In the early 1990s, after winning the Best Actress Oscar for Misery, Kathy Bates briefly held leading lady status, despite not at all conventionally fitting that type. Though still more suited for "And" credits, Bates took top billing a few times and once alone assumed pre-title billing. That lone "Kathy Bates vehicle" was A Home of Our Own, a PG-rated drama that received a mid-sized theatrical release in the fall of 1993.
The film opens with a montage of images of picturesque 1950s and '60s families from television, print advertisements, and the White House. Family life in 1962 is nothing like that for Shayne Lacey (Edward Furlong), his five younger siblings, and their widowed mother Frances (Bates). At the film's start, the family is living in squalor in a Los Angeles apartment. After objecting to a supervisor's ass grab, Frances swiftly loses her job in a potato chip factory. The Lacey Tribe, as they like to call themselves, pack themselves and everything they own into the family's dying vehicle and they head east in search of a new home (of their own).
They find that in the wide open small town of Hankston, Idaho, where Frances talks widowed nursery owner Mr. Munimura (Soon-Tek Oh) into letting the family take on the three acre lot with frame of a house across the street from him. Dirt broke, the hardworking family works off the cost of the house and then works hard to build the house into something presentable.
Stubbornly refusing to accept charity, Frances takes a waitress job at a bowling alley and dresses the kids in church thrift store items and sometimes homemade dresses that earn them ridicule at school. They get by on grit and find strength in numbers.
Home is narrated by the grown-up version of Shane (director Tony Bill, uncredited), who informs us at the start that this is a true story, which we gather was lived by screenwriter Patrick Sheane Duncan (who later penned Mr. Holland's Opus and Courage Under Fire). The design more closely recalls "The Wonder Years" and Radio Flyer than A Christmas Story, as laughs are few and far between, though the piece also shuns nostalgia -- at least the cultural kind -- as much as it can.
The earnest Home will resonate most with those raised in simpler times by strong single mothers. Despite the PG rating, the film is aimed more at adults than children and will be appreciated accordingly but is largely appropriate for all ages. It is pretty well-regarded by those who know it, currently sporting a respectable 7.0 average user rating on IMDb, but on the basis of just over 2,000 votes. The public support is echoed at Amazon, where 148 customers have given it an above average 4½ out of 5 star rating.
Opening in theaters the same month as Mrs. Doubtfire, Addams Family Values and The Three Musketeers, Home only grossed $1.7 million, which even twenty-three years of inflation does not adjust to anything significant.
Inherited by MGM after the dissolution of the recently revived Gramercy Pictures, Home made its way to Blu-ray and back to DVD last week from Olive Films.
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Blu-ray Disc Details
1.85:1 Widescreen
2.0 DTS-HD MA Stereo (English)
Subtitles: English
Not Closed Captioned; Extra Not Subtitled
Release Date: June 21, 2016
Single-sided, single-layered disc (BD-25)
Suggested Retail Price: $29.95
Also available on DVD ($24.95 SRP) and Amazon Instant Video
Previously released as MGM DVD (May 22, 2001)
Blue Keepcase |
VIDEO and AUDIO
A Home of Our Own looks quite excellent on Blu-ray. The 1.85:1 presentation is sharp, immaculate, and nicely detailed, while maintaining an appropriate amount of film grain. The 2.0 DTS-HD master audio stereo is a bit on the loud side, and otherwise fine, if not particularly remarkable. English subtitles are nicely included.
BONUS FEATURES, MENUS, PACKAGING and DESIGN
The Blu-ray sadly but unsurprisingly holds no bonus features, not even a trailer.
The static, silent menu is adapted from the cover art. The disc does not support bookmarking or resume unfinished playback.
One insert joins the full-color disc inside the standard, unslipcovered keepcase: a pamphlet touting Olive Films' catalog of licensed titles and giving you an opportunity to join the company's mailing list.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
Folksy but sweet, A Home of Our Own seems to be appreciated by most of the few who have seen it. The film gets a very basic but nice-looking Blu-ray from Olive Films.
Buy A Home of Our Own from Amazon.com: Blu-ray DVD DVD

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