"Finding Home" is a warm and touching story, the title being an apt metaphor for a story of many levels. The time elements are well-handled, going back and forth from past to present, in such a way as to make sense and not be confusing. The pace of the film matches the pace of the natural lifestyle of living on a Maine island. As a native Mainer I was pleased that the artists used a natural style of speaking rather than using fake-sounding Maine accents, which also reflects the current way of life on the Maine coast, as over the past decades more and more "people from away" have become Mainers making their livelihoods on the coast, so it is naturally less occurring to hear true "down-east" Maine accents in a tourist setting. And the different sounding accent of the inn keeper seems realistic for the Maine coast. The plot is interesting to me, of a young professional woman returning to Maine as an adult who has forgotten much of a significant childhood time that she left a decade or more ago. In that respect, it is one of the parallels that remind me of the movie "Dolores Claiborne". I have to honestly say that I didn't always find the quality of acting in "Finding Home" to be as sophisticated and experienced as I found in "Dolores Claiborne", but i did find it to be believable and genuine. The quality of the story, however, is heartwarming and very touching. There is enough intrigue to keep one's interest in wanting to find out what happens next. There is brilliant acting of some complicated roles and scenes, in particular those of the mother in the picture. The flashback scenes are believable, and while they lead to the unveiling of a traumatic event, that event is blessedly less horrific than the viewer has come to dread experiencing. And the quality of the movie, visual and auditory, is kinder on the senses, and a welcome relief from "too loud and shocking" that I find all too often in current films. At the end of the movie I felt peaceful and satisfied, and relieved with the honest depiction of characters. Most human beings are not all good or all bad, and some of the most difficult issues in the lives of the characters are treated sensitively and in a well-rounded, realistic and matter-of-fact way. I am grateful to have been treated to a really good story without jarring instances of violence, bad language, raw sex, or brutality. Very well done!
