IMDb plot summary: Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson (at the time married to each other) play Lily and Ben Reed, a young couple torn apart by a family tragedy. It would take a miracle to rekindle their love and a miracle arrives in the form of a summer guest - Willard Young played by Elijah Wood.
Directed by Mary Agnes Donoghue. Starring Melanie Griffith, Don Johnson, and Elijah Wood.
Paradise stars Elijah Wood as a young boy sent to live with his mother's best friend while, unbeknownst to him, she tries to deal with her husband leaving them. We follow the boy as he connects with his hosts and neighbors and learns some important life lessons. In my journey to watch through all Elijah Wood's movies, this is not the first one where he's been a lead, but it's the first one where I felt like he was given something good to work with, and he's pretty solid here. Those big melancholy eyes serve him well when playing mournful children processing trauma. The rest of the movie is... all right. It doesn't quite land in the end the way that I hoped it would, and while I appreciate that it doesn't wrap up too neatly, it feels like something is missing. A lot of the in-between scenes are separately good but don't feel like they build to much. There are plenty of good individual moments, though, and none of the movie is particularly bad, just ultimately unmemorable.
How it entered my Flickchart:
Paradise < Jesus Christ Superstar (2000)
Paradise < The Little Princess (1939)
Paradise < Satantango
Paradise > Crumb
Paradise < Birdman of Alcatraz
Paradise < The Trouble With Angels
Paradise < Burlesque
Paradise > Burning Annie
Paradise > Brainscan
Paradise > Beach Party
Paradise > Immortal Beloved
Paradise < Master Harold and the Boys
Final spot: #2511 out of 3691, or 32%.
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