The Valley of Light (2007)

Truly Dreadful Film

One of the best films i have seen

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Noah (Chris Klein) has returned home from WWII, only to find that his parents are deceased, his younger brother is in prison, and his parents' farmland has gone to another family. Sad. A fisherman, Noah meets a man (Robert Prosky) near a river, who recommends a small town in North Carolina for a new home. Taking this advice, Noah shows up and, indeed, the town is very nice. Initially somewhat skeptical of the stranger, the townfolk soon welcome Noah. This includes an adopted mute boy named Frankie (Zach Mills), who wishes to follow Noah around, at times. Fortunately, a war widow named Eleanor (Gretchen Mol) has an empty cabin on the lands of her property and Noah moves in. Soon, it becomes clear that Eleanor may be over her grief and interested in Noah, ditto for him. Will a new love form? Possibly. Also, some of the town's residents make a bet with Noah about the amount of catfish he might catch and the young veteran takes them on. Then, tragedy strikes and Noah may move out of the area, leaving Eleanor behind. Will it happen? This is a quietly lovely romantic drama with a very beautiful setting in North Carolina. All of the actors, including Klein and Mol, do very fine work. Care has been taken by the film makers to re-create another time, so that costumes, buildings, automobiles and such bring back the late 1940's with appeal. Romance fans will also be pleased. However, if you are not in the mood for some heartache, save this for another time, for some tears may swell and drop for most every viewer.

The movie was fun to make! I was Matthew's stand in. I grew up around the area where the lake scenes were filmed, and when Noah gets off the bus in the beginning. It was very exciting to be a part of something like this, and awesome to meet Chris Klein,Zach Mills, and Jay O. Sanders. Everyone treated each other with kindness, even the stars were kind! And I'm definitely proud to say that I got to work closely with them for a month. I enjoy being able to point out Zach Mills whenever he appears on TV and say that I know him. Very Exciting! I wish I could continue doing stand-in work on a perm basis, but its a very tough business to break into. BTW - HEY KERRY!!! How are you and Zach doing???Keaton

This little gem (scheduled to be out on DVD February 15 at select Hallmark Stores)will make a great addition to any DVD collection. Just the basics here: WWII vet Noah Locke (Chris Klein) returns home to find a world of change on the home front, ala "The Best Years of Our Lives", and he must take his life in a new direction. A kind old gent Hoke Moore (Robert Prosky) directs him to the valley where a change of his life's direction is offered. Great job by Gretchen Mol as the leading lady Eleanor Chatwin. Mol's character undergoes changes of her own after meeting Noah. She is a widow of a WWII vet who ended his life upon returning home from the war and her life is a closed loop. Between caring for her late husband's grandmother(who seems to survive on chocolate bars) and running the farm, she appears to have little else in her life. Just compare the change in her physical appearance from their initial meeting in a general store to the the scene of a good old' sit down catfish dinner in her home....Southern Style! A terrific supporting cast rounds out this Hallmark Hall of Fame gem. The filming locations in Oregon and California fill in nicely for rural, post WWII North Carolina.Tragedy strikes both their lives and threatens to end the blossoming romance between Noah and Eleanor. Noah soon realizes that he was guided to the valley. Several media critics panned this flick, but it came in at #10 for the week in the ratings, tied with "24", so see it for yourself and make your own decision.

I loved the way this movie was done. I know many won't like it because it dares to leave out sex, violence, profanity, etc., and just tell a simple tale that makes you feel good. For those people there are nearly an infinite number of choices to see. For the rest of us, this is a rare movie that feels like something from a time before I was born- and it left me feeling happy, and not many of today's movies do that for me.Also, as most of my closest friends and my oldest nephew live and breath fishing, I'm thinking they'd enjoy it as that is always in the background.If you watch this, don't go in expecting something convoluted and complex, but rather a very pleasant distraction from all the unpleasantness we usually see in the movies.