When writer Winona Ryder goes to visit her grandmother (Ellen Burstyn) who is living with her sister (Anne Bancroft), she becomes involved with the women who are part of an annual quilting bee. What she learns will not only help her in her own writing but in lessons she can teach the women who will come to her in her own future. This sweet and touching drama is the story of these group of women who help Ryder through a rough batch as she decides whether or not to return to her fiancé (Dermot Mulroney). Ryder learns each of these women's stories, usually involving the men in their life, and each of those tales surrounding their influence in their parts of the quilting will be an influence for her as she discovers her own destiny.
The Oscar Winning Burstyn and Bancroft are gems together as sisters, facing their own past as Bancroft married the love of Burstyn's life and watched the two of them fall back together. In spite of that, the bond between the sisters never bended, and influenced Bancroft, a powerful artist in her own right, to use her anger in her art in creating a special wall. The dignified Maya Angelou tells of her aunt's own quilt, which surrounded the crow that lead her to the love of her life. Esther Rolle has a powerful cameo in flashback as this aunt. Angelou then tells how she fell in love with the young white boy who left her pregnant and how this brought her into the lives of Ryder's family. The sweet Jean Simmons gives a poignant performance telling Ryder of how her artist husband couldn't help his own infidelities and how she came to accept him for who he was, but how destiny has changed her own plans. Then, Alfre Woodard, as a spunky Haitan woman, tells of how she never allowed herself to become trapped by a man, something she sadly regrets but realized was beyond her control.
Each of these women have something powerful to offer, but perhaps the most powerful of these characters is the former champion diver played by stage legend Lois Smith who is both feared and admired in the community and gets a great final scene to show how far she has come. A terrific ensemble in a lightly plotted drama shows that less can be more in creating terrific art.
The Oscar Winning Burstyn and Bancroft are gems together as sisters, facing their own past as Bancroft married the love of Burstyn's life and watched the two of them fall back together. In spite of that, the bond between the sisters never bended, and influenced Bancroft, a powerful artist in her own right, to use her anger in her art in creating a special wall. The dignified Maya Angelou tells of her aunt's own quilt, which surrounded the crow that lead her to the love of her life. Esther Rolle has a powerful cameo in flashback as this aunt. Angelou then tells how she fell in love with the young white boy who left her pregnant and how this brought her into the lives of Ryder's family. The sweet Jean Simmons gives a poignant performance telling Ryder of how her artist husband couldn't help his own infidelities and how she came to accept him for who he was, but how destiny has changed her own plans. Then, Alfre Woodard, as a spunky Haitan woman, tells of how she never allowed herself to become trapped by a man, something she sadly regrets but realized was beyond her control.
Each of these women have something powerful to offer, but perhaps the most powerful of these characters is the former champion diver played by stage legend Lois Smith who is both feared and admired in the community and gets a great final scene to show how far she has come. A terrific ensemble in a lightly plotted drama shows that less can be more in creating terrific art.