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List Price: $14.95 | | Label: The Weinstein Company
Salesrank: 9564
Released: January 27, 2009 |
| Our Price: $4.90 |
| Used Price: $4.72 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
From Academy Award-winning director Richard Attenborough (Gandhi) comes this sweeping romance starring Shirley MacLaine (Terms of Endearment), Christopher Plummer (A Beautiful Mind), Mischa Barton (TV's The O.C.), and Neve Campbell (The Company). Moving seemlessly through time, this lush epic follows a beautiful 1940's Michigan girl (Barton) secretly married to a WWII pilot who crashes in the hills near Belfast, Ireland. 50 years later his wedding ring resurfaces -- along with the smoldering secrets that have kept the widow (MacLaine), her estranged daughter (Campbell) and devoted friend (Plummer) each from finding true love.
Description of Closing the Ring:
A love story spanning more than five decades, Closing the Ring may appeal to fans of The Notebook. Academy Award-winning director Richard Attenborough (Ghandi) utilizes shifting time frames to tell the story of Ethel Ann and WWII fighter pilot Teddy. The two fall madly in love and secretly marry in a sweet ceremony that is destined for tragedy. When Teddy's plane is shot down in Belfast, he is discovered by an Irish boy who makes a promise to the dying soldier--he will return the wedding band to Teddy's young widow in the United States. Flash forward to the 1990s: An elderly Ethel Ann (Shirley MacLaine) is at her husband Chuck's funeral. He was never the love of her life and Ethel Ann had always lived her life full of "what ifs." Her grieving daughter Marie (Neve Campbell) notices the void, but can't comprehend why her mother has never been happy. When Teddy's wedding band is finally returned to Ethel Ann--50 years after his death--the memento opens up a floodgate of emotions, and Ethel Ann is able to get some closure on a part of her life that she has tried so hard to both forget and remember. As a family friend points out to Marie, "Everybody needs to cry, and your mother never did." At times slow and uneven, Closing the Ring rings true in the modern-day vignettes. MacLaine is exquisite in her role, as is Christopher Plummer as a longtime friend. But when the scenes flash back to the 1940s, the younger actors don't share the same on-screen chemistry or charisma. Mischa Barton is beautiful as the young Ethel Ann, but her moments with Stephen Amell (as Teddy) are a little forced. Campbell brings intelligence and gravity to her role, but is underused in the film. Viewers can't help wonder how different the tone of the movie may have been had she been cast as the younger Ethel Ann. --Jae-Ha Kim
Closing the Ring Reviews:
The Weight of True Promises 
2009-11-05 - Love can be sought and found along with forgiveness, redemption,loss, and holding on. War makes all these things much more serious and uncertain to every character in this wonderful movie. From direction to every actors performance, I was taken on a journey that was a window into the hearts and minds of the young, the old, the cultures of Ireland and the U.S.A. as well as the transformation that can come through allowing the whole truth to emerge. This is a wonderful film and I highly recommend it to anyone who needs closure in any part of life.
Epic love story with great performances 
2009-06-27 - I picked this up because of the great cast and enjoyed it a great deal. Excellent performances by Christopher Plummer, Shirley Maclaine, and Pete Postelthwaite. Great cinematography and nicely paced directing from Richard Attenborough. Highly recommend
A rarely seen British/Canadian worth checking out
2009-05-31 - After viewing this British/Canadian production on DVD, the question arises why can't films like this suffer from poor distribution here in the States? Surely, the reputations of Lord Attenborough (Gandhi, Jurassic Park, Young Winston), Shirley McLaine and Christopher Plummer would've been enough to insure distribution here in the US. But unfortunately what we get here is basically crap like the latest horror film or franchise--and so much of it is negative. The cast and its director should be commended on delivering a poignant love story for adults--there hasn't been much on the screen these days since the success of "The Notebook"---and I think this film is even better than that box office success. Plummer himself is very moving in the final moments of this fine film and McLaine also delivers as a stoic, repressed widower with some secrets of her own. The young actors that portray them are also excellent with special mention of Mischa Barton who if a lucky producer sees her in this film should have a career like Rachel McAdams (The Notebook). Heartily recommended for romantics and lovers of adult dramas too!!
Closing of the Ring
2009-05-30 - The movie was very visually pleasing and interesting. Anyone who has visited or would like to visit Ireland will enjoy the scenery.
full of surprises, nice performances, great love story
2009-05-08 - without giving away too much of the plot, the film uses a series of flashbacks to tell the tale of two young lovers (we first meet them in 1941) and how a tragic accident changed the life of one of them, and for the people around this character. Parts of the story also take place in present day. Mischa Barton, Christopher Plummer, and Shirley MacLaine give solid performances.
a well-done romantic drama.
