A dealing-with-tragedy movie (a summer romantic idyll turned violent) with dangerous tendencies toward a Lifetime Channel original. But first-time director Todd Field proves himself to be a true director, cunning in his omissions, his obliqueness, his attention to off moments, his focus on marginal details: the family photos in the D.A.'s office, or the jingling of coins in the D.A.'s pocket during an impromptu conference on the street. He can also be a trifle pedantic: the military action figure given as a birthday present by a hot-tempered father, or the bedtime reading of The Wyeths to supplement the Wyeth-esque landscape of the film. (It's set in Maine, the heart of Wyeth country.) Field, of course, was already known as an actor (Ruby in Paradise, Eyes Wide Shut, et al.), and it is thus hardly surprising that he should strive to carve out human-sized roles for which his cast -- Tom Wilkinson, Sissy Spacek, Marisa Tomei, Nick Stahl, Richard Mapother, William Wise -- would be grovellingly grateful. Spacek, alone of them, belongs to that rare subspecies of actor who never seems to be acting, and who thus never seems to exhaust or recycle her repertoire, and who thus never wears out her welcome. For her particular role, the viewer can thus be as grateful as she is. (2001) — Duncan Shepherd
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