surface. The movie attempts to show why prejudice against the Blacks is wrong and then casts Graham Greene as a stereotype Indian in a kind of 'Tonto' role which is confusing. In fact, this is where the script loses its way. It starts with an unhappy child running away and ends up with a sermon on racial discrimination.
Don't waste your money on a home movie.
"
Very good family movie
HS Mom | Alabama USA | 01/18/2009
(4 out of 5 stars)
"My family enjoyed the movie, and I would recommend it to others. It is an amateur film, so it lacks some of the finesse of a larger budget production, but the story is touching and pulls the viewer into the 1960's South. The film has won honors at film festivals around the nation, and with good reason. This movie will appeal to young and old alike."