Freshman-level Ingmar Bergman: obvious observations on the stranglehold of family, on the occasion of a Thanksgiving gathering. And it doesn't, as Bergman didn't, shy away from the earthy side of life, either: a symphony of creaking beds after lights-out. (For laughs, a solo sleeper presses a pillow over his face.) Most viewers should have little difficulty finding points of personal connection -- "It's been long enough," says one of the offspring in reference to his three-year absence from home, "that I can't quite remember that I shouldn't go." But two parents and four grown kids, plus two new mates and two old mates, prove to be more people than writer-director Bart Freundlich can do justice to. Julianne Moore makes a good impression through good bones and a consistent, if unexplained, attitude of hostility. And Laurel Holloman, one of the two girls of The Incredibly True Adventures of Two Girls in Love, possesses a most appealing quality, a mingling of thoughtfulness and mirth. And it doesn't appear to be put on. It appears genuine. With Noah Wyle, Blythe Danner, Roy Scheider, Hope Davis, and James LeGros. (1997) — Duncan Shepherd
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