The Cake Eaters
Encyclopedia
The Cake Eaters is a 2007 American independent drama film
about two small town families who must confront old issues with the return of one family's son. The film was directed by Mary Stuart Masterson
and stars Kristen Stewart
, Aaron Stanford
, Bruce Dern
, and Jayce Bartok
. Kristen Stewart is featured as Georgia, a young girl with Friedreich's Ataxia
, a rare disease for which there is currently no cure.
Upon Guy's return home, relationships between the characters begin to unravel: Beagle's pent up emotions connect with Georgia Kaminski, a terminally ill teenage girl wanting to experience love before it is too late; Easy's long-time affair with Marg, Georgia's eccentric grandmother, is finally exposed to the Kimbrough children; and Guy discovers that, in his absence, his high school sweetheart, Stephanie, has moved on and started a family of her own. Through it all, the Kimbroughs and Kaminskis manage to establish a new beginning in the face of their greatest fears.
In spite of the title, there is no reference in the movie to the eating of cakes.
in 2007, Jayce Bartok, the movie's screenwriter, was asked about the title's meaning. Bartok is quoted as saying, "The Cake Eaters is a term I grew up with in Pennsylvania. My mom used to use it to describe those who had it made, had their lives mapped out for them, were the most likely to succeed… 'The Cake Eaters.' I thought it was an interesting metaphor for this group of misfits who begin the story searching and longing for love, trying to overcome grief, and through the course of the story… find their 'cake.' They find some love, happiness, peace…."
on April 29, 2007, and made the rounds of the independent film
circuit, premiering at various film festivals such as Woodstock Film Festival, Lone Star International Film Festival, Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival, et al. It was eventually given a very limited theatrical release on March 13, 2009, and debuted on DVD on March 24, 2009.
. Roger Ebert
of the Chicago Sun-Times
, who gave it three out of four stars, praised Masterson for a good debut. Stephen Holden
of The New York Times
called it a "small, overcrowded ensemble piece" that is "elevated" by "superior acting" into "something deeper". Other critics, such as Rex Reed of the New York Observer
, Bill Goodykoontz of the Arizona Republic, and V.A. Musetto of the New York Post
, also gave favorable reviews, with Musetto, in particular, lamenting the fact that it had taken two years for the film to be released theatrically.
Not all reception was positive however, with Erin Trahan of the Boston Globe, Gary Goldstein of Los Angeles Times
, and Aaron Hillis of Village Voice, among others, giving it negative reviews. Goldstein, in particular, was sharply critical of what he described as "a bland ensemble drama with an unremarkable script."
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
about two small town families who must confront old issues with the return of one family's son. The film was directed by Mary Stuart Masterson
Mary Stuart Masterson
Mary Stuart Masterson is an American film, stage and television actress and director.-Early life:Masterson was born in New York City to writer/director Peter Masterson and actress Carlin Glynn. She has two siblings: Peter Masterson Jr., and Alexandra Masterson, who are both involved in the...
and stars Kristen Stewart
Kristen Stewart
Kristen Jaymes Stewart is an American actress. She is best known for playing Bella Swan in The Twilight Saga. She has also starred in films including Panic Room , Zathura , In the Land of Women , The Messengers , Adventureland and The Runaways .- Early life :Stewart was born and raised in Los...
, Aaron Stanford
Aaron Stanford
Aaron Stanford is an American actor, best known for his role as Pyro in X2 and X-Men: The Last Stand films, and Doug Bukowski in the 2006 The Hills Have Eyes remake....
, Bruce Dern
Bruce Dern
Bruce MacLeish Dern is an American film actor. He also appeared as a guest star in numerous television shows. He frequently takes roles as a character actor, often playing unstable and villainous characters...
, and Jayce Bartok
Jayce Bartok
Jayce Bartok is an American actor. A young leading man with TV and film experience, Bartok had his best chance to date as Pony, the rock star who returns to his home town where his pals are waiting in Richard Linklater's subUrbia . He wrote, directed and produced the short film Stricken in 2005...
. Kristen Stewart is featured as Georgia, a young girl with Friedreich's Ataxia
Friedreich's ataxia
Friedreich's ataxia is an inherited disease that causes progressive damage to the nervous system, resulting in symptoms ranging from gait disturbance to speech problems; it can also lead to heart disease and diabetes....
, a rare disease for which there is currently no cure.
Plot
The Cake Eaters is a small-town, ensemble drama that explores the lives of two interconnected families coming to terms with love in the face of loss. Living in rural America, The Kimbrough family is an odd bunch: Easy, the patriarch and local butcher, is grieving over the recent loss of his wife, Ceci, while hiding a secret ongoing affair for years; Beagle, his youngest son who was left to care for his ailing mother, works in the local high school cafeteria by day but has a burning passion inside that manifests itself through painting street signs; and the eldest son, Guy, has been away from the family for years while pursuing his rock star dream in the big city until the day he learns of his mother's passing and that he has missed the funeral.Upon Guy's return home, relationships between the characters begin to unravel: Beagle's pent up emotions connect with Georgia Kaminski, a terminally ill teenage girl wanting to experience love before it is too late; Easy's long-time affair with Marg, Georgia's eccentric grandmother, is finally exposed to the Kimbrough children; and Guy discovers that, in his absence, his high school sweetheart, Stephanie, has moved on and started a family of her own. Through it all, the Kimbroughs and Kaminskis manage to establish a new beginning in the face of their greatest fears.
