Mighty Fine (Debbie Goodstein, 2011): USA

Reviewed by Linda Lopez.  Viewed at the SBIFF.  Metro 4.

A good movie lingers with you long after you’ve seen it and “Mighty Fine” fits into this category.  It was written and directed by Debbie Goodstein.  The story is a semi-autobiographical account of Goodstein’s growing-up years during the 1970s with her parents and sister.

In the opening scene, we meet the Fine family narrated by the youngest daughter Natalie (played by Jodelle Ferland), who portrays the real Goodstein.  There are glimpses of 35-milimeter footage of the smiling family having fun at the beach, constantly moving with darting back and forth and side to side.  Natalie said that her family seemed to be always moving and always running away.

The Fines are American Jews living in Brooklyn.   Joe Fine, the father (depicted by Chazz Palminteri) met his wife Stella (portrayed by Andie McDowell) during World War II.  Stella was a holocaust survivor and Joe was the knight in shining armor.  They both fell madly in love and Joe married Stella and brought her back to Brooklyn.

The plot begins in 1974 when Joe makes a unilateral decision to move his business and uproot his family to New Orleans for a better life.  He owns a textile plant in Brooklyn but labor costs and real estate are less expensive in New Orleans.  He dreams of only a better financial life for his family. The eldest daughter Maddie (portrayed by Rainey Qualley) is not happy about leaving her high school where she is already very popular.  The mother Stella is a stay-at-home mom and seems amiable to a new adventure.

Joe drives his family to New Orleans in a Cadillac (which could symbolize his over-indulgence).  During this trip there are glimpses into his nature.  He can be warm, funny, and quite charming but then becomes hostile at the slightest inkling.  A new chapter of the Fine family begins in New Orleans where hidden tensions come to the surface and are finally dealt with instead of the Fine family’s tendency to run away from problems.

Chazz Palminteri, a seasoned actor and successful screenwriter—most notably for “A Bronx Tale”– has given an outstanding performance portraying Joe Fine, the patriarch of the story.  Palminteri was able to capture the essence of this tormented man, who really cared for his family, but had anger-control issues.

The ideology of the story is universal in that ultimately the man of a family bears the responsibility to provide for his family and that women prefer to stay at home to raise the children.  Although this story takes place in the 1970s, I think this ideology is still ingrained in the subconscious of societies worldwide.  However, there are costs with family tensions surfacing when the bread winner seizes the family reins to steer the family in any direction as if they are only puppets.  When a patriarchal figure acts out the old adage, “whoever pays the piper gets to pick the tunes,” he is only headed towards doom.