(Richard Donner, US 1992, 114 min., 35mm)
“History is all in the mind of the teller. The truth is all in the telling.” Prior to writing and directing The Sandlot (1993), David Mickey Evans painted a more bittersweet image of nostalgia with his script for Radio Flyer. Mike and Bobby (Elijah Wood and Joseph Mazzello) are young sons of a mother, Mary (Lorraine Bracco), who has left her husband and moved to California. While the move initially seems like a good one, Mary soon finds herself in a relationship with a new man the boys refer to only as “The King.” As The King’s dark side emerges, the boys utilize the power of their imaginations to escape their painful reality, once and for all. The challenges for cinematographer Lászlo Kóvács included balancing the modern day framing story (featuring an uncredited Tom Hanks) with the warm tones of the boys’ youth, all while finding ways to keep The King a faceless, hulking menace.