I almost didn’t see Lion.
From the trailer, I could tell the movie had the dreaded Disney structure:
Child has a beloved family.
Child is ripped from his beloved family within the first five minutes.
Child spends the rest of the movie looking for his beloved family.
Let’s face it — that story line is hard enough to watch when little cartoon characters are involved; I wasn’t sure I could stomach it with real people.
And I wasn’t altogether wrong.
But this true story — and the actors who portray it — are so compelling, I couldn’t have looked way if I had wanted to. It is heartbreaking and life-affirming, all at the same time.
And I hope, in the course of my life, I can be one-tenth as brave as that little boy.
The Sticky Egg 
An apology
By now you’ve no doubt heard that John Heard died.
Yesterday my social media feed was full of articles about the actor, all attributing his success to Home Alone.
I know he’s not here to read this — and let’s face it, he wouldn’t if he could — but I feel the need to apologize.
While the family comedy may have made the most money in his filmography, it certainly did not make the most of Heard.
If you’re interested and willing to do a bit more research than his obit writers, I encourage you to watch Heard in the gripping thriller Deceived, co-starring Goldie Hawn. He also played opposite Tom Hanks in the comedy Big (a great excuse to watch that again). And he was an excellent Arthur Dimmesdale in a TV miniseries version of The Scarlet Letter in 1979.
Let’s hear it for one of the great character actors. He will be missed.
Leave a comment
Posted in Celebrities, Commentary, Entertainment, Movies, Television
Tagged actors, Big movie, celebrities, character actors, Deceived movie, entertainment, filmography, Goldie Hawn, Home Alone, in memoriam, John Heard, Movies, Television, The Scarlet Letter