Name this movie?

April 5, 2017 12:26 PM

The story was about two kids, a brother and a sister, who live out in a cabin in the wilderness. Their parents are either dead or missing- so they are fending for themselves out there. I think they try to keep it a secret that they have no parents.
posted by tunewell to Media & Arts (11 answers total)

Could it be Winter's Bone?
posted by showbiz_liz at 12:30 PM on April 5, 2017

Two movies that are not exactly this but might be misremembered as this:

Children of Invention - brother and sister, missing parents, urban setting

Mama - two sisters, dead parents, cabin in the wilderness

Children of Invention is really good and if it's not the movie you're thinking of it's worth a watch anyway. Mama is...not.
posted by phunniemee at 12:31 PM on April 5, 2017

Do you know approximately when you saw it or when it was released?

There was Cold River, back in the 1980s.
posted by bondcliff at 12:32 PM on April 5, 2017

I think Cold River is the answer! Yes, this was in the 80s (was thinking 70s but this is the right one). Sorry I should've added WHEN I saw it. My mistake.

Thanks for the answer!!!
posted by tunewell at 12:52 PM on April 5, 2017

You can watch it on YouTube for a couple bucks, and it begins with a free preview.

Weird that I was just thinking about this movie yesterday. I watched it on HBO as a kid and it always fascinated me. I might have to watch it again.
posted by bondcliff at 1:03 PM on April 5, 2017

Also sounds like Where the Lilies Bloom from 1974. I loved the book.
posted by travertina at 2:59 PM on April 5, 2017

Where the Lilies Bloom is also on YouTube. My aunt Alice Beardsley has a role in it and she remembered it when I visited her a few days ago, which was pretty amazing because she has severe memory issues. But I think that movie has three kids, not two.
posted by mareli at 3:18 PM on April 5, 2017

Oh my. It IS "Where the Lillies Bloom". One look at the cast and look of the film and I realized that THAT is the one I've been thinking about for a long, long time. The "Cold River" movie I did see but was conflating the two.

THANK YOU!
posted by tunewell at 3:24 PM on April 5, 2017

Or maybe it's 4 kids.
posted by mareli at 3:31 PM on April 5, 2017

Also, that's pretty much the plot of the Boxcar Children... except there are four of them...
posted by Nanukthedog at 6:18 PM on April 5, 2017

If you like this type of story in general, Cynthia Voight's Homecoming and the subsequent novels are beautifully written.
posted by padraigin at 8:58 PM on April 5, 2017