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Going back home and learning how to live and love family used to be the meat and potatoes of the independent film industry. In the 90′s a movie that explored the chinks that exist in the armor of adult children and their parents could be considered insightful. Now, indies have moved into edgier territory, leaving the few remnants feeling like puffed-up tv movies. Not Happy Tears though.

This is a funny, sweet and strangely silly little comedy about what it means to deal with the fact your family legacy has been shattered to pieces. An even sweeter surprise is that the movie holds a great, centered performance by Demi Moore that is so alive with feeling and so simultaneously guarded, that it registers easily as the best thing she’s ever done.

Moore and Parker Posey play a pair of sisters who find themselves called back to their childhood home in Pittsburgh where their snarling, senile old father (Rip Torn) is slowly dying. As is expected, each daughter has a different emotional relationship with dad; Moore has resentment and disgust towards the old man, and Posey, the younger sister, sees him in a more adventurous, mysterious light.

This is the kind of movie that features scenes of Posey trying to dig up the backyard because it might have dad’s buried treasure in it. That the moment is in the film isn’t as impressive as how it is handled. The plot moves between the two sisters attempts to take care of and understand their dad, who isn’t as keen on their help and hasn’t stopped being the disheveled and less-than-responsible man he’s been for most of their lives.

Ellen Barkin plays his ‘nurse’, who turns out to be nothing even close to a real healthcare professional, although she apparently has been letting Torn play doctor quite a bit. Barkin’s portrayal of her character is surprisingly deep and even-handed considering how farcical most of the other elements are. I’m not sure how all of it goes together, including Posey’s artist husband smearing his own feces on a canvas, but there’s a  light touch employed by Mitchell Lichtensen that sort of hides just how poignant and sincere the movie really is.

I like that about Happy Tears. It draws from honest wells of human emotion. Most of us understand what it feels like to have a disconnect with family members, and as the years pass, we often find ourselves drawn inexorably to them–sometimes its due to sickness or adversity like here– regardless of whether or not we have prepared ourselves for it.

There is plenty of quirkiness on this road to redemption, but it is paved both by good intentions and the hard work of its stars. Again, Moore takes the overbearing, cautious older sister and gives her a spin that is appealing. She is the steady soul of the movie and I can only hope as many people get to see this film as saw Charlie Angels 2. Rip Torn may not even be acting here, but he has a kind of grizzled, majestic lewdness that never fails to add humor. Posey follows Moore’s cues and makes sure she’s playing off of and grating against the older actress whenever she can.

It isn’t the deepest and most profound statement to say that even if your family is a mess, it can be a mess worth sticking around for. The good news is that so is Happy Tears.

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