The Trip to Bountiful (1985)

The film, set in the 1940s, tells the story of an elderly woman, Carrie Watts (Page), who wants to return home to the small town where she grew up. [wiki]

Nominated for 2 Oscars:

Best Actress: Geraldine Page (WINNER)

Best Adapted Screenplay

I didn't know this film was a teleplay before it was taken to stage by Horton Foote; it's usually the other way around. Legendary Lillian Gish first played the leading role on TV in 1953. Without knowing how that one worked out, I was a bit saddened by the way they chose to do this film, which starts off very stagey, and not in the good way.

The film fails on many many levers, mostly by having some pretty bad actors creating some very boring supporting characters. Who cares about them?! when you have such an intriguing leading female character. It should only focus on Mrs. Watts, not on some frustrated, badly cast performances. Geraldine carries the film is so many ways and you can easily tell her acting puts all the rest to shame. But there's only so much she can do, and the screenplay really lets her down in the ending.

My rating for the film: 6/10. Without Geraldine it would be a 4 or so.