Flying Lessons (2010)

A Complex Interplay of Damaged Characters
It is not evident why this film, released in 2010, did not attract more attention. In many ways it is a tough little story that takes audience concentration throughout to make it all fit together, but the impact of the messages it delivers make it one of the more impressive films of the decade!

The film opens with down on her luck Sophie Conway (Maggie Grace) stumbling through a drug and alcohol addled existence in Los Angeles, her life in shambles as she has sex on a bus with stranger Benji (Rick Gonzalez). With her life at a crossroads, the 25 year old Sophie returns home to the small town of Lompoc (a little town in Santa Barbara County) she always wanted to forget. Once home, she is faced with the friends - Mila (Nikki Deloach) - and lovers - Billy (Jonathan Tucker) - she left behind, a tangled relationship with her Mother (Christine Lahti) and her married paramour Steven (Cary Elwes), and Harry Pleasant (Hal Holbrook), an Alzheimer's Disease patient who, in an opposing...

A Complex Interplay of Damaged Characters
It is not evident why this film, released in 2010, did not attract more attention. In many ways it is a tough little story that takes audience concentration throughout to make it all fit together, but the impact of the messages it delivers make it one of the more impressive films of the decade!

The film opens with down on her luck Sophie Conway (Maggie Grace) stumbling through a drug and alcohol addled existence in Los Angeles, her life in shambles as she has sex on a bus with stranger Benji (Rick Gonzalez). With her life at a crossroads, the 25 year old Sophie returns home to the small town of Lompoc (a little town in Santa Barbara County) she always wanted to forget. Once home, she is faced with the friends - Mila (Nikki Deloach) - and lovers - Billy (Jonathan Tucker) - she left behind, a tangled relationship with her Mother (Christine Lahti) and her married paramour Steven (Cary Elwes), and Harry Pleasant (Hal Holbrook), an Alzheimer's Disease patient who, in an opposing...

Surprise
Nothing really about flying, but a well rounded story, very good acting. It's good to see somebody going down hill to pick herself up and do good.

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