Boone Style (2005)

Nestled in the muggy hot, late summer setting of Des Moines, Iowa lives a family like any other. A family like yours or mine. That is if your family includes an overbearing mother, detached father, combative grandparents, a vegan aunt and uncle with matching outfits and pets for children, a control freak, an obsessive-compulsive, possibly an alcoholic or two. If not, then the Boone family is not like yours, and BOONE STYLE, the story of a typical, semi-dysfunctional, Midwestern, family reunion, will be a reminder to keep things that way. The leader of the Boone's is our narrator, an imaginative, eight-year-old girl named Ruby, who's day-long mission, is to negotiate delicate affairs, dissolve explosive occurrences, and offer balance to the family unit. Through her eyes, we gain insight into an unusual, yet hauntingly familiar environment. We observe the conflicts that exist between the children's and the adult's worlds, not to mention the animals. We witness a cheerful day of harmony quickly destabilize, as Ruby exposes her loved ones quirks and weaknesses, coercing acknowledgment and responsibility of their choices and actions, as well as their effects and repercussions on the whole. Disagreements become personal as family members go into offensive and defensive maneuvers. Hope and devotion are strained and weathered as the Boone's tackle issues of the heart, ranging from relationships to pregnancy, to fear and control. As the day unfolds, Ruby's journey of charity and discover becomes one of acceptance and triumph, as confrontation among the clan brings forth truth and admission, tolerance and forgiveness, and reveals a fresh, new world where pride and trust reside.