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ADRIFT

Fathers and sons figure prominently in recent Hollywood movies from Road to Perdition to Austin Powers in Goldmember, so films like this Tom Curran documentary are useful in depicting a real such relationship. Curran’s hour-long effort attempts to come to terms with, among other things, the unspoken sense of relief he felt at age 12 when his mom told him his dad was dead. An Irish-American overachiever, Tom’s father had moved his family out of Boston to Alaska because he realized he couldn’t compete politically with the other local Irish-American family of overachievers, the Kennedys. His career as the Anchorage DA was triumphant but brief, ending with the Republican takeover of state government.

But his legacy to his children was longer-lasting, since he drove his three sons (Tom is the eldest) and his daughter (now a body-building champion) to "be number one" at whatever they attempted — namely the same sports, hockey and baseball, he excelled at himself. Tom Curran never became a professional athlete, but he shows the makings of a gifted, sensitive filmmaker as he weaves voiceover memories, interviews with his mother and siblings, home videos, artful re-creations, and evocative images — a drive along the Alaska coast, a cormorant under a bridge — into this lingering portrait of paternity. (56 minutes)

BY PETER KEOUGH

Issue Date: August 8 - 15, 2002
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