I never knew Ed Grover personally, but I felt like I knew him from reading so many of his beautifully written reviews. Ed never made a big deal about his homosexuality, but never tried to hide it either, much like the characters in this film. This is my contribution to eployejoy's Ed Grover Appreciation W/0.

Based on the novel of the same title by Pulitzer Prize Winning novelist, Michael Cunningham, (The Hours) the 2004 drama A Home At The End Of The World is a moving story about, love, loss, and the true meaning of the word home; not a brick and mortar structure, but a dwelling place for one's heart and soul, that can never be lost or destroyed. It's not just another story about a heterosexual/homosexual love triangle, but an unconventional love story that transcends the issue of sexual orientation, dealing on a more primal level, with the human desire for safety, love, and belonging.

The film centers around two main characters, Bobby Morrow (Colin Farrell) and Jonathan Glover. (Dallas Roberts) The two meet as classmates in a Cleveland, Ohio school. Bobby's mother died at a young age and he lives with his father and older brother Carlton, whom he worships. After Bobby witnesses his brother's tragic accidental death, and his father dies, orphaned; Bobby moves in with Jonathan and his family.

The two boys share a bed, and Jonathan begins to make homosexual advances toward Bobby, that he does not reject. Although they are best friends, you get the sense that there is a much deeper connection to the boys, that is not based solely on sexuality or friendship. Jonathan eventually graduates from high school and moves to New York, while Bobby becomes a baker, and lives with Jonathan's parents until age 24, when they tell him it's time to move on, and relocate to Arizona.

Bobby decides to join Jonathan in New York, and finds that he is living an openly gay lifestyle and living with an eccentric orange haired hatmaker, Clare. (Robin Wright Penn) When Bobby and Clare become sexually involved, the three wind up entangled in a complicated love triangle, that threatens to destroy Bobby and Jonathan's friendship.

Veteran Stage Director Michael Mayer, in his film debut, manages to re-define the terms love, sexuality, and family in this warm, compassionate film, as he explores the relationships of his lead characters. Jonathan is as uptight and uncomfortable in his own skin, as Bobby is wild eyed and childlike in his naivete. Clare, eventually comes to understand that even though she loves both Jonathan and Bobby, they have a much deeper, primal, connection to one another, that she can never understand. Not that she doesn't try; after having given birth to Bobby's child, she spends her inheritance on a farm in Woodstock, where they live a blissful life, for a season.

Colin Farrell delivers perhaps his best, most sincere, performance ever, in his beautifully nuanced portrayal of Bobby. The viewer's natural response is to try to pigeonhole Bobby's character as homosexual, heterosexual, or bi-sexual. However, as the story develops, Bobby's sexual orientation matters less and less; as it becomes clear that he is primarily motivated by a need to be accepted and to belong, and sex is just a means by which to meet his needs. Dallas Roberts is equally compelling in his role as he vacillates between his desire to possess Bobby, while realizing that Bobby's desire to please others in order to be accepted, makes him impossible to be possessed. At one point, Clare confronts Bobby with his elusiveness, and she asks him "is there nothing that you can't do". He replies, " Yes, I could never be alone." Sissy Spacek adds a delightfully engaging performance as Jonathan's mother.

Although the plot is admittedly murky, Mayer's film is also filled with tender and humorous moments, most notably, the scene in which Jonathan watches in fascination, as Bobby invites his mother to smoke pot for the first time, while listening to Laura Nyro's Desiree, on the stereo. In another scene, Bobby offers to move out, when Jonathan's mother catches the two teens making out in a Volkswagen, to which she admits, "I realize I am not blameless in this situation," meaning that she feels that she has been somehow compliant in their relationship, by virtue of relinquishing her parental authority.

In the end, this film leaves the viewer with an uneasy sense that Jonathan and Bobby do not live happily ever after. Mayer leaves many of the plot lines hanging, perhaps in order for the viewer to feel the same type of vulnerability and uncertainty about the future, as do the characters, who, as Bobby reminds Jonathan, are heir to this "whole big, beautiful, noisy world, and all that can happen;" and to Ed, here's wishing you a big beautiful home at the end of the world!



Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Good Date Movie
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older