I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Wonderful character development!

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

I haven't seen this film in a while and was somewhat sickened by a scene where the boy, played by Lucas Haas. was fondling Rose's genitals. It's strange how everyone romanticized this. Now that he's grown up, he loves the sweet memories of early blooming manhood. But what if the sexes were reversed? What if the family had a butler named Ross and a young girl wanted to fondle his genitals? I doubt if we'd have such a warmly accepted film or any chance of making a mainstream movie about it at all.

I'm a sucker for nostalgic memoirs of childhood, but this one has little to recommend it. Lukas Haas should win a special award for "work ethic": he's hardly skipped a year for movies appearing since he was 7, and IMDb lists him with SIX in various stages of pre-production at this writing. In the present one, he's 15 playing Buddy, a Depression-era 13-y/o whose family takes in Rose, a vivacious and sexually rather uninhibited young woman, especially for that time. She "puts the move" on the father while Buddy and his sister watch, but dad is stalwart and declines. Buddy, who has no such moral qualms, does wind up with her in his bed one time, and manages to pet her to orgasm, but she returns no favors to him, though she apparently doesn't mind "doing it" with most any young man who comes along. The summer passes, or the year, or whatever it was, and everybody moves on with their lives. So what?

This film was delightful. Laura Dern puts in the best performance I've seen here. Her portrayal of Rose was perfect. Her mixing of sexiness with innocence came off as totally real. Rose was a girl with a deeply troubled past, and as a result, cannot separate sex from her understanding of, and quest for, love. Robert Duvall is always worth watching and his role here is no exception. The child actors were all adequate. Direction and photography gave the scenes a very restrained sunlit memory sort of quality. I'm not sure if the framing device in the film was even necessary, but it wasn't bad. I enjoyed the fact that this film was set in the Deep South, but did not focus on race. Good movie. Grade: A

I loved this movie. In updating my VHS collection to DVD I bought it a second time and was so glad that I did. I love the music score and the soft period lighting it provides in telling the story of Rose - a down on her luck teen-age almost adult girl who comes to live with a southern family during the depression in the 1930's. Although the film was edited for time (as all films are) the DVD provided more background information about the story through the commentary provided. Although I've never read the book - watching it again has made me decide that I want to. I count this movie with others of its' kind (TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, FRIED GREEN TOMATOES, THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER to name a few) as providing a wonderful opportunity to become a part of another's family memory. These kind of movies are capable of evoking in us a remembrance of our own childhood and bringing out feelings of warmth and caring that many of us have in common.I highly recommend it for its beautiful photography and wonderful music.