Anyone else think that Idgie and Ninny were the same person? I didn't catch any other reviews who broached the topic, but the FAQ page for this movie addresses the topic from opposite perspectives. I'll tell you what I think at the end.

This movie is over a quarter century old and I just got around to it. That happens sometimes and after seeing one like that, I have to wonder why it took so long. I enjoyed this one for it's story telling style and gentle humor. Going in, if the only thing you've seen is the DVD sleeve, you would think the story is about four women of varying ages who become friends during a particular time and place. Instead, it spans the generations with the principal characters and story taking place in the 1920's, while the flashbacks to that era occur roughly during the time the picture was made. It's not an unusual filming technique but here it worked especially well.

This is an unusual love story but not in the traditional sense. Ruth Jamison (Mary-Louise Parker) and Idgie Threadgoode (Mary Stuart Masterson) become fast friends after a bit of a rough start, and their relationship grows stronger over the period of time that transitions from teenage years to young adulthood. The bond is cemented when Idgie and her friend George (Stan Shaw) save Ruth from a disastrous marriage. The plot thickens at this point, and it takes an additional five years to come to terms with the disappearance of Ruth's husband shortly after the incident at Frank Bennett's (Nick Searcy) farm.

The only disconnect I have with the story is the way Idgie and George were arrested for the murder of Frank Bennett. There was absolutely no grounds for the arrest to my thinking. Idgie did make a statement that she would 'kill Frank' if he ever came by to harm Ruth again, but that was stated in the heat of the moment. Sheriff Curtis Smoote (Raynor Scheine) using that as a pretext for arresting Idgie didn't make any sense to me at all. Not only that, but the truck recovered from the swamp had no body in it. That should have been enough to preclude any kind of murder trial. Be that as it may, I got a kick out of the judge dismissing the case because as he rightly proclaimed, it wasn't a case at all. The Reverend Scroggins (Richard Riehle) swearing on a copy of 'Moby Dick' was a neat bonus.

But there was another facet of the cross examination that bothered me as well. When Ruth was pressed by the prosecuting attorney as to the reason why she left her husband, she replied that it was because Idgie was the person she loved the most in the whole world. Why couldn't she have said that it was because her husband beat her? Leaving that out of the script seemed like an unforced error that would have exonerated Ruth favorably. The story didn't need it as it turned out, but still, that bothered me.

Taken all together though, this was a fine story of friendship and loyalty with enough of those little home spun tales thrown in to make it endearing. Like Buddy's (Chris O'Donnell) 'oyster/pearl' analogy and the one about the geese moving the lake out of state. I'm going to remember those for the grand-kids. I think they'll get a kick out of 'em.

Oh, and by the way, even though the book that this film was based on had Idgie and Ninny (Jessica Tandy) as separate people, I think there was enough ambiguity at the finish to make them one and the same in this movie. I think Evelyn (Kathy Bates) would agree.

This is a film you are bound to fall in love with. All of its characters feel real, intense, reaching out to touch with their passion and the film's nostalgic feel.

It contains some of my favorite performances of all time: Masterson, Parker, Tandy, and Bates give their very best, bringing two life fictional women who feel real, strong, and powerful. The film is very emotional, never maudlin, never disrespecting any of its components or the audience. It allows us to feel we are part of a world that might not exist anymore. What I like most about the film is how it embraces a passion for living.

There is much to be admired about the technical aspects of the film as well. It travels back and forth in time, with a structure that is hard to describe but a joy to watch as it shows how the main relationships were born, developed, and eventually were transformed into something more spiritual. The music is haunting and quite suitable to the delicate relationships, and the photography makes everyone and everything lovely, dreamlike at times.

The film will live on and will eventually be regarded as a classic. It deserves it so.

This movie might easily pass you by. It's quirky, long-winded title suggests something arty or perhaps comical in a needlessly pretentious way. Well; it is arty, and it is often funny, but there isn't a particle of pretentiousness. I got to see it only because my newspaper included it as a free DVD in the weekend issue. But for that, I might still be in ignorance now.

It seems incredible that something so wonderful can be had for nothing.

Kathy Bates plays the role of a mature but still comparatively young woman who has a marriage going nowhere. Her husband has reached the point where he just doesn't seem to care any more. Actually, it's not that he doesn't care; he just hasn't noticed how bad things have got. Like so many couples, they have just let themselves slip into a rut.

However; she has noticed, and means to do something about it. When hints, make-overs and candlelit dinners prove inadequate, she finds unexpected inspiration in a feisty old woman called Ninny Threadgoode.

This woman - played by Jessica Tandy - dilates upon her past, and in particular, a friendship between two young women called Idgie and Ruth (Mary Stuart Masterson and Mary Louise Parker). The movie then shifts between the present-day circumstances of an increasingly emancipated wife, and the flashback reminiscences of her inspiration.

Some have rather misguidedly referred to this movie as a 'chick-flick' as if it were dedicated to a female audience or in some way espoused the cause of feminism. Such opinions do a disservice. To see it in this light, because the principal parts are female, is like dismissing 'The Shawshank Redemption' as a male 'buddy' movie. Both are about two people who's enduring friendship unites them against adversity. Lesbian love is barely hinted at.

Director, Jon Aunet has created a spellbinding work. It has a wonderful, lyrical fidelity, like a Renoir painting, whereby the few moments of comedy appear as small, flagrant brush-strokes in an otherwise pastel completeness. There are moments of heartbreaking and tender subtlety when Thomas Newman's music score expresses human feeling more fluently than the spoken word.

Sound-engineers seldom receive the recognition they deserve. All too easily we take the ambiance of the moment completely for granted. Viewers should pay particular attention to the authenticity of this movie, and marvel. The dreary interior of an unhappy home or the mildness of a sunlit summer-evening carry such authentic presence that one can almost feel the chill of anger, the sweetness of the season.

Some have found fault with this movie somewhere. I confess to being too lachrymose to see anything other than the director's intentions. Excellent script, flawless acting, impeccably chosen music and ambiance to reach out and touch.

This is a truly redeeming experience. Amongst the spoil-heaps of formulaic Hollywood wretchedness, gems like this help remind us that humanity is still worth caring about.

The detail of life is what really gives us meaning.