Each month, one of our writers will be sharing movies that were set and/or shot near where they have lived as a personal lens into these films…

by Audrey Callerstrom, Staff Writer

In 1992 (or thereabouts), I saw that they were filming a movie outside the Riverview Theater, the second-run neighborhood theater a block from my house. The working title of the film was Baboon Heart. The marquee had the name of a fake movie on it. The film was to be set in winter (it was summer), and they used a fake snow machine. I tried to get close enough to see if I could see any movie stars. I fantasized about being plucked from obscurity and asked to be in the film, because, you know, that could happen. What did I know, I was nine. When the film came out (and later came to the Riverview) I could point to the scene they filmed near my house and be like:

But the theater scene was cut from the film.

The film was released in 1993 as Untamed Heart. In the ‘90s, Minnesota was a hot spot filming location, presumably because of tax breaks, and in spite of the fact that it’s cold here most of the time, either dangerously so or just annoyingly so. Kids films like The Mighty Ducks and Jingle All The Way were filmed here. I sent in snapshots of myself with Clairol-dyed hair and braces to be an extra in Jingle All The Way (I did not receive a call). Most of Mallrats was filmed inside the Eden Prairie mall, a suburb outside Minneapolis. Grumpy Old Men was filmed in some southern Minnesota towns.

Untamed Heart was filmed in what I called “Minneapolis proper.” You know how people try to claim that they live in the city, but you see their address and picture their neighborhood and you’re like, honey no, that’s not the city. Untamed Heart was filmed in Minneapolis proper, northeast Minneapolis to be exact. It opens with flashbacks of a young boy named Adam, who lives in an orphanage and has a heart defect. Cut to the present day, where Caroline (Marisa Tomei), a woman in her early 20s who lives at home, is furiously getting ready for a date to the ubiquitous early ‘90s song Tom’s Diner by Suzanne Vega.

Caroline goes to work at Jim’s Coffee and Bakery where she works with her best friend Cindy (Rosie Perez). Inside is a ‘50s style diner, complete with a jukebox and cigarette machine. Caroline works with a mysterious, quiet busboy, the grown and hunky Adam (Christina Slater). Tomei excels at playing these kind, working class characters. You could never cast her as a villain. Her warm smile says “I’m genuinely happy to see you.” Caroline and Adam share an intimate moment in the back of Jim’s as she tends to one of his wounds.

Untamed Heart was the first time I had seen a rape scene in a film. It happens when Caroline leaves work and is harassed by two men (Willie Garson and Kyle Secor) who were at the cafe earlier.

Caroline is saved by Adam, who beats up the men while Caroline is knocked unconscious. She wakes up, still in her work uniform, to Adam watching her. She finds out later that he follows her home each night to make sure she’s OK. He also admits to watching her sleep in her room unnoticed. So some things about this film may not have aged so well. Although he does, somehow, assemble a real Christmas tree in her room for her while she is asleep, which is a sweet gesture if not an impossible and noisy one.

Caroline falls for the quiet and reserved Adam. She holds him and whispers in his ear, “I’m going to fall in love with you. You don’t have to love me back.” Aww. Tomei is the reason why this film works. As Caroline, she is sweet and vulnerable. Meanwhile, Slater’s acting is limited to blank stares and hunching. The only time he cracks a smile is when he catches the puck at a North Stars game (a team we no longer have).

Untamed Heart was directed by Tony Bill and adapted from a screenplay by Tom Sierchio, neither of whom appears to have lived in Minnesota, which surprised me. Cindy comments about someone who bought a house “up by the North Shore” (a popular vacation spot by Lake Superior), Caroline’s step dad drives the bus route between Minneapolis and St. Paul. The knowledge seems personal to locals. You don’t travel into Minneapolis from Hollywood and know what Frogtown is without really looking into the Twin Cities first.

But Caroline and Adam have chemistry, because Tomei sells it. We know that Caroline is good, and that Adam makes her happy, and we want to see Caroline happy, so by association, we care about Adam.

Untamed Heart also avoids the labored plotline in most romance films, where the couple are pushed apart and then back together. It doesn’t unnecessarily involve Caroline’s parents (who are seen and not heard), and Caroline’s friends don’t try to push them apart. A better supporting performance to match the ingenuity that Tomei brings to Caroline might have made this a classic romance, but it’s still a sweet, Christmas-set film.