Digging to China (1998)

Director:

Timothy Hutton

Writer (WGA):

Karen Janszen (written by)

Release Date:

11 September 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

10-year-old Harriet dreams of leaving her home, where she doesn't feel she's needed by her mother and sister Gwen...

Plot Keywords:

Mother | Sister | Alcoholic | Cancer | Car Accident

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Evan Rachel Wood	...	Harriet Frankovitz
Kevin Bacon	...	Ricky Schroth
Mary Stuart Masterson	...	Gwen Frankovitz
Marian Seldes	...	Leah Schroth
Cathy Moriarty	...	Mrs. Frankovitz
Amanda Minikus	...	Sonia
Nicole Burdette	...	Miss Mosher
Bing Putney	...	Eric (as Robert Putney)
Annie Jaynes	...	Young Harriet
Joanne Pankow	...	Nurse
Gareth Williams	...	Tow Truck Driver #1
Alan Mruvka	...	Tow Truck Driver #2
J.C. Quinn	...	Minister
R. Keith Harris	...	Flirting Man (as Keith Harris)
Nicole Namer	...	Girl in Classroom

MPAA:

Rated PG for thematic elements and some emotional moments.

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

UK:PG | USA:PG (certificate #35128) | Iceland:L | South Korea:12 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Mac's Indian Village, Cherokee, North Carolina, USA

Company:

Davis Entertainment Classics

Trivia:

Evan Rachel Wood's movie debut.

Goofs:

Continuity: Harriet's legs change position from shot to shot when she's coloring on the floor.

Quotes:

Harriet: My mother lived in one world. I was always looking for another.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Little Secrets (2001)

Soundtrack:

Samba Pa Ti

An unpretentious little movie

Digging to China is an unpretentious little movie. No great moral lessons are promoted here. It plays out within the limited area of a small resort motel, an old barn, the surrounding woods and streams, an elementary school, the connecting highways, a deserted caboose, and a school bus - with brief side trips to a cemetery and a hospital. No profound messages are involved; it doesn't probe the depths of the human condition. It's merely the story of the friendship between ten-year-old Harriet, a bright, imaginative loner, and Ricky, a man with special learning and behavioral handicaps. The relationship grows as each faces a major emotional life adjustment.

For a little movie, Digging to China is loaded with fantastic, deeply affecting, unforgetable images.

Tim Hutton is to be congratulated for putting this simple story together as a, yes, classic movie. Mary Stuart Masterson, quite possibly the most under-rated actress of our time, brings dignity to the evolving character of Gwen, who is determined to learn her new responsibilities. Kevin Bacon reads the part of the hurting Ricky with great sensitivity.

By its nature, the whole movie rides on the tiny shoulders of Evan Rachel Wood, and she carries it flawlessly. She can display a range of emotions many more experienced actors would kill for. In a few short minutes Miss Wood's features can slide subtly from questioning, to hopefully anxious, to happy, to forlorn - a masterpiece of acting.

Sensitive viewers will feel better for seeing it.