Shy People

Shy People is a 1987 American drama about two branches of a family that reunite, with tragic results. It stars Barbara Hershey, Jill Clayburgh, and Martha Plimpton. It was directed by Andrei Konchalovsky, written by Konchalovsky, Marjorie David and Gerard Brach, and features music by the German electronic music group Tangerine Dream.
Hershey won the Best Actress award at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival for her performance. It was one of the last movie roles for actor Merritt Butrick, who died from AIDS in 1989. It was filmed by the bayous of South Louisiana.
Plot summary.
Diana Sullivan is a successful Manhattan writer and photojournalist, seemingly oblivious to the serious cocaine addiction that her wild child daughter, Grace, has developed. A commission by "Cosmopolitan" magazine to write an article about a lost branch of Diana's family leads them deep into the bayous of Louisiana, where they encounter Diana's distant cousin, Ruth. Married at 12 to an abusive man whose current whereabouts are an increasingly troubling cipher, Ruth rules over her three adult sons, all less than perfectly cogent, with equal parts protectiveness and ferocity, while a fourth, disowned son adds to the volatility of the situation. As the fascinated Diana and wary Ruth circle one another, Grace, bored and in grip of her addiction, toys with her naive cousins with devastating consequences.
Soundtrack.
Shy People is the thirty-third major release and eleventh soundtrack album by Tangerine Dream. It is the soundtrack to the 1988 movie of the same name.
Personnel.
The movie's actual sound track uses different versions of "Shy People" and "The Harbor" with different sets of lyrics, sung by Michael Bishop.
Cinematography.
"Shy People" was shot by two-time Academy Award-winner Chris Menges, who also worked on "A World Apart", a film for which Barbara Hershey was recognized at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival.
Reception.
Critical response.
"Shy People" has an approval rating of 64% on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 11 reviews, and an average rating of 6.18/10.