Review of The Spitfire Grill (1996) by Karry D — 03 Apr 2009

Synopsis: A young girl, whom straid from the path and found herself imprisoned, is released and decides, for her own reasons, to move to a little town called Gillead. There she is taken in by the owner of the Spitfire Grill, with conditions and rules which stresses their fragile relationship. Her past and a secret soon cause strife and discomfort in the small peaceable town.

Alison Elliott along with Ellen Burstyn* carry the weight of this film. It is their scenes together, their interaction and well written characters that give this otherwise dull look at stereotypes and discrimination.

This was Lee David Zlotoff first full length feature film, coming from the small screen and mostly writing for hour long dramas. He does an excellent job of portraying our heroin and lays out the slow delicate pace of things as the delicate fragility of this town is revealed. His writing can be over zealous at times, using smaller characters to fill voids his main characters should have been able to find on their own. But this does not detract from the movement of the work, for it flows evenly.

The tag line is witty and sums up the film very well: To a town with no future, comes a girl with a past.

*Ellen Burstyn is one of our best Actresses, I wish she'd get more parts like "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" instead of these nearly made for TV movies.