3 F / 2 M
This finely wrought autobiographical drama is about a Chicago family’s financial struggles in the late 1940’s. Fred Small has a chance for a promotion that would necessitate moving to another city. The youngest son (the central character) is caught between his desire to be an actor and his father’s determination that he finish high school and go to college. Add mother, Bea who has her own ideas about how the family should run. The questions are: Is Bea the monster she seems? Is Fred an insensitive hulk who deserves to have his dreams trampled by a wife he’s unwittingly represses? Where does love fit into all this?
