QFA Video Recommendations ... by Tom Murray

The QFA Programming Committee considers many excellent films for our regular lineup from September to June. Unfortunately, scheduling demands do not permit us to show them all. Lucky for us, many of these innovative, alternative Canadian and international films are now available on video. Some of these we considered screening at the time of their release, but for one reason or another, could not. Some of the films were screened during past seasons and received so warmly we only wish we could show them again (and again)! And some are time-tested classics no cinephile should miss. If you're looking for quality entertainment for your home box office, check out these titles ...

Legend
(#)  I rated the film on a scale from 1 to 10, based on the impact that the film had on me personally.
(  )  I have not yet seen it, but either the QFA considered showing it but was unable to, or else critics, QFA committee members or others praised it highly (in this case the description was gleaned from their comments).
(QFA) = Shown by the Quinte Film Alternative.

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The Accidental Tourist (1988): (8) "I've never seen a movie so sad in which there was so much genuine laughter ... One of the best films of 1988" (Roger Ebert * * * *). Macon (William Hurt) is totally shut down emotionally by grief over his son's death. After his wife (Kathleen Turner) leaves him, he meets Muriel (Geena Davis) who inderstands him and wants to help him. She persists, often against his will, and helps him onto the path of emotional growth.

The Accused (1988): (7)   Sarah Tobias (Jodie Foster), a young alcoholic with a bad reputation, gets drunk in a bar and is raped by three men while three others egg them on. One of the men is a college boy whose father hires an expensive lawyer; in the standard tradition of plea bargaining, the charges are reduced to reckless endangerment by the prosecutor, Assistant District Attorney Kathryn Murphy (Kelly McGillis). Tobias is outraged at this, eventually convincing Murphy that the offence really is much more serious and that the other three were also a part of it. Murphy, against the advice of her colleagues and her boss, charges the other three with inciting to commit a felony. The central question of the film is: can bystanders be found party to an offence that they witness, if they encourage it?

Almost Famous (2000): (8) A 15-year-old high-school boy, William Miller (Patrick Fugit) writes articles that are published in rock music magazines; everyone thinks that he is an adult. He is given an opportunity to interview a rock band, to his mother's (Frances McDormand) horror but with her trusting blessing. He ends up touring with them but is guided by a young girl who calls herself Penny Lane (Kate Hudson) and denies that she is a groupie. The relationships among William, Penny, the band members, the rest of the entourage and William's mother (by phone) is the focus of the film. The film was written and directed by Cameron Crowe, who was a teenaged journalist for Rolling Stone. Many of the characters are based on real people. The film is totally captivating throughout.

American Beauty (1999): (8) Kevin Spacey plays a dissatisfied, suburban, middle-aged man who quits his job and embarks on a life of doing what he wants to do. His overambitious wife (Annette Benning), who has been estranged-at-home with him for many years, is a zealously perfectionistic career woman. His bitter daughter falls in love with the new boy next door, who is aloof from the pettiness but is a keen and insightful observer, thus starting a fateful relationship between the two families. The film shows up the fallacies in the axioms that many people live by. The ending is very touching. Kevin Spacey was at his best. The film won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor (Kevin Spacey).

American History X (1998): (9) Man is a territorial animal. He will defend his property, often to the death. People put up fences; countries put up borders; wars are fought over control of territory. Man can, for a variety of reasons, also be nomadic. When one group of people moves into the territory of another, there will be animosity: Scottish Protestants emigrated to Catholic Ulster; Jews emigrated to Palestine and turned part of it into Israel; Europeans emigrated to America and displaced the natives. Attempts are being made to achieve some sort of reconciliation in these cases but the bitterness and hatred, caused by past revenge, make success difficult. When animosity exists between different races, it is called racism but it is no different than when the two contending groups are of the same ethnic background, as with the Scots and the Irish: both Celtic. It only matters that the two groups perceive of themselves as different in some way, even in ways that others would consider insignificant.
    American History X is about the racism created when blacks moved into the white Venice Beach section of Los Angeles. Derek's (Edward Norton is great in this role) father was murdered by blacks and he desires revenge. He joins a Neo-Nazi group and becomes a highly respected leader. His opportunity for revenge comes when three blacks attempt to steal his car; he viciously murders two of them. Lack of witnesses allows him to escape a murder conviction and he spends only a few years in jail. During that time, he becomes disillusioned with other Neo-Nazis in the prison and he leaves them, and their protection. Miraculously, the blacks leave him alone, because he has befriended one of them, partly because of the influence of a black teacher, whom Derek respects, and who is always working for reconciliation and partly because his black friend accepted him, right from the start. This friendship causes him to abandon his hatred of blacks and feel remorse for his acts.
    When released from prison, Derek finds that his younger brother, Danny (Edward Furlong), has become a member of the same Neo-Nazi group and Derek attempts to free him from their influence. However, past actions have already made tragic events