Children on Their Birthdays
Fans of film adaptations of Truman Capote's original fiction will delight in the familiar terrain of Southern nostalgia and wide-eyed yearning that definesChildren on Their Birthdays. Based on a Capote story, this 2002 feature stars Joe Pichler as Billy Bob, a boy whose post-World War II horizons broaden considerably with the arrival of Lilly Jane (Tania Raymonde), a glistening idealist and would-be Hollywood starlet, in his Medda, Alabama, neighborhood. So exotic, erudite, and almost recklessly expansive is Lilly Jane that she lights a fire of progressive thought (or perhaps truer courtesy) in the habitually racist community, inspiring Billy Bob to outgrow his narrow boyhood. Typical of Capote, there is something of the Dying Swan about Lilly Jane, but her Mystery is genuine and affecting. Playwright Mark Medoff directs with conviction but little skill; the film is saved by pure heart and a solid cast, including Sheryl Lee and Christopher McDonald.--Tom Keogh