WILDFLOWERS

A family of strong-willed African American women bands together to face some harsh realities.

Heartbroken and frightened after being abandoned by her mentally unstable husband of just a few months, Hollywood publicist Chloe Michaels heads to the one place she will always be welcome: her mother Joy Ann’s small home in St. Louis. Staying with Joy Ann, a bohemian painter still struggling to get by, helps Chloe put her own problems in perspective. Oldest sister Fawn leads the pampered life of a doctor’s wife but inwardly lusts for her new pastor. Middle sister Eve is unhappily shacked up with the loutish Dale. Aunt Carol Jane is eating herself to death worrying about her daughter Ceci, a hard-partying single mom who displays no interest in dealing with her drug and alcohol habits. Billye Jean, Carol Jane and Joy Ann’s sister, has a womanizing old coot of a husband and a middle-aged junkie son who lives on the streets. As Chloe tries to heal and plan a better future for herself, long-simmering family secrets bubble to the surface, bringing with them tensions and resentments going back decades. This leads to verbal fireworks, tragic losses, illegitimate babies and, eventually, prayers and forgiveness among the ladies. The men are for the most part weak-willed scoundrels, although Chloe meets a retired NBA player named Lance who shows some promise. LeFlore (Last Night a DJ Saved My Life, 2006, etc.) sometimes tries to do too much, and the many interconnected characters can be hard to keep track of, but this emotionally raw tale shows an authentic respect for female strength and black tradition.

Cathartic melodrama with some spiritual grounding.