Inclubabu Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

Breakinger A Brilliant Conflict

Taha Avalos The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Phillipa Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

tieman64 This is a review of "Fly Away Home" and "Wind", two films by Carroll Ballard.Loosely speaking, Ballard makes two types of films. Those in which humans tentatively interact with "wild" animals, and those in which man interacts with nature via technology inspired by the natural world. In the first category Ballard's made fare like "The Black Stallion" and "Duma", in the second he's made films like "Wind" and "Fly Away Home". Arguable one of his best films, "Fly Away Home" is about a daughter and father who build an ultralight air-plane that mimics the behaviour of, and acts as a surrogate mother for, a flock of geese. Using the plane, the duo guide the birds to a sanctuary several hundred miles away. It's a touching picture, filled with beautiful scenery, gorgeous aerial footage, sensitive direction and some wonderfully understated acting by Jeff Daniels Anna Paquin.Though his financiers force formulaic plots upon him, Ballard dislikes heavy-handed storytelling, and so tends to keep his characters quiet and muted. With his ethereal visuals, use of silence and love for wind/nature, "Fly Away Home" strongly conjures up the work of Malick and Miyazaki.The film has flaws: some of its rear projection is intrusive, some of its conflicts are a bit clichéd, some of its villains are cartoonish, and aside from the opening and closing song, Ballard's musical score isn't strong enough for such a poetic picture. Still, these flaws are minor and don't intrude on the film's better qualities. While "Fly Away Home" involves an inventor building an air-plane, "Wind" involves a group of mechanical engineers designing a boat. Sounds boring? Both films are more interested in mood and ambiance than they are plot. In "Wind", the design team relocate to a huge hanger at the centre of a vast desert, a world away from the oceans they hope to conquer. We watch as they sculpt away at their boat, Ballard salivating over sleek hulls, tall masts and mighty rudders. Muscles, skeletons, animals, rocks, wind and water are studied and observed, the boat a failure if its body doesn't bend to the will of the waves.Both films deal with men and machines waltzing with nature; our ultralight air-plane is only believable to the geese if they perceive it to be their biological mother, and Ballard's boats fail if they don't slice cleanly through the winds and waves. To resist nature is to compromise the design.Both films were also mildly influential in how they added to our camera vocabulary. "Fly Away Home" gave us some then new three-dimensional camera sweeps and "Wind" offered several cinematic baby steps as well, using specially designed camera mounts for both helicopters and boat hulls, masts etc. "Fly Away Home" is the better of the two films - it's one of the best "family" films of the 1990s - whilst "Wind" is plagued by a bad script, though it does also offer excellent mood and ambiance. You sense that Ballard wants to avoid conventional Hollywood scripts as much as possible, but that they're necessary to provide some semblance of either structure or marketability."Fly Away Home" – 8.5/10 "Wind" – 8/10

Mike While the sailing sequences were enjoyable to watch and well filmed, the rest of the movie was somewhat of a disappointment. It had some really good scenes and some exciting racing sequences, but the acting and dialog was pretty cheesy and poor outside of that, and the 'love story' aspect of the movie detracted from the rest of the film. There were a few plot points that weren't portrayed very well. As an engineer, I found some of the design scenes a bit amusing.Bottom line, if you like sailing or the America's cup, you'll probably find parts of this movie enjoyable, and other parts a bit cheesy, over the top, or poorly acted. I would say that the sailing sequences are fun enough to watch that this movie is worth watching once for sailing buffs, and possibly someone interested in the sport.

jehaccess6 This film attracted me because of the plot involving the America's Cup race. I don't remember the film ever being shown in the cinema during the 1992 release period. I suppose that the film didn't succeed in first run or in video release either.Still, after viewing the film it has several good points. The photography is breathtakingly good in the racing scenes. I never grasped how difficult, dangerous, and physically demanding such racing actually is. Normal coverage of the racing is kept at such a distance to avoid influencing the race outcome that most all the intriguing details never reach the lay audience. The film was able to bore in to close range to allow us to see much of what the crew must accomplish to win a race. The physical demands are immense, the crew must be in superb physical and mental condition to have a competitive race entry.The score by Basil Poledoris is just superb. I got hooked on his music after watching 'Red Dawn'. I re-watched 'Wind' just to concentrate on the score. It is amazing how well his music enhances and complements the action on the screen. He can take a so-so portion of the film and turn it into a superb experience. The man is an authentic musical genius!The actors in the film are more of a mixed bag. Matthew Modine, portraying the character 'Will Parker', has this unbelievable blow-dry hair style that is ludicrous for a man in this film. It is obviously retouched after every scene to keep every strand in place. Those scenes where he wears a hat work for me, the rest comes across as farce. The plot has 'Will Parker' as such a wuss that he is willing to dump the woman he loves and follow life-threatening orders to keep his position in the crew of the ship defending the cup.Jennifer Grey has a more believable role as 'Kate Bass'. She is drawn to 'Will Parker' and willing to sacrifice her dreams to help him fulfill his greatest goals. Jennifer was very convincing in this role. She was tanned and obviously very athletic. She let her hair take its natural course on the boat. It was much more convincing than her pretty-boy love interest. 'Kate Bass' pours her heart and soul into the effort to defend the cup, only to run afoul of the 'old-boy network' and be ejected from the team.A smarter man than 'Will Parker' would have stood by his woman and left with her. Her input was vital for the crew and without her, their effort to defend the cup falls short. At least he figures out how to get back on track after moping around in depression for several months.Cliff Robertson phoned in his lines in this film. He obviously had little emotional involvement in providing a good performance. The other supporting actors contributed little to the film. The director obviously fell down in allowing such minimal performances to see the light of day.We get to see some background in the design of a competitive entry in the race. The film briefly touches on this process. In reality, massive computer power and extensive testing of scale models in water tanks are necessary for success. A tiny percentage decrease in drag can lead to a winning entry. Of course, such advances become harder and harder as designs become ever more refined over the years. The sails are one area where significant advances in performance are still possible. The film illustrates how aerodynamic principles can be applied to sail design.Finally, I noted that the crew assembled to sail the new boat were also superb artisans able to build the new design effortlessly. They could do metal work for the beams and ribs as well as lay up the carbon fiber for the hull. The paint scheme for the hull and sails was also first-rate artistically. In reality, skilled professionals and massive production facilities are needed to build a competitive entry. Perhaps I should refrain from such detailed analysis of the details and just enjoy the film.

reblit Matthew Modine as Will Parker and Jennifer Grey as Kate Bass do a great job in this movie. Jennifer is tan, athletic, and a beautiful tomboy sailor. Matthew Modine appears to fit right in with the ivy-league "good old boys", but in the end chooses his teammates more wisely! "WIND" has some interesting characters and the interactions between characters is interesting. The movie holds the viewer's attention until the end. The scenery is beautiful, the ocean scenes breathtaking and the film quality and colors are rich. The wind catching the sails and hitting Will's and Kate's faces makes the viewer feel like he or she is right there beside them. "WIND" is a "feel good" movie, that makes the viewer feel like a winner when the credits run!