Black and White

I first saw the trailer for 'The Help' waiting for another movie to start... of course. It immediately woke me up to the sixties again and the incredible neatness and weirdness of that world. Who would have thought you could 'back comb' your hair to a 'bee hive', spray it into submission and walk around like that?

Well, here it is again. Not as bouncy as 'Happy Days' but initially, clean cut and orderly and round and about this sanitised post war dream, The Help moves silently, cleaning and correcting the mess left by their employers. Heaven help them.

The idle wives of busy men 'gang aft awry' and this lot do. What could you expect from women who were cossetted and protected with little to do but invent the sins of others and the inadequacies of their own lives?

The highlights of this for me were the wonderful black cast and the 'outlaw' white women. Viola Davis as Aibileen Clark and Octavia Spencer as Minny Jackson play the two main black characters and they are beyond compare. Jessica Chastain as Celia Foote was a standout. Cicely Tyson as Constantine Bates plucked at the heartstrings as the older black woman but it saddened me to see her aging - I have missed out on her work for all those intervening years.

You get a glimpse of the mad underwear in another of Allison Janney's great performances as Charlotte Phelan, the heroine's mother. And yes, we did wear those ridiculous but strangely comforting undergarments.

Director Tate Taylor really does bring back that time and thank God we have the actors to bring it ALL back, in black and white.

Cloud High

There is of course one leading lady in Jane Eyre and Oh boy, does she do just that. Mia Wasikowska is a young Australian who began her acting career after an initial ballet fascination waned.

When she first appears, it seems as if this creature from the New World has been an inhabitant of the old for centuries. Her face is very like Vermeer's 'Girl with a Pearl Earring' or any number of classic female portraits from another era. After a while you realise the casting director and director Cary Fukunaga have chosen all their actors with this delicacy and precision.

The voice of Charlotte Brontë longing for broader horizons, for potency, money and love is very clear and all these thoughts flying through Jane's mind are writ large as they emerge in the seemingly effortless performance.

The camera work, music, costuming and makeup are also superb but in case you are tempted to wallow in the luxury of it, beware. Take care not to miss the dialogue...the scene where Jane jousts with her employer for the first time, her yearning for the wide world near a great mullioned window, her declaration of full sensibility in the face of Rochester's teasing arrogance.

It is every young girls dream and the gaggle of young women I saw it with could barely contain themselves so tightly is the sexuality wound but it also holds the dream of fulfilment and that is never out of date.

HerStory

We have a lot to be grateful to Robert Redford for. In setting up Sundance Film Festival, he gave Indie movies a launching point in America which set a fire under the audience that first watched 'Shine'. It led to world wide success and an Oscar for Geoffrey Rush.

'The Conspirator' has the most come hither poster with its title over the poignant face of Abraham Lincoln. It opens with his shooting and the labyrinthine events that lead to the capture and conviction of some of the plotters as well as the trial of the only woman thought to be involved - Mary Surrat played by Robin Wright.

This actress has the sort of sombre appearance we would like to think The Founding Mothers had but her performance is graced by a sort of physical and spiritual loveliness that is hard to describe. Suffice to say that she is beguiling for every minute she has on screen. And if you think for a moment that is her persona, just look her up on wikipedia.

Redford has used a variety of UK actors including James McAvoy as Mary's attorney and Tom Wilkinson as his employer. It's a fine cast which is enhanced by the sets and costuming. I am not sure why the fashions of 1864 were so repulsive but the hoop skirt and greasy looking looped hair are beautifully reproduced.

The landscapes of the time are also breathtaking but if you think Redford thinks this film is just history, think again.

Now and Again

After the phenomenal numbers that watched 'Downton Abbey' it was wonderful to see a new Julian Fellowes work, 'From Time to Time' come on at my local. He has adapted and directed this WW2 ghost story but, as my father dryly pointed out, its territory that has been gone over before and to great effect.

Of course, in such hands it doesn't let you down. The stunning cast includes Maggie Smith and Hugh Bonneville but most importantly for me, the wonderful Alex Etel, of 'Cranford' fame. Older and taller now but with all the leading man appeal he showed as a very young boy.

The movie is full of well known English actors all directed with great delicacy. The sudden appearance of the visitors from another world is quite shocking after Fellowes has lulled us in to a cup of tea and cardigan mood.

There is a real twist in the telling of this tale and several scenes of such beauty that I had to stop myself snivelling. This is a water proof mascara movie but take the kiddies.

Keeping it Premium

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.

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.

St Trinian's Strings

Last night I dreamt I went to school again. Not a very good idea at the best of times but it is one of the fascinations of this beautiful documentary that you can compare schoolgirls now and then. There is probably not much to choose between us but it did surprise me how unkempt 'Mrs Carey's' lot were considering the amount of money their parents must be paying and the loving attention of the teachers.

