A Family Thing
1996 · Movie · PG-13 · 109 min · ★ 6.5 · 72% critics
After his mother dies, a man in Arkansas learns a life-changing truth about his family and travels to Chicago to meet relatives he never knew. What begins with anger and distance slowly turns into an uneasy, heartfelt attempt to bridge years of pain, race, and belonging.
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Details
- Years
- 1996
- Release date
- 1996-03-29
- Language
- English
- Rated
- PG-13
- Runtime
- 109 min
- Max quality
- HD
- Critic score
- 72/100
- TMDB rating
- 6.5/10 (75 votes)
About
You may like this if you want a gentle, character-driven family drama with humor and honest tension, especially if Get Low or Smoke Signals worked for you; Not for you if you want a sharper, more hard-hitting take.
Pros: thoughtful racial themes; warm heartfelt moments; strong family dynamics | Cons: predictable story beats; soft on issues; emotions feel simplified
Themes
- letter
- arkansas
- birth
- biracial
- matriarchy
Cast & crew
Robert Duvall
as Earl Pilcher Jr.
James Earl Jones
as Ray Murdock
Michael Beach
as Virgil
Irma P. Hall
as Aunt T.
Grace Zabriskie
as Ruby
Regina Taylor
as Ann
David Keith
as Sonny
Xander Berkeley
as Sunburned Man
Jacqueline Williams
as Woman at Hospital
Mary Jackson
as Carrie
Directed by Richard Pearce