I know the 'Mao's Last Dancer' producers spent a great deal of money getting the best person available to make their trailer. Its a good investment but I am not sure what I would have done to change the trailer for 'Get Low'. Suffice to say that I did not want to see the movie. Looking back on it, I am not sure what they COULD have done but once I got there, all was well.
It was one of those times when two people don't have a film in common to see and I went with a suggestion. What I found was a gracious and sensitive film about a painful tragedy playing its poisonous legacy out through a lifetime.
I have to say that I was taken aback by Duvall. His sensitive performance of a real life character 'Felix Bush' is enhanced by the careful direction of Aaron Schneider in his first full length feature film. There are unending ways in which this film could have wandered off track but Schneider keeps his seasoned cast well in line - not always an easy job for anyone.
Bill Cobbs - a riveting addition to the cast, is a theatrical actor whose face and character lend gravitas to this production. Bruce Beresford once told me they used to get Morgan Freeman to mend things on the set of 'Driving Miss Daisy' as he had spent so many years augmenting his income being an odd job man. So has Cobbs but it must do something to the psyche. I loved seeing a new older black actor pulling such weight in a good film.
If you are interested in how plots are drawn in to a conclusion - see this film. Just when you think 'and NOW what?' they do it. With the same sparse elegance they use throughout the movie.
Monday, June 20, 2011
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Blue Skies and Sorrow
Turning up late to see a preview of 'Sunshine and Oranges', I found I could only get a seat a row from the screen. Urged on by a friend, I took it and sat through the movie with the action going on right up my nose so to speak. But I did it and I would do it again.
This is a film you SHOULD see, not only because it will give you insight into a sorrowful time in our history but because you will meet extraordinary actors and the wonderful heroine of this movie.'Should See' usually means boring and didactic but not here. The story is told with such finesse that the unrolling of events comes creeping up on you quietly and stealthily as it does in real life.
Two of the best performances are from Hugo Weaving and David Wenham. They both play walking wounded of the type I have never seen either play before. To see Hugo Weaving as a sun burnt Aussie is a revelation and David Wenham's return to his homeland is about as close as you want to get to sobbing in a theatre. They revolve around English actress Emily Watson who according to director Jim Loach, had been stung by criticism of her portrayal of Jacqueline du Pré and refused to meet Margaret Humphreys, the social worker from Nottingham who uncovered the terrible truth about child migration.
There are few people who can convey passionate integrity without being off putting. Emily Watson does and she has a good model, even if she didn't meet her. Margaret Humphreys was at the screening and she has a sort of Madonna quality - radiant humanity mixed with great good sense.
If you have a piece of music you think of as expressing beauty, then have a look at the faces of the children who were sent over the oceans and try to reconcile yourself to the truth of what happened to them once they got to their destination. Pharaoh in his rage could not have invented anything more awful.
This is a film you SHOULD see, not only because it will give you insight into a sorrowful time in our history but because you will meet extraordinary actors and the wonderful heroine of this movie.'Should See' usually means boring and didactic but not here. The story is told with such finesse that the unrolling of events comes creeping up on you quietly and stealthily as it does in real life.
Two of the best performances are from Hugo Weaving and David Wenham. They both play walking wounded of the type I have never seen either play before. To see Hugo Weaving as a sun burnt Aussie is a revelation and David Wenham's return to his homeland is about as close as you want to get to sobbing in a theatre. They revolve around English actress Emily Watson who according to director Jim Loach, had been stung by criticism of her portrayal of Jacqueline du Pré and refused to meet Margaret Humphreys, the social worker from Nottingham who uncovered the terrible truth about child migration.
There are few people who can convey passionate integrity without being off putting. Emily Watson does and she has a good model, even if she didn't meet her. Margaret Humphreys was at the screening and she has a sort of Madonna quality - radiant humanity mixed with great good sense.
If you have a piece of music you think of as expressing beauty, then have a look at the faces of the children who were sent over the oceans and try to reconcile yourself to the truth of what happened to them once they got to their destination. Pharaoh in his rage could not have invented anything more awful.
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