BIG BAD LOVE

Year: 2001
USA: IFC Films
Cast: Arliss Howard, Debra Winger, Paul Le Mat, Rosanna Arquette, Angie Dickinson Michael Parks, Alex Van, Zachary Moody, Olivia Kersey, Kevin Mitchell, Matt Mitchell, Sue Peavey, Michael Williamson, Coleman Barks, Gloria Jackson Winters, Kenneth Carter, Melody Wilson, Preston Duke, Jacob McAnally, Ian McAnally, Bob Muse, Jo-Ann Robinson, Kenny Brown, Christie Jackson, Sigourney Weaver, Reginald Wilson, Johnny McPhail, Ed Hicks, Jaymee Vowell, L Jay McKinney, Larry Brown, R L Burnside, Cedric Burnside, Casey Dillard
Director: Arliss Howard
Country: USA
USA: 111 mins
USA Rated: R for language and some sexuality
USA Release Date: 22 February 2002 (Limited Release - New York)


Synopsis

Based on the acclaimed short-story collection by celebrated Mississippi writer Larry Brown, BIG BAD LOVE is the directing debut of actor Arliss Howard (FULL METAL JACKET, A MAP OF THE WORLD). From a script by Howard and his brother James, it is a tale of Vietnam veteran Barlow (Arliss Howard) struggling to make fiction from his past, his dreams, and the dim sound of the future bearing down on him.

In the North Mississippi hill country, Barlow struggles to balance his need to create with what he has created; an ex-wife (Debra Winger) who followed him from the rehabilitation ward of a Northern Hospital, a son on the verge of adolescence, a small daughter with an incurable illness, a war buddy and best friend (Paul Le Mat) puzzling over his own consuming love for a funeral home heiress (Rosanna Arquette), and a mother (Angie Dickinson) who sees in her son the return and demise of her beloved husband all over again.