The Super Network

What’s a Blog-a-thon? This blog-a-thon is a challenge, its participants have chosen films the other has not seen to watch and review.
November Blog-a-thon criteria: Hidden 90’s Gems
Why Bede Chose This Film For Marcey: “When I first started out becoming a full-fledge film geek in my early teens, I used to go down to my local video store and rent any film I could get my hands on. One film in particular that I rented out was the 1992 film WHERE THE DAY TAKES YOU. I must admit that I had never heard of this film before but what sold me into watching it was the cast. This film has a who’s-who of actors who would go on to be future stars. At the time I couldn’t believe so many actors had appeared in one film, so I definitely had to check it out for sure. As for the film itself, I thought that it was a quite well made and a surprisingly moving film that had terrific performances from it’s young cast. While I admit it may not be the most accurate look at the lives of runaway teens but for it is, it’s still a solid one nonetheless. When I think of forgotten films from the 90’s, this is one of the films I think about since I have never heard anyone talk about it. So I knew it would be a good choice for Marcey to watch for the Blog-A-Thon. I’ll be very interested hear what she thought of it.”

Marcey’s Review: Where The Day Takes You was a film I had never heard of it, which seemed odd because it was an early 90’s film and its cast was a who’s who of rising talent. The cover reminded me of another early 90’s film with a huge ensemble cast (older) called Queen’s Logic. I remember that film being interesting, and pretty cool to see such an array of actors working together. So I was rather excited to see this one, and the subject matter seemed a lot more deeper and darker than Queen’s Logic.

The film is about a family of runaway kids who live on the streets in Hollywood. I think the film delved into something that at the time I don’t think had been shown too much in film, the surrogate families these runaway’s form. Their leader is King (Dermot Mulroney), he isn’t exactly a good person but he does care for these kids and he is a constant for them and helps them to survive. He is our focus, and the story is told through his interview with a woman (Laura San Giacomo). We see his group, and how he falls for the new comer Heather (Lara Flynn Boyle). Glimpses are shown to us of the other kids, with Greg (Sean Astin) and his drug addiction being on top.

This is not what I would call a pleasant film, it isn’t fun and games how these kids live and for most of them their situation is dire. They have their reasons for leaving home, and in rather uncomfortable scene Boyle’s character Heather admits to being raped by her brother, after King assumes a father or stepfather molested her. We also are shown the drugs, and Greg cannot stay away from his source of it Ted (Kyle MacLachlan), and his fate is sealed from the first moments we see him. Little J (Balthazar Getty) is a violent kid, and Manny (Will Smith) is the cripple, so we do get a wide look at different types.

I wouldn’t be surprised if this film was based on true stories or even a documentary (I haven’t been able to find much out about it), it certainly takes that documentary feel. I’d say a lot of focus and attention was made to making this feel as realistic as possible to the situations and real groups that live this way. These elements have been explored more now, but back then I’d say this was likely a big eye opener. The film perhaps wasn’t as engaged as I’d have liked considering, and it felt a bit slow. The performances for the most part are very good, with Mulroney owning it. Certainly a film worth seeing, and it definitely is a hidden gem of the 90’s.

Rating:

Check out the other reviews for Blog-a-thon: Sam @24fps, A.J. @CineSlice, Mike @EFilmBlog and Bede @SM.com.