Ruby in Paradise

Synopsis

Ruby is the narrator of the film. She leaves Tennessee, landing in Panama City, Florida, a summer resort town she visited as a child. Although she arrives there in fall, at the beginning of the off-season, she gets a job at Chambers Beach Emporium, a souvenir store run by Mildred Chambers, overcoming the owner's initial rejection of her employment application by telling her "I've done retail before, and I work real cheap."

Over the course of a year she keeps a journal (from which the film's narration is taken) and contemplates her career ups and downs, her love life, her past, and her future. Ruby's introspective narration is interspersed with routine scenes at the souvenir store or conversations with her friend Rochelle, or the men she dates, Ricky and Mike.

Cast

Reception and release

The film received positive reception from mainstream critics. After the movie's theatrical run, the film was released on videocassette and laserdisc in 1994 by Republic and that same year in Canada by Cineplex Odeon. In 2008, Alliance Films released the movie on DVD in Canada.

Awards

Together with Public Access it won the 1993 Grand Jury Prize for Drama at the Sundance Film Festival. Roger Ebert picked it as one of his Top Ten Films for the year. Judd's performance earned her the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead. It was nominated for the Grand Prix of the Belgian Syndicate of Cinema Critics.