Fiddler on the Roof

Fiddler on the Roof 1971

• Director: Norman Jewison
• Based on stories by Sholom Aleichem
• Cast: Topol, Norma Crane, Leonard Frey, Molly Picon, Paul Mann, Rosalind Harris, Michele Marsh, Neva Small, Paul Michael Glaser, Ray Lovelock, Louis Zorich
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Norma Crane – various TV series in the 60s
• Leonard Frey – Mary Tyler Moore Show, Tell Me that You Love Me Junie Moon
• Why? An old favourite
• Seen: Four or five times before. Now 3 January 2020

             Why is this a favourite? Briefly: it’s a musical, the songs are great and the lyrics clever. It’s history. There’s even a little revolution. What more could one ask? Well, a lot less religion would be nice but it’s relatively inoffensive.

      

6 * of 7 (Hal says 4* of 5).

Adrift

Adrift 2018

• Director: Baltasar Kormákur
• Based on book by Tami Ashcraft and Susea McGearhart
• Cast: Shailene Woodley, Sam Claflin
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Shailene Woodley – The Descendants
• Sam Claflin – Their Finest, The Snow White Chronicles The Huntsman Winter’s War, The Hunger Games, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Pillars of the Earth
• Why? Possibly interesting
• Seen: 29 December 2019

             Young Tami (Woodley) wanders the world, surfing and sailing and going where the winds blow her. On Tahiti she meets Richard (Claflin), also a drifter. They go off together in a boat heading for the infinite horizon. After a few foolhardy adventures, during which they fall in love, they run into a hurricane. The boat is severely damaged, Richard is badly injured. Tami is not a good sailor. Somehow, they have to get to Hawaii.

       Day by day they survive. I’m sure it was dreadful for them (true story) but it makes for a rather boring film. The banal love story (zero chemistry) and shallow characters (despite their unhappy childhoods) don’t help.

       The surprise ending does though. A little.

      

2½ * of 5 (Hal says 3)

Inside I'm Dancing

Inside I’m Dancing 2004

• Director: Damien O’Donnell
• Based on book: no.
• Cast: James McAvoy, Steven Robertson, Romola Garai, Brenda Fricker, Ruth McCabe, Tom Hickey, Stanley Townsend
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• James McAvoy – X-Men etc, Victor Frankenstein, Filth, The Last Station, Wanted, Atonement, Becoming Jane, Starter for 10, The Last King of Scotland, Macbeth Re-Told, Bright Young Things
• Steven Robertson – Doctor Who, Bletchley Circle, The Tourist, Brighton Rock, Hustle, Elizabeth the Golden Age, Kingdom of Heaven
• Romola Garai – Suffragette, Glorious 39, King Lear, Atonement, Amazing Grace, As You Like It, Daniel Deronda
• Brenda Fricker – Stone of Destiny, Tara Road, Moll Flanders, My Left Foot, The Quatermass Conclusion
• Ruth McCabe – Victoria and Abdul, Philomena, Good Vibrations, Titanic Town, Circle of Friends, Takin’ over the Asylum, My Left Foot
• Tom Hickey – The Butcher Boy, Circle of Friends, My Left Foot
• Stanley Townsend – The Hollow Crown, Quirke, One Chance, Sherlock, Happy-Go-Lucky, Hustle, The Libertine, Moll Flanders, In the Name of the Father
• Why? It’s so good
• Seen: Once before. Now 28 December 2019      

       To a Special Home for Special People, most in wheelchairs, most unable to speak or care for themselves, comes Rory O’Shea (McAvoy), also in a wheelchair, with the use of two fingers and his mouth. He has a ring in his nose, spiky bleached hair, an aggressive and rebellious attitude and Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.

       He immediately causes severe havoc in the home, but he is the only one who can understand Michael (Robertson) who has severe cerebral palsy. They become friends. Rory gets Michael into pubs, discos and trouble.

       Through cleverness, cheek and emotional blackmail they attain Independent Living – their own flat, completely handicap friendly, and a full time assistant, the sceptical but feisty Siobhan (Garai).

       Are you now prepared for a string of clichés? Heart-warming, heart-breaking, laughter, tears, brilliant acting. Any comparison to One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest is gross libel. This is so much better.

       Do not miss this gem.

      

5 * of 5

Cry Freedom

Cry Freedom 1987

• Director: Richard Attenborough
• Based on book by Donald Woods
• Cast: Kevin Kline, Denzel Washington, Penelope Wilton, Josette Simon
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Kevin Kline – My Old Lady, Hamlet, As You Like It, A Prairie Home Companion, Wild Wild West, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Ice Storm, Dave, Chaplin, The January Man, A Fish Called Wanda, Silverado, Sophie’s Choice
• Denzel Washington – The Book of Eli, The Great Debaters, Antwone Fisher, Besieged, Devil in a Blue Dress, The Pelican Brief, Philadelphia, Much Ado About Nothing, Malcolm X, Mississippi Masala, Mo’ Better Blues
• Penelope Wilton – The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, Downton Abbey, Hotel Marigold 1&2, South Riding, Doctor Who, Shaun of the Dead, The Calendar Girls, Clockwise, King Lear, Othello
• Josette Simon – Wonder Woman, Broadchurch, Merlin
• Why? History
• Seen: 27 December 2019

             History, yes. But remembered. Apartheid. Steve Biko. If you’re too young to remember, Google it.

