A Good Baby (1999)

A Good Baby starts out with at least one strike against it -- that unfortunate title, which feels especially dopey when the movie initially plays like a "boy finds a lost dog" family movie. In fact, as Henry Thomas carries around an infant he finds in the North Carolina woods, asking one townsperson after another if they'll take her in, even viewers totally ignorant of missing persons protocol will be screaming "Haven't you ever heard of a little place called Child Protective Services?" That's not to say the title isn't accurate; as the baby in question cries only in the arms of the villain, her behavior is downright divine. A Good Baby develops at a pace that's somewhere between methodical and glacial, but once a viewer falls into step with its slower rhythms, there's unexpected darkness and grit to this story of backwoods sin and redemption. Such informal adoption procedures may really be part of this insular world, and its freedom from structure tends to give extra power to the sinister salesman who threatens to infiltrate it. Subtly and without fanfare, writer-director Katherine Dieckmann has created a believable community of small-scale lives, mostly through hints and sly details. The movie doesn't have quite enough oomph to be downright absorbing, but steadily walking in these characters' shoes eventually invests the viewer in their successes and failures. Thomas and David Strathairn are both fine and understated, their performances deepening the mood established by Dieckmann. Even better in that regard is David Mansfield's score, its mournful strains of Appalachian fiddle creating a sense of earthy sadness. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide