MERMAID
Starring: Samantha Mathis, Jodelle Ferland, Ellen Burstyn
Original Airdate: 2000
Genre: Drama
So... Mermaid. I thought I was renting that Cher/Winona Ryder/Christina Ricci movie, Mermaids, actually. And then this TV-movie came instead. Not one to waste a Netflix send, especially when it's a made-for-TV-movie, I watched it. I enjoyed this film, despite its whack-you-across-the-skull sentimentality and Samantha Mathis's overuse of the word "Honey." Okay, Netflix, I forgive you. Oh wait, it was my own fault I put the wrong movie in my queue. Okay, self, I forgive you.
After the death of her husband, Rhonda (Mathis) moves back to the small town where she grew up... into her mother's house, to be exact. Rhonda has a cute four-year-old daughter, Desi (Ferland). Though hubby's/daddy's cause of death is never mentioned (I hate it when movies leave out important details!), it seems to have been sudden. Desi is so traumatized by the absence of her father that she begins to talk about herself in the third person. She also doesn't understand where Daddy is, why he left, or why he can't come back. Rhonda and her mother, Trish, spend about half the movie trying to explain death to Desi without ever really saying he's dead. Vagueness about angels and clouds and heaven abounds, and Desi is rightfully confused.
Eventually all this craziness leads Desi to attempt to send her father a letter tied to a helium-filled Mermaid balloon. He doesn't get it, but some Canadians do. They write a letter to Desi, explaining that they found the balloon. The letter they send is pretty sweet. It suggests that Daddy must have already gotten the note, in Heaven, and was now sending the balloon back to earth for someone to find so they could send Desi a birthday gift "for" Dad. When Desi receives this letter, she is filled with so much joy that she ends her talking-in-third-person ways.
An article about Desi and the balloon appears in the newspaper, and soon Desi is swarmed with letters from well-wishers. Many of them send Desi money so that she can go visit her new balloon-finding Canadian friends. Desi visits the Canadians and has a great time. She finally comes to terms with her father's absence... I guess. It's debatable.
It's difficult for me to rip apart the plot, since this was based on a true story. I guess there really was a child somewhere who couldn't understand death and went to the proverbial zoo because of her loss. I guess there really was a mom and a grandma who danced around the truth and fed their grieving daughter/granddaughter a bunch of conceptual pseudo-facts and totally confused the hell out of her. Okay. I can believe it. I'm just not sure I'm sympathetic to any of them.
The cinematography was excellent. Jodelle Ferland was adept and adorable.
And I did like the part about the friendship springing up between the two distant families.
If you like sappy-sweet tearjerkery stories, this one's for you. If you're prone to throwing things at the TV, skip it.
11/17/2006
(c)2006 AlligatorJuice.com
