Paradise

Paradise is a 1991 drama about a ten-year-old boy sent to spend the summer with family friends in a small Florida fishing village. Willard arrives at the home of Ben and Lily Reed, a couple still reeling from the death of their only child, and their grief has left them distant from each other. As the weeks pass, Willard forms a friendship with Billie, a precocious neighborhood girl, and the two children become a quiet presence in the troubled household, eventually pushing Ben and Lily toward confronting what has come between them.

The film was directed by Mary Agnes Donoghue, who also wrote the screenplay. It was her first feature as director, and she did not direct another until Jenny's Wedding in 2015. Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson play Lily and Ben, with Elijah Wood as Willard and Thora Birch as Billie. The supporting cast includes Sheila McCarthy and Eve Gordon.

Made for a budget of about 34 million dollars, the film took in roughly 19 million worldwide, a return well short of its cost. On IMDb it holds a rating of 6.7 from about 3,400 votes, while on TMDB it sits at 6.2 from far fewer votes. A critics' rating of 4.2 from a small number of reviews places it below the audience scores.