Diane Lane and Anna Paquin in "A Walk on the Moon."

MOVIE INFORMATION

With 10 as a must-see, Jack gives this film a: Stars: Diane Lane, Viggo Mortensen, Liev Schreiber and Anna Paquin Director: Tony Goldwyn Rated: R, with profanity, nudity and sex Length: 105 minutes

ROCHESTERCRITIQUE

Having seen this film, how would you rate it? 10 5 9 4 8 3 7 2 6 1

By Jack Garner
Democrat and Chronicle

(April 16, 1999) -- It was the summer of 1969. Man walked on the moon. Jimi Hendrix rocked Woodstock. And Pearl Kantrowitz had an affair.

One small step for man, one giant leap for Pearl, a bored young housewife whose repressed passions are unleashed during the Summer of Love.

That's the premise of A Walk on the Moon, a nostalgic, bittersweet drama set during a summer at Dr. Fogler's Bungalows, a small-scale Catskills resort that caters to Jewish working-class families escaping New York City's heat.

Diane Lane stars as Pearl, Liev Schreiber is her husband, Marty, and Viggo Mortensen plays her handsome lover, Walker, a free-spirited hippie who sells blouses out of the back of a trailer.

Co-produced by Dustin Hoffman, the film marks the directorial debut of actor Tony Goldwyn, who, ironically, played Neil Armstrong in the Tom Hanks HBO series, A Trip to the Moon.

In this film, though, the moon walk is simply a focal point for an ensemble of Earthbound characters -- and, of course, an obvious metaphor for Pearl's extramarital fling.

On the surface, the Kantrowitzes have a conventionally happy marriage, at least unless they stop to think about it. Each summer, Marty drives his wife, his mother (Tovah Feldshuh), his rambunctious 8-year-old son (Bobby Boriello) and his urgently adolescent daughter, Alison (Anna Paquin), to Dr. Fogler's. He stays for the weekends and returns to his city job -- repairing TV sets -- during the week.

While he's away, Pearl meets "the blouse man" on his daily stop at the camp to sell his wares.

Pamela Gray's script and Mortensen's low-key performance make Walker a cipher -- little more than an earthy, exotic object of lust for Pearl.

More interesting is the way their affair affects Pearl's husband and her rebellious but shocked teenage daughter.

Goldwyn and Gray manage to sidestep most of the plethora of cliches around such cultural landmarks as the Apollo mission and Woodstock. But the crowd around the TV set for Armstrong's "one small step," as well as the flower-in-the-hair ambience of Woodstock Nation, are faithfully reproduced.

Though she says little, Lane is wonderfully expressive as Pearl. Even better is Schreiber, who moves poignantly through shock, anger and determination in the wake of his wife's infidelity.

Also affecting is Paquin's portrayal of a young teenager who is shocked to discover she doesn't have a corner on passion -- or exclusive rights to sexual awakening.