the audience applauded

Brilliant and touching

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

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

We saw this at home on DVD from our public library. It has a rather low IMDb average rating and, judging from some of the comments, it seems many just didn't get the gist of the story. It is based on a 1943 novel "The Human Comedy" by William Saroyan, and is considered somewhat autobiographical, a boy growing up fatherless. The characters and some references are aligned with Homer's 'Odyssey'. Set in 1942, it is at its core a coming-of-age story of the 14-yr- old boy whose father has died and older brother is fighting overseas in WW2.The two big names are Meg Ryan, who directs, and Tom Hanks, who is an executive producer. They are the mom and dad here but their roles are so small they could have been played by any actors. Meg Ryan's son, Jack Quaid, plays the brother off to war.The central character is Alex Neustaedter as Homer Macauley. He is 14, still idealistic about life, and gets a job as a messenger for the town telegram business, using a bicycle to pick up and deliver. It is through this job he begins to learn about real life.The old telegraph operator who drinks too much and tells Homer to splash cold water on his face if he finds him sleeping at the desk. Or the delivery to the house of prostitution. Or the telegrams to the townspeople from the War Department, announcing the death of a son. And a number of other things.Regarding action there isn't a lot that happens, but it is all happening to Homer, waking him up to the real world, molding his journey into young adulthood. Good movie. Actually filmed in Virginia.

Based on the William Saroyan novel "The Human Comedy," "Ithaca" attempts to put a human face on the tragedy of war. The main character is named Homer, which is derived from the bard who sang the praises of the war heroes who fell at Troy. In this twentieth-century adaptation, Homer is a telegram delivery boy who shows up on the doorsteps of the mothers to inform them of their sons' deaths in World War II.The setting is Ithaca, New York, which bears no resemblance to the ancient Greece citadel that was home to Ulysses (Odysseus). The filmmakers' concept has been to create a Norman Rockwell-like atmosphere for the small town.The best performance in the film is that of Alex Neustaedter, who races around town to deliver the tragic news of the war dead. Unfortunately, the film never fleshed out the characters, so that the audience may empathize them. The main problem was the over-emphasis on the narrator's voice at the expense of the words of the characters themselves.While the scenery and location filming (in Virginia, not New York) was beautiful, "Ithaca" never confronted the contradictions of World War II as "the good war," yet one that left a vacuum in lives that could never be filled.

It is good to see that there is movies made not for sale. Movies that bring some meaning and help to think. My English is poor so I cant good express myself, but I hope main point is clear. This movie will make you think,will leave something after to think about. And it is much deeper that it looks at the first time. War is big problem, and it is still actual , right now there is so many fights, pain, destroyed families, and people avoid to think about it. It is not fun, it is not comfortable, it is better pretend that its not exist. Thats why I think this kind of films will make word a bit better. Thanks to everyone who invested to this film.

I have to write a review on this film as I watched it not knowing anything about the book nor the director. I felt the essence of this film plus the heartbreak of WW2 from start to finish. I also thought the acting was superb. I would of liked to have known how exactly the father had died but all in all the film still kept my interest and my heart sank just enough at the end for the film to linger in my thoughts for a while afterwards. To then find out that Meg Ryan had in fact directed it made me wonder if she, just like Angelina would be dragged through the coals and unfortunately I was correct. What does a woman have to do in this day and age to prove her worth as a director? Anyway I think the IMDb rating, in time, will do just that. Well done Meg!