"Kramer vs. Kramer"

Title: "Kramer vs. Kramer"
Director: Robert Benton
Producer: Richard Fischoff and Stanley R. Jaffe
Editing: Jerry Greenberg
Composers: Paul Gemignani, Herb Harris, John Kander, Erma E. Levin, Roy B. Yokelson, and Antonio Vivaldi
Starring:
- Dustin Hoffman as Ted Kramer
- Meryl Streep as Joanna Kramer

- Justin Henry as Billy Kramer

- Jane Alexander as Margaret Phelps

Plot and Critical Review: Ted Kramer, a workaholic advertising executive is just given his agency's biggest new account. After spending the evening drinking with his boss, he returns home to find his wife Joanna in the process of leaving him.

Ted is left to raise their son Billy by himself. Ted and Billy resent each other as Ted no longer has time to carry his increased workload, and Billy misses the love and attention he received from his mother. After many months of unrest, Ted and Billy begin to cope with the situation and eventually grow to deeply love and care for one another.

Ted befriends his neighbor Margaret, who at the beginning had counseled Joanna to leave. Margaret is a fellow single parent and the two become kindred spirits. One day as the two sit in the park watching their children play, Billy falls off the jungle gym and severely cuts his face. Picking him up, Ted sprints several blocks through oncoming traffic to the hospital.

About a year after she walked out, Joanna returns to New York in order to claim Billy, and a custody battle ensues. During the custody hearing, both Ted and Joanna are unprepared for the brutal character assassinations that their lawyers unleash on the other. Eventually, the courts awards custody to Joanna.

On the morning that Billy is to move in with Joanna, she comes to the apartment and tells Ted that, while she loves Billy and wants him with her, she knows that his true home is with Ted. The movie ends with the elevator doors closing on the emotional Joanna, as she heads upstairs to talk to Billy.

"Kramer vs. Kramer" is one of the many excellent films produced in the "courtroom-drama" style. Films of this type are normally produced on a very small budget while a tremendous amount of time and finance is placed upon the screenplay and cast of actors and actresses. "Kramer..." does not disappoint. Based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Avery Corman (who oversaw development of the screenplay) this film served as a cinematic interpretation of a novel that started a wide-spread change in thought regarding child-care, child custody, and equality between the genders concerning how children are raised. If you add two unbelievably talented actors to the mix of an excellent screenplay and impeccable directing you have the necessary combination for a landslide success. Enter Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep filling the roles of Ted and Joanna Kramer.

Both actors were already well known and moderately decorated when they took on this project, but it was the success of "Kramer..." that launched their careers. Hoffman won Best Actor, Streep Best Actress, and the film took Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay. Hoffman went on to receive multiple nominations and an additional Best Actor award for his work in "Rain Man". Streep went on to win another Best Actress award for "Sophie's Choice" and holds the record for most Golden Globe nominations (23). She is widely regarded as one of the most talented actresses of the modern cinematic "age" and much of her success comes as a result of the achingly dramatic role we see in "Kramer vs. Kramer".

My Rating: 8.5/10

The "Reel Revelation": ""

I've been staring at the blinking cursor for over an hour. The movie has long since finished and the title menu stands at attention on the screen in front of me. I am simply without words tonight. This film stirs up a myriad of topics and thoughts within me. Where do I begin?! Perhaps a reflection based on the social injustices of child custody. What about when two people are right...how do we decide between two equally convincing truths? Maybe a reflection on what to do when we have to left someone go, when there's nothing left to do but "release" someone/something we've dearly cherished and loved? They're all good ideas but none of them seem sufficient to me. Whenever I set out to write a "Reel Revelation" I attempt to attend to a pressing spiritual matter which will benefit all who read my words and to do justice to the film, to represent a topic of spiritual importance which I have derived from what i've seen. Tonight I am unsure I can write something that will represent this motion picture in deserving fashion. While I am convinced i've wasted a paragraph telling you something that might not do any good for my credibility or your interest in what I have to say, I hope this helps you to see into the process of my review writing.

When i'm stuck with a particular project i'll often fall back on poetry as it helps me to convey a certain thought or emotion without having to explain it as I would normally explain a film-inspired idea in these "Reel Revelations". Tonight I offer a poem i'd nearly forgotten about. It's one that I wrote quickly but ended up spending much time pondering. It touches on many subjects and I hope it challenges your life.

"Honesty"
E.D. Thompson

Saying is not doing
Honesty is not confession
Though confession often leads us to it

Confession is looking
Honesty is knowing
God helps us to do all these things

Honesty is doing
Saying is confessing
And confession makes our words known

By itself
Saying is not enough
Confession is not enough
Honesty is not enough

When we say what we are
Who we are
Where we are
And confess honestly
Then we do
For the Kingdom of God.

(c) Blue Tassel Publications - 2008

See you tomorrow - E.T.