So authentic is Janet McTeer's performance as a feisty Southern mother and faded party girl in Tumbleweeds that if you didn't know better, you'd say this wasn't the same Janet McTeer, British stage actress, who won a Tony as Nora in Ibsen's A Doll's House on Broadway. McTeer's turn as modern-day Southern belle Mary Jo seems so genuine that you'd think this actress had grown up in the shade of magnolia trees sipping mint juleps. However, it's not just McTeer's flawless acting that makes Tumbleweeds so memorable. First-time director Gavin O'Connor, who cowrote the screenplay with Angela Shelton, has crafted a refreshing and unsentimental tale of a mother (McTeer) and daughter (Kimberly J. Brown) who wander the country like the titular rolling plants; whenever one of her badly chosen boyfriends threatens her or her daughter, Mary Jo packs up the car and heads for a new state. When daughter Ava persuades her to head for southern California, Mary Jo takes up with a genial if temperamental truck driver (director O'Connor) and starts the pattern all over again. However, as Ava approaches adolescence, she becomes less and less tolerant of her mother's behavior, and starts to find her own voice. Tumbleweeds is what would have been called a "little" film, long on character development and short on plot, but in a day and age when deeply etched characters are getting harder to come by, it qualifies as a definite landmark, especially in comparison with the similarly plotted but more sentimental Anywhere But Here. You won't find any crying jags, schmaltzy breakups, contrived meet-cutes, or patently fake movie moments in this film--instead, there's a mother-daughter relationship that remains complex, joyous, and heartfelt throughout. Brown matches McTeer scene for scene, and her Ava qualifies as one of filmdom's most realistic teens. These two women, along with O'Connor, create a quiet, perfectly rendered gem of a film. With superb supporting performances by Laurel Holliman as McTeer's newly found friend and Jay O. Sanders as a widower still not over the death of his wife. --Mark Englehart
2.
Mary Jo Walker (McTeer) is a Southern mother who hides her self-consciousness by overcompensating. She drinks, wears revealing outfits, and says things that other people would never even consider. Fleeing her latest abusive relationship, she and her daughter, twelve-year-old Ava (Brown), head out west. They eventually settle in Starlight Beach, California, and seem to be getting along just fine on their own, but it isn't long before the cycle threatens to repeat itself. McTeer's portrayal of Mary Jo is so seamless that one might forget she is even acting. Reminiscent of the character driven films that made 1970s Hollywood so exhilarating.
3.
She's a sexy Southern gal with a heart of gold, a hearty appetite for life -- and supremely bad taste in men! Golden Globe winner, Best Actress, Janet McTeer "is mesmerizing" (Entertainment Weekly) in this touching, funny, intensely satisfying slice of life.
After her latest failed relationship, free-spirited, four-times married Mary Jo Walker (McTeer) hits the road and heads West with her 12-year-old daughter Ava (Kimberly J. Brown) in search of greener pastures.
Inspired by a true story, this irresistible tale of an unbreakable mother-daughter bond "is one of those wonderful, deeply personal pictures that pops up every now and then to lift your spirits" (Los Angeles Times).
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