In spite of the title, there is no reference in the movie to the eating of cakes.
Meaning of title
In an interview at The Austin Film FestivalAustin Film Festival
The Austin Film Festival was started in 1994 in Austin, Texas and is claimed to be "the first organization of its kind to focus on the writer’s unique creative contribution to the film and television industries"...
in 2007, Jayce Bartok, the movie's screenwriter, was asked about the title's meaning. Bartok is quoted as saying, "The Cake Eaters is a term I grew up with in Pennsylvania. My mom used to use it to describe those who had it made, had their lives mapped out for them, were the most likely to succeed… 'The Cake Eaters.' I thought it was an interesting metaphor for this group of misfits who begin the story searching and longing for love, trying to overcome grief, and through the course of the story… find their 'cake.' They find some love, happiness, peace…."
Cast
- Kristen StewartKristen StewartKristen Jaymes Stewart is an American actress. She is best known for playing Bella Swan in The Twilight Saga. She has also starred in films including Panic Room , Zathura , In the Land of Women , The Messengers , Adventureland and The Runaways .- Early life :Stewart was born and raised in Los...
as Georgia Kaminski - Aaron StanfordAaron StanfordAaron Stanford is an American actor, best known for his role as Pyro in X2 and X-Men: The Last Stand films, and Doug Bukowski in the 2006 The Hills Have Eyes remake....
as Beagle - Bruce DernBruce DernBruce MacLeish Dern is an American film actor. He also appeared as a guest star in numerous television shows. He frequently takes roles as a character actor, often playing unstable and villainous characters...
as Easy - Elizabeth AshleyElizabeth AshleyElizabeth Ashley is an American actress who first came to prominence as the ingenue in the Broadway play Take Her, She's Mine, which earned her a Tony Award as Best Featured Actress in a Play.-Early life:...
as Marg - Melissa LeoMelissa LeoMelissa Chessington Leo , is an American actress. After appearing on several television shows and films in the late '80s, her breakthrough role came in 1993 as Det. Sgt. Kay Howard on the television series Homicide: Life on the Street for the show's first five seasons from 1993 – 1997...
as Ceci - Miriam ShorMiriam ShorMiriam Shor is an American film, stage, and television actress.-Early life:Shor was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She is Jewish on her father's side, and speaks fluent Yiddish as well as Italian. Her parents divorced when she was 7, and she alternated between living in Turin, Italy , and...
as Stephanie
Release
The Cake Eaters opened at the Tribeca Film FestivalTribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Film Festival is a film festival founded in 2002 by Jane Rosenthal, Robert De Niro and Craig Hatkoff in a response to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the consequent loss of vitality in the TriBeCa neighborhood in Lower Manhattan.The mission of the festival...
on April 29, 2007, and made the rounds of the independent film
Independent film
An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...
circuit, premiering at various film festivals such as Woodstock Film Festival, Lone Star International Film Festival, Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival, et al. It was eventually given a very limited theatrical release on March 13, 2009, and debuted on DVD on March 24, 2009.
Critical reception
The Cake Eaters currently holds a "fresh" rating of 68% at Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
. Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
of the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
, who gave it three out of four stars, praised Masterson for a good debut. Stephen Holden
Stephen Holden
Stephen Holden is an American writer, music critic, film critic, and poet.Holden earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Yale University in 1963...
of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
called it a "small, overcrowded ensemble piece" that is "elevated" by "superior acting" into "something deeper". Other critics, such as Rex Reed of the New York Observer
New York Observer
The New York Observer is a weekly newspaper first published in New York City on September 22, 1987, by Arthur L. Carter, a very successful former investment banker with publishing interests. The Observer focuses on the city's culture, real estate, the media, politics and the entertainment and...
, Bill Goodykoontz of the Arizona Republic, and V.A. Musetto of the New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
, also gave favorable reviews, with Musetto, in particular, lamenting the fact that it had taken two years for the film to be released theatrically.
Not all reception was positive however, with Erin Trahan of the Boston Globe, Gary Goldstein of Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
, and Aaron Hillis of Village Voice, among others, giving it negative reviews. Goldstein, in particular, was sharply critical of what he described as "a bland ensemble drama with an unremarkable script."
Awards
- People's Choice Award for Best American Indie Film - 2007 Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival
- Audience Award for a Dramatic Feature - 2008 Ashland Independent Film FestivalAshland Independent Film FestivalThe Ashland Independent Film Festival is a film festival in Ashland, Oregon, United States that has been presented by the non-profit Southern Oregon Film Society since 2001. Founded by D.W. and Steve Wood, the festival is held each spring over five days at the Varsity Theatre in downtown Ashland...
- Discovery Award - 2008 Sedona International Film Festival
- Best Feature - 2008 Stony Brook Film FestivalStony Brook Film FestivalThe Stony Brook Film Festival, produced by Staller Center for the Arts at Stony Brook University, presents a program of new, independent films every summer since 1996. Features and short films from the U.S. and around the world are screened over ten days at Staller Center, which has been the venue...