       White liberal journalist Donald Woods (Kline) publicly and wrongly accuses Steve Biko (Washington) of black racism. When confronted by Doctor Ramphele (Simon), he consents to meet with Biko, banned and hunted by the apartheid system. Woods is rich and proud of being a white liberal. Biko takes it upon himself to open his eyes to the brutal reality of 90 % of the South African population.

       It’s dangerous for both of them. We know how it ends for Biko.

       Woods learns. Liberals everywhere, still today, should learn. There are different kinds of apartheids still today.

       The film loses focus in the second half with the troubles of the white liberal (but radicalised) Woods family. It becomes a kind of drawn out thriller with too little about Biko. But still it’s a very strong film with strong performances by Washington, Kline and Wilton – all very young – and the rest of the cast.

       The violence, the killing of Apartheid continued for more than ten years.

       Amandla.

      

4½ * of 5

Cilveka berns (The Child of Man)

Cilveka berns (The Child of Man) 1991

• Director: Janis Streics
• Based on book: Jaanis Klidzejs
• Cast: Andrejs Rudzinskis, Signe Dundure, Agnese Latovska
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• None of them
• Why? Gift from our dear friend AZ
• Seen: 23 December 2019      

       Bonuks (Rudzinskis), about six years old, lives on a Latvian farm in the 30’s with his large family, including several unmarried aunts. He imagines himself a man and philosophises about love, death, friendship and God. He converses with Saint George for advice. Like everyone in the village he is very religious. He’s also a misogynist little dictator and a precocious little brat, spoilt rotten by the adults. Bonuks is an obnoxious little boy. He’s in love with Bigi (Dundure), about fifteen years older than he is and soon to be married.

       There isn’t much of a story, just daily life on the farm. Those who are nostalgic about rural idylls will find the film charming. Sorry to say I’m not one of them. Films about little boys growing up in the country make me feel claustrophobic.

       Nevertheless, the Latvian countryside is lovingly filmed and brings to mind the beautiful paintings of Vilhelms Purvitis. This is enough to make the film worth seeing. And even though Bonuks is annoying, the young actor Andrejs Rudzinskis is very good.

      

      

2 * of 5

Sing Street

Sing Street 2016

• Director: John Carney
• Based on book: no.
• Cast: Ferdia Walsh-Peedo, Lucy Boynton, Jack Reynor, Mark McKenna, Ian Kenny, Percy Chamburuka, Ben Carolan, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Aidan Gillen
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Lucy Boynton – Murder on the Orient Express
• Jack Reynor – Macbeth
• Maria Doyle Kennedy – Orphan Black, Jupiter Ascending, Tara Road, The Commitments
• Aidan Gillen – The Maze Runner Scorch Trials & Death Cure, The Dark Knight Rises, The Wire, Some Mother’s Son, Circle of Friends
• Why? Music
• Seen: 21 December 2019

             1985, Dublin. An Irish couple, Penny (Doyle Kennedy) and Robert (Gillen) are having marital and financial troubles. They move their fifteen-year-old son Conor (Walsh-Peedo) to a Catholic school, infamous for its brutal teachers and bullying students. Life at the new school is hell for Conan. Until he meets Darren (Carolan). To impress the cool girl (Raphina) (Boynton) they form a band.

       Baby Commitments. Only they write their own songs and the film doesn’t have anywhere near the same bite.

       They’re sweet kids but it’s a cruel world.

       I would dearly love to give this film 5*. It’s got good music, a decent story, mostly an appealing cast but sadly Walsh-Peedo just isn’t convincing as Conor. He’s too rosy-cheeked, soft-lipped and wimpy, despite his tough guy pretence. The whole film has a bit of a cliché feeling.

       But it’s a nice film.

      

3 ½ * of 5

The Matrix Revolutions

The Matrix Revolutions 2003

• Director: Lana and Lilly Wachowski
• Based on book: no.
• Cast: Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Ann Moss, Laurence Fishburne, Hugo Weaving, Harold Perrineau
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Keanu Reeves – John Wick, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Lake House, A Scanner Darkly, The Matrix Trilogy, Sweet November, The Gift, Feeling Minnesota, Johnny Mnemonic, Speed, Much Ado about Nothing, My Own Private Idaho, Thumbsucker, Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure
• Carrie-Ann Moss – Humans, Matrix 2 and 3, Snow Cake, Chocolat
• Laurence Fishburne – Man of Steel, Contagion, Bobby, Akeelah and the Bee, Mystic River, Matrix 2 and 3, Othello, What’s Love Got to Do with It, Boyz n the Hood, Class Action, The Colour Purple, Rumble Fish, Apocalypse Now
• Hugo Weaving – Mortal Engines, Strangerland, The Hobbit etc, Cloud Atlas, V for Vendetta, Little Fish, Lord of the Rings etc, Matrix etc, The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert
• Harold Perrineau – 28 Weeks Later, The Matrix Revolutions, Romeo & Juliet, Smoke
• Why? Because
• Seen: Probably once before. Now 20 December 2019

             This has got to better than the second one, right? I’ve promised Hal that it would be, or he refuses to watch it. Me too, for that matter.

       It starts with a big question: is Neo (Reeves) in the Matrix or in a coma or what? Bigger question: are we going to care?

       Well, actually, yes.

       The battles are too long, as always, but amazingly exciting. I don’t even fall asleep. It seems very old-fashioned with all the clunky robot weaponry and despite the Kung Fu superman fanciness, a fist fight is still a fist fight (= boring).

       Otherwise it’s visually stunning with quite a lot of emotional moments and a story that makes more sense than the first two. Quite a satisfactory ending too, despite some loose threads, so luckily my promise to Hal was kept.

      

3½ * of 5