Empire Falls (2005)

It's Empire Falls, Maine by the Knox River. Miles Roby (Ed Harris) runs the diner owned by Francine Whiting (Joanne Woodward). The Whitings own everything worth owning in the town. They have sold the industrial jobs and taken the cash. Francine is a cunning woman married into the family. Miles hopes to get the diner in her will. His father Max (Paul Newman) is a blunt man always looking for a handout. In flashbacks, his mother (Robin Wright Penn) tells him his father is in jail. His daughter Tick (Danielle Panabaker) broke up with her bully boyfriend who picks on loner John Voss (Lou Taylor Pucci). His brother David (Aidan Quinn) grows marijuana. He's interested in waitress Charlene (Theresa Russell). His ex-wife Janine (Helen Hunt) is selfish and thin. Her boyfriend Walt Comeau (Dennis Farina) owns the fitness club.The acting is great and it's populated by great actors. The characters are specific. Newman is the flashy one but I love Ed Harris most of all. He's put upon by everyone but holds it in reserve. There are a lot of characters which could be a problem for some people. One has allow each of these characters their due. It's a terrific TV mini-series.

One question kept coming up while watching this. Why on Earth pay for so capable actors and then waste them on clumsy adaptation and catastrophic direction. We are talking Paul Newman, Robin Wright and Helen Hunt in one place, which will never happen again, and even Ed Harris is too good for this production.There is a reason why writers who don't write cinematic novels are normally nor allowed to write adaptations of their own work - they are in love with their own writing and turn a movie into an audio book.That's exactly what happened here. Long, unwieldy scenes with a narrator essentially reading the book and footage serving as a mere illustration. Doesn't HBO have anyone to review this stuff and keep sending it back to square one till it actually becomes cinematic. It even spells out book chapters and has things like "this will be in the latter chapter" which is plain pathetic.Good director can usually rectify this kind of mess but Fred Schepisi has shown such ineptitude that's it's painful to watch how he stumbles, neglects character development and uses multiple copies of prior sequences to the point that it becomes annoyingly noticeable. He also seems to be incapable to compose sequences of the right length to convey sub-plots. He either makes them ridiculously long and boring, all the way to having the book being read into your face, or he cuts them short, doesn't finish the park and makes the final cut look random.Particularly annoying aspect is that he doesn't have the first clue how to visually separate scenes that are long memories serving as sub plots from flashbacks (short and dramatic) and from the main/present scenes. They are all just equally flat, not even a change in the lighting or set decor to depict two different times.

**This contains spoilers about the second part of the movie** I really appreciated the casting, the first few acts, and the setting. Very true-to-life and relevant. The second disk was a soup sandwich, and I imagine that the closing of the novel stunk as well. After the strong first 2 hours, the letdown of the last part was tremendous, and made we wonder "why bother?" When it was finished, I wanted that time back -- I had been cheated. It was evident to me that the author/screenwriter had wandered out into a field and needed a way to get back. Also, I wondered if HBO had funded the first part and then lost funding on the second. So much was contrived that it looked as though they were trying to save money and just get it over with.Very disappointing, and I think this is a good example of why Hollywood is losing box office and relevance. When you start out strongly relating to *real people* and *real life,* you should try to end up that way, too.The first few chapters are worth watching, but you're going to be let down. You were warned.

You have read so many positive reviews, and they are right on the mark. I also agree that you should read the book, and Russo's "Nobody's Fool," - a laugh-out-loud book. This film is a metaphor - but not just about New England. It is a metaphor for what is happening in our country today: greed, corruption, power and control.To lighten up here a bit, if you enjoy deeply drawn characters and are fascinated by psychodynamics, growth and development, jealousy and betrayal, the kindness and the cruelty of children, the power of love, the uncertainty of which direction to choose, the puzzles of our dreams and our nightmares, and what courage it takes to follow one's deepest desires and to be true to oneself, you will love this film.