Johnny and Sarah, with their daughters Christy and Ariel, have settled in a tenement in Manhattan which is occupied by drug addicts and transvestites. However, they are still filled with joy. Sarah finds a job in a restaurant as a waitress to support the family while Johnny can go on taking part in screen test to try to get a role. Nevertheless, Johnny can never find the emotions that the stage director has expected. So he has faced a lot of failures .
With the story promoting, we are told that there is a heavy stone hanging over the family. It's the accidental death of the young son Frankie. Everybody in the family feels sorrow and guilty. Though they seldom mention it, they haven't forgotten it for even one minute. That's the reason why Johnny can't feel true feelings----he had lost them all at his son's death. And the movie here brings out an other important protagonist---the Nigerian artist and photographer Mateo. His early actions make us think he is a ferocious guy. But the turning point comes at the Halloween Day. Christy and Ariel knock Mateo's door for the tradition “thick or treat”. Mateo has treated the girls friendly. This makes the family gradually accept this black friend, even knowing he is dying of AIDS.
Sarah is pregnant again at the risk of losing her life. Mateo falls down stairs and his life is in an emergency situation. Finally, on the one hand a baby is born prematurely and in poor health. On the other hand, Mateo pays off the family's hospital bill before he passes away. And at last, with the birth of the new baby and the death of Mateo, Johnny finally gets over with the Frankie thing and recovers the ability of feeling things.
Life goes on.
Despite of the various complicated emotions, at my point of view, love is the key word in defining the theme of this movie. Because of loving Frankie, the family has been in deep desperate. Because of loving his wife and daughters, Johnny tried to thrown the ball to the hall over and over again. Because of loving the family, Mateo has learnt how to open his heart and treat others kindly. Love exists everywhere, connecting the Sullivan family, the white and the black, the death and the alive . Love, like warm sunshine, has filled the crevices of people's hearts.
Just as the
Among the conspicuous protagonists, I prefer Christy most. Most people may love Ariel more for she is actually a cute and active girl. Compared with her, Christy seems to be inner going, silent and mature. With less unconscious words and less impulsive actions, Christy has adopted the camcorder to hide herself behind the lens. However, she is only a child. She believes she has been granted three wishes by her dead brother. She used to talk to Frankie at night until she realized she was talking to herself. She gave Mateo the CPR at once not considering his AIDS. She is used to keeping her feeling in her heart in order to comfort her parents. People are easily interested in Ariel. On the contrary, Christy's sensibility demand is often ignored. This is an important factor that has influenced her character. All in all,she is a little girl who is kind-hearted, sensible and lonely. She is like the moon, not dazzling as the sun, still bringing the surrounding light quietly.
As her singing in the movie:
”Desperado, why don't you come to your senses?
Come down from your fences, open the gate
It may be raining', but there's a rainbow above you
You better let somebody love you, before it's too late”
That's also what I have found from the movie. Love is a boat, driving our migratory hearts landing home.
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