THE PRIZE WINNER OF DEFIANCE, OHIO starring JULIANNE MOORE, WOODY HARRELSON
Color Running time approximately 1 hour 39 minutes
LANGUAGE: English SUBTITLES: English, French, Spanish
Anything is possible with a little laughter and a lot of heart in this incredible true story of an extraordinary woman who raises 10 kids on 25 words or less. Academy Award nominee Julianne Moore stars as Evelyn Ryan, a devoted housewife and mother, who uses her knack for words to win thousands of dollars in "jingle contests" to keep her family together. Also starring Academy Award nominee Woody Harrelson, this witty and engaging comedy celebrates the power of a winning spirit.
Kelly and Evelyn live in Defiance, Ohio with their ten children. At first glance, their life seems idyllic; they call each other "Mother: and :Father" and seem to dote on the kids. But Kelly was a garage-band crooner whose voice was ruined in an auto accident. He's resigned to a dead-end factory job that barely pays the bills, and is given to fits of alcohol-induced rage. Evelyn, a stay-at-home wife and mother, deals with this abuse by appealing to her priest, who is no help at all.
She deals with their poverty by entering the jingle contests that were the rage of the 50's and early 60's, even sending multiple entries in the name of the children She is very clever at it, winning more than her share of prizes, but her successes aren't enough to keep the wolf from the door. Further, they trigger Kelly's insecurities and he retreats deeper into the bottle, using food and mortgage money to support the habit.
Can the loving, optimistic Evelyn hold the family together? Is she justified in placing her faith in the deeply-flawed Kelly? How will the children turn out? This understated film provides an inspirational answer to those questions.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Commentaries by Julianne Moore and director Jane Anderson and more!!
"Sure to be among the best films of the year"...Jeffrey Lyons, NBC-TV
"Pure magic...Julianne Moore is positively brilliant!"...Bill Bregoli, Westwood One Radio