Not that we cared a jot for loving attention. We were rude and arrogant and short on sympathy as some of these students are... but not all. I had a few moments when I wanted to jump into the film and tell some to listen, LISTEN because you may not get another chance...'Carpe Diem'. Its not necessary because the film will say it for me and it is incisive in its observation. It is a constant surprise how many people forget that a camera is on them and oh what material it provides for us.

You get to know the wonderful Mrs Carey and see her discussions of the students and various crises as they appear. You get to love her as her face is literally illuminated with joy as she sits under the stage at the Opera House listening to her concert.

And you do draw close to the fabulously talented students. Out of the work of babes come sounds you would be pleased to pay folding money for anywhere in the world.

Watch for Mrs Carey as she approaches her performance and the worst miss hap that can befall a performer happens to her. Then be amazed. Be very amazed.

The Lady Vanishes / Classics

I saw this film in boarding school, projected on to a canvas screen decades after it was made. It had me from the title and still does. Looking at it now with its evocative music and astonishing opening scene shot in what appears to be Lilliput but is in effect an 'aerial' shot of a model village...and a pretty creaky one at that, I feel again the sense of pride and anticipation I always feel at the opening credits.

Set in a fictional European country with Gobbledegook language, its only problem is a brittle and high powered romance between the two leading characters which is dated but the extraordinary pre War moral convictions are fascinating. For years I thought it was shot during the War but this is 1938 Europe and nothing is ever going to be the same again.

Hitchcock is at his best here and you will see Googie Withers as a vivacious friend of the bride before the real intrigue begins and the hair on the back of your neck starts to prickle. And if you think the film is too neatly divided into popular opinions of the War represented by various figures, remember that this was a year before the actual fighting began and no one had any idea what the outcome would be.

Dame May Witty plays 'The Lady'and I will introduces her only as an elderly woman on her way home to England. She proves to be a person of unimagined resourses. I grew up with women who had done dangerous and strenuous work during World War 11 who wore their accomplishments with the same everyday good humour that Dame May Witty does in this surprising portait. Oh tell me if there would ever be a film written about intrigue and physical courage today - with a stout elderly woman at its core?

Living Large

Gérard Depardieu is one of my favourite actors and I always thought it was because he was so attractive. Well, he is but there is a lot more of him than there was in say 'Cyrano de Bergerac', and still he shines. For one thing, he allows his ample person to be put into overalls which for a large man is a bit of a sretch. Another thing...he fills the screen. He is on for the entire movie and he never fails.

With him is fabulous prime age star Gisèle Casadesus who is charm itself. Delicate and restrained she tiptoes into his life with the precision of a cat. Talking of which this film has the best cat acting I have ever seen. Depardieu has a two hander with this feline and they work well together. Its' tail is suspiciously whipping about with annoyance but it does what is needed. Merde, is nothing impossible for french filmmakers?

I must say that Camus' prose left me unimpressed when it is received with such
rapture by Depardieu. Later when they pass on to 'Howling at your mother's grave' I am right with them.

This is a film for families, baby boomers and men who don't have time for older women. If you would like to see how beautiful french women, I mean typical french women can be, give this a go. Depardieu's mother, lover and old friend are all gorgeous including the barmaid. The men less so but of course the animal acting is superb. Especially the rats. And if you have a man you wish you had treated more harshly, comfort yourself with the mothers' reaction when her light'o love slaps Gérard. Then put down that pitchfork and say OMMMMMMM to yourself.

Elizabeth the Great

Well, she's gone. She had been ill so long that we were used to hearing almost weekly about her trials but she seemed immortal and I will miss her. In the last years of her life she did not present a great or a very admirable figure but the sum of her achievements is huge.

Many images of her near perfection bombarded us through the sixties and seventies. Her private life, fabulous jewels and love affairs filled magazines and she seemed preened for the most casual interviews in the manner of royalty, as Sophia Loren often was. It was beguiling and heady to watch and of course she was, as Paul Newman put it "a practicing voluptuary." If only more men would remember their favourite sirens so graciously.

Looking back on 'Cleopatra' it is in many ways silly and wayward but it was spectacular at the time and she certainly came off as a mighty woman of the world and a convincing conqueror of conquerors. She was paid a million dollars for her role and it propelled her into the headlines for life.

Despite this she raised a family successfully and carved a career for herself which gained the respect of the world and on top of it all she was one of the great beauties of all time. We had Taylor and Loren, Bardot and Monroe and many others. Never say there is no beauty in the world.

In the latter part of her life, she sustained her self with business enterprises which succeeded and a dedication to Aids Charities well before it was accepted or acceptable. In this short video covering her performance in her first feature film as an adult albeit only seventeen, you get an impression of the grace of the girl and the steel of the woman.