OC LIVE : ‘American Quilt’ Ties Together the Stories of Generations of Women

In “How to Make an American Quilt,” a Berkeley grad student (Winona Ryder) torn between two lovers learns what really matters in a relationship from hearing the life stories of other women gathered to sew a quilt at her grandmother’s house. (Rated PG-13)

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Judging by the experiences of the multi-generational quilters in “How to Make an American Quilt,” love can be a pretty dismal thing. For women.

Master quilter Anna (Maya Angelou) has limited her love to the daughter conceived in a one-night stand. One woman was left by her husband after her dreams dissolved in domesticity; another woman has suffered a lifetime of humiliation married to the town Lothario.

Observing it all, 26-year-old Finn (Ryder), has lived through her parents’ divorce and listened to her grandmother Hy (Ellen Burstyn) and great aunt Glady Joe (Ann Bancroft) bicker about Hy’s single indiscretion with Glady Joe’s husband.

It is the sort of historical romance we women love, the sort of high-class talk show of which, from adolescence on, we can’t seem to get enough.

“It’s the sort of movie you go to see with your friends,” explained Katie Gallagher, 16, of Costa Mesa. She came with Mater Dei classmates Jessica Aitken, 16, of Corona del Mar, and Jennifer Owens, 16, of Cypress.

“Or, it would be a good mother-daughter movie. I’d go see it again with my mom. Or with my grandmother too,” Katie said.

Her friends agreed, saying they were surprised the movie elicited lukewarm reviews. “It was really, really good,” Jessica said. “It made me cry,” Jennifer said.

“Quilt” reminded the girls of “The Joy Luck Club” because both films used flashbacks to interweave the stories of several generations of women. “I liked the way it was constructed and stuff, the way they went back in time and showed their past,” Jessica said.

Jennifer had a specific reason for wanting to see the movie--actor Jared Leto, who played hunky heartthrob Jordan Catalano in the now defunct television series “My So-Called Life.” In the film, he appeared only briefly, seducing the young Anna. It wasn’t enough for Jennifer, but Finn’s suitors--Dermot Mulroney as Sam, the salt-of-the-earth carpenter, and Johnathon Schaech as Leon, the sexy stallion--almost made up for it.

In stories awash in symbolism, the women try to guide Finn to the realization that there is no perfect relationship, that after all is said and done, love is what you can artistically patch together with the pieces you’re given over time.

To Jessica, it seemed to be saying, “Sometimes when you’re young in life, you have to take a chance, and when you’re older, you can look back and think about all the stuff you did. When you’re young, you might not have time to think about it, you just go out and do it.”

Like Finn, the three friends were not discouraged by the women’s stories of flaky men. “I don’t think it’s depressing,” Katie said. “I just think it’s who you pick.”

In that way, Jennifer said, she thought the movie was unrealistic. She said, “I may be naive, but I still think there are good people out there.”