It's 1972, and Vada Sultenfuss is an 11-year-old girl whose mother has died and whose dad is preoccupied by running a funeral parlor in the basement. She's a hypochondriac who is obsessed with death and tries to find meaning by joining a summer writing class and hanging out with her friend Thomas J. Meanwhile, her dad begins courting a new romance which reopens some old wounds.
I suppose a lot has to do with when you were born and your memories of growing up, but this film arrived at a perfect point in my formative years where it affected me throughout my life. To the point where I can almost transpose my own memories of childhood onto this film. Vada represented everything I looked for in a girl and Anna Chlumsky brings enormous charm and heart to her performance. Even now, I can still remember how I felt watching this as an easily impressionable kid. It doesn't hurt that I also saw myself in Macaulay Culkin at that age. This is a movie with real soul which contemplates some deep truths, especially for a coming-of-age film.
4½ mood rings out of 5
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