'Hollis Woods' a worthy adaptation
By: ANN ZIVOTSKY - For the North County Times | ∞
Just in time for the holidays is a television adaptation of the popular Newbery Honor book by Patricia Reilly Giff, "Pictures of Hollis Woods." Co-starring Sissy Spacek, Alfre Woodard and Jodelle Ferland in the title role, "Pictures of Hollis Woods" is a touching movie about family and redemption.
Hollis Woods (Ferland) is an orphan and foster child who has moved from family to family when she lands in the home of eccentric Josie Cahill (Spacek). A former art teacher now suffering from Alzheimer's, Cahill takes Hollis out on art adventures more than she takes her to school. Hollis eventually realizes she has to protect Josie more than Josie needs to protect Hollis.
Interwoven through the story are flashbacks to a family that Hollis spent the summer with. The Regans have a son, Stephen, and Hollis is finally happy with the Regans, only to have the situation fall apart as the summer ends. This is a Hallmark movie, though, so a happy ending is guaranteed.
Spacek and Woodard, as a social worker who has stayed on Hollis' case through all her families, bring strong acting skills to their roles and are supported by good performances by James Tupper ("Men in Trees") and Julie Ann Emery ("Army Wives") as the Regans who come to love Hollis. But movies like this fall apart if the young actor in the title role is too precocious. Ferland doesn't tread anywhere near that territory, instead delivering a wonderfully believable performance.
If "Pictures of Hollis Wood" is one of your children's favorite books, be sure to let them watch, or record this movie for them. "Pictures of Hollis Wood" airs at 9 p.m. Sunday on KFMB/Channel 8.
The No. 1-rated show on cable during the summer, "The Closer," starring Kyra Sedgwick, makes a special holiday appearance, and fans of the neurotic police investigator should welcome it like an early present.
Los Angeles police Deputy Chief Brenda Lee (Sedgwick) is loved by viewers for her neurotic work habits, her love of sweets and the expert way she always wrangles a confession from suspects. In this special episode airing Monday on TNT, Lee and her squad are investigating the armed robbery of a bank security truck and the murder of two truck guards.
When it's discovered the suspect is a native of Georgia and has fled to that state, Lee jumps at the chance to travel to her hometown of Atlanta, visit her parents for Christmas and drag her fiance, FBI
Special Agent Fritz Howard (Jon Tenney), along. Complications arise and squad members Provenza (G.W. Bailey) and Andy Flynn (Tony Denison) travel to the South to extradite the prisoner, only to have that plan go awry. The comedy comes when Brenda and her family, Provenza, Flynn and Fritz all have to get the prisoner back to Los Angeles.
Much of the personal drama in "The Closer" has centered on Lee and her uncomfortable relationship with her Southern parents. This special edition of the series lets the story of Lee and her parents move forward as they come to a much better understanding.
"The Closer" airs at 8 p.m. Monday on TNT.
The story of Jews driven from Europe during World War II and the establishment of Israel is well-known. Less known is the story of Arab Jews who were also driven from their Middle Eastern
homes. "The Last Jews of Libya," a documentary that tells the story of the Roumani family, is a chapter in that little-known story.
Elise Tammam and Yosef Roumani were married in Libya in 1938, the prosperous children of businessmen who had continued a 2,500-year tradition of Jewish businesses and traders in the Libya port city of Benghazi. The Jewish community in Libya was centered on family and faith ---- and an uneasy alliance with their Arab neighbors, marked by sporadic persecution and pogroms.
The family's story is told by daughter Vivienne Roumani-Denn in an hour documentary, narrated by Isabella Rossellini. The Roumani family history includes living in a Libya controlled by the Italians in the 1930s. As a result, the family was heavily influenced by European fashions and culture. As World War II began to build, the British, Italian fascists and finally the Nazis would control Benghazi.
In the 1960s, the eldest Roumani son moved to America to attend Brandeis University. The rest of the family would follow, and yet when they arrived in America, they were as different from the Eastern European Jews who had fled to America after World War II and who often spoke Yiddish as they were from the Arabs they lived next to in Benghazi. Roumani-Denn explains in her documentary that her family spoke Sephardic Judaism and Roumani was easily recognized as a Jewish name in Libya, although many Americans told her she didn't have a "Jewish name" such as Goldman. Yosef and Elise Roumani were eventually buried on the Mount of Olives in Israel, and their family believes the couple, who never felt completely at home in Libya or America, are finally and truly home.
"The Last Jews of Libya" airs at 10 p.m. Monday on Sundance Channel.
Heather Myers is a new anchor and reporter on XETV/Channel 6. A Fallbrook native, Myers attended Poway High School and San Diego State University. Myers has worked in Yuma, Ariz., and at KFMB/Channel 8 in San Diego.
Highlights for the week include a Hallmark movie and the season finale of "Iconoclasts": "Iconoclasts: Madeleine Albright + Ashley Judd" (10 p.m. today, Sundance Channel) ---- The final episode in this season's collection of shows that pair an actor or musician with a leader in other fields brings together former Secretary of State Albright and actress and global humanitarian spokeswoman Judd.
"All I Want for Christmas" (9 p.m. Saturday, Hallmark Channel) ---- Gail O'Grady stars as a widow and working mom who doesn't have time to date ---- until her son makes a Christmas wish for a husband for his mom.
"Saving Grace" (10 p.m. Mondays on TNT) ---- The Holly Hunter police series is returning in December with new episodes on Monday, Dec. 10, 17 and a season finale on Dec. 18.
Ann Zivotsky writes about television for the North County Times. E-mail her at nctimestv@cox.net.
More Stories
Advertisement
Today's Stories
Advertisement