I never forgot this one after all these years, but it was hard-to-find on DVD. And just now I was quite surprised to see all the reviews, since I considered it to be a forgotten movie. And these reviews do state what I was going to point out re the unlikeliness of the institutionalized character being able to write, so OK, I'll just say that Ally Walker was absolutely ideal for the part, and that without her in it, I'd never have gone for the movie in the first place. She is very, very attractive and obviously very smart. And I do feel like a fool now because I was going to talk about the lonely lead character with the scars on her back in this darkly bleak thriller, but I'd just be parroting what the other reviewers brought forth. I'll just mention that the dog's leash was tied to the ice cream van, so when it drove off at speed, there was supposed to be another upsetting sight, but instead the dog just disappeared, a major goof! There were material here that could have spawned an entire TV series, instead there was a bit of a rush towards the finale. And I fail to make the link between child molestation, and the doctor who did hand transplants - two separate cases, right? As for the reviewer who thought Ally's character's chain-smoking was unnecessary, I disagree. It's all clearly linked to bad memories, as if she's chasing away the cold inside her, despite it being summer. By the way, the movie doesn't have the remotest summery feel to it, despite all those July references. All in all, a remarkable performance by Ally Walker, but there should have been more! And who is the woman on the poster/DVD box cover? Fortunately, the character does not look like that!
Review of When the Bough Breaks
