A Texas Funeral (1999)

This movie was interesting to say the least. Upon the death of the head of a family with a colorful history, the family gathers for a funeral and a lot of family secrets are revealed.Its not terribly serious in tone although it gets heavy in parts. The nervousness regarding the Black man in their midst was funny and rather true of the time and place. It certainly had humor which balanced the heavy subject of past wrongs and injustices and as the facade each person holds up starts to crack.Its hard to classify such a film that is trying to be a little of everything. It couldn't be but it was interesting watching them try.In the end the movie was engaging and I found myself genuinely interested and invested in most of the characters. So much so that I almost wish they could have had 'a what happened to these characters' segment at the end as I wanted to know how it all turned out for each person!! Worth a watch.

The performances are excellent. I did not even recognize Olivia D'Abo.It would be impossible to explain the plot of this film, and that is one of the reasons why I like it so much.The film touches on the importance of family ties, without being sappy. It touches on the the importance of forgiveness, without being preachy.It has plenty of "quirky" characters and situations, but not so much as to make them ridiculous. That is not to say that they are not absurd, and that is a good thing.It is not a ghost story as some synopses might cause one to believe. (Albeit, I might not have watched it if it were not for my being given that idea from a Comcast blurb.) I recommend A Texas Funeral to anybody who likes films that have plots that are difficult to detect in which direction they are going to go, but are a joy to follow.

The ads suggest that this movie is a drama, or even a thriller- serious in tone, about serious stuff. I rented it because I liked the cast and was very pleasantly surprised to find that it was in fact a very funny and touching comedy-drama, about a bizarre but very likable family, that gathers in Texas to mourn the passing of its patriarch (Martin Sheen). The characters could have been made into caricatures to be laughed at, but instead are drawn with a gentle, touching hand that makes them feel like real people, likable in their own way. Give this one a look. It's extremely watchable and very funny, and filled with warm, wonderful performances.

An entertaining but overwrought exercise in American Baroque, the best way to describe this film is to say that it begins in David Lynch territory, rambles through Tennessee Williams country, and was last seen heading dangerously close to Waltons Mountain. Set in Texas in the late 1960s, the plot - dark secrets emerge when a family gathers for a family funeral - is hardly original, and while the Texan self-image comes in for some welcome satire, the cosy self-satisfied way in which the whole thing is tied up at the end would have a serious dramatist like Tennessee Williams spinning in his grave. Martin Sheen is much too decent to play the wicked old patriarch, and while any film that includes Joanne Whalley, ear-sucking, and camels can't be entirely bad, this is not a good advertisement for any of them.