A Home at the End of the World, directed by Michael Mayer, is a tale about the tensions involved in love triangles and the ambiguous meaning of the concept of "family." When the film begins, in Cleveland during 1967, nine-year-old Bobby Morrow (played by Andrew Chalmers) witnesses his older hippie brother Carlton (played by Ryan Donowho) having sex with a girl, who then sneaks out the bedroom window. Bobby then cozies up to Carlton in the same bed. Later, they retreat to a nearby cemetery for a swig of alcohol. But at a party Carlton runs into a glass door that formerly had been open, and he dies from the resulting cut to the carotid artery. Seven years later, Bobby (now played by Erik Smith) is an attractive high school student; he befriends Jonathan Glover (played by Harris Allan), a repressed nerd, by offering him a joint. Soon, the two are buddies, enjoy sex together, and Bobby sleeps over at Jonathan's house, as Bobby's only living parent is his somnolent father Burt (played by Ron Lea). On one occasion, Jonathan's mother Alice (played by Sissy Spacek) catches them sharing a joint, whereupon Bobby offers her a hit, and Alice accepts the offer. Later, Alice catches the two boys with their pants down. That night, she cannot sleep because of the incident. When Bobby gets up during the night to get a drink of water, she is making a pie. Through her mentoring, Bobby learns how to bake. Then, while Jonathan goes to New York University, Bobby remains in Cleveland becomes a proprietor (now played by Colin Farrell) of a successful bakery. One day in 1982, however, his father dies; as he later admits, he cannot abide living alone. Jonathan's parents take Bobby in. But when they retire to Phoenix, Bobby decides to move to New York, where Jonathan (now played by Dallas Roberts) offers accommodation. Jonathan, now an openly gay advertising agency professional, has been living with a flamboyant roommate, Clare (played by Robin Wright Penn), who makes stylish hats for liberated women (hat-bedecked Congresswoman Bella Abzug was then popular). In time, there is so much chemistry between the free-spirited Bobby and bohemian Clare that one day she begins to take off his clothes. Although Bobby admits that he is a virgin, he enjoys the experience. Eventually feeling excluded, Jonathan decides to go to Arizona to visit his parents, but Bobby and Clare fly there in order to resolve Jonathan's diffidence. Then Clare announces that she is pregnant, so her two boyfriends decide that a child should not grow up in the city. Using Clare's inheritance, they buy and fix up a country home in Woodstock. However, Jonathan is still deeply in love with Bobby. A ménage à trois is acceptable to bisexual Bobby, but not to the other two. The tension is resolved at the end of the film, though filmviewers will doubtless prefer a sequel to the "they lived happily ever after" ending, as Jonathan shares his fear that he has developed Karposi's sarcoma (an unlikely possibility, as he has exhibited no prior HIV symptoms in the film) with Bobby. Those who seek closure on what is left up in the air by the abrupt conclusion can always read the 1990 novel, by Michael Cunningham, on which the film is based. MH
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