While "Digging to China" is a beautiful movie because of the story told here and because of some good performances, then I must admit that it is hardly an outstanding movie. And there are far better movies which similar stories. But with that being said, don't get me wrong, because director Timothy Hutton has still managed to piece together an enjoyable movie which does portray a touching tale.
The story in "Digging to China" is about 10 year old Harriet Frankovitz (played by Evan Rachel Wood) who is living with her alcoholic mother (played by Cathy Moriarty) and older sister Gwen (played by Mary Stuart Masterson) at a roadside Indian village themed motel. One day a sickly woman (played by Marian Seldes) needs to stay at the motel with her mentally challenged son Ricky (played by Kevin Bacon) as their car breaks down. A strong friendship forms between Harriet and the child-like Ricky.
The storyline is quite good and well-transitioned to the screen. And it is really nicely helped along by the performances of the cast in the movie.
While "Digging to China" had the potential to be a real tear jerker, it just never fully managed to get to that emotional level. It is still a nice movie though, it just didn't manage to sink that deep into the emotional level of the audience. Which was a shame, because it would have added so much more to the movie.
There were some good funny moments, some semi-sad moments and some emotional moments where you did sympathize with the characters in the movie. But it just missed that extra particular edge to be unique.
However, I believe that "Digging to China" is the type of movie that you watch once only. And once you have seen it, the movie is bagged, tagged and put back on the movie shelves, never to see the light of day again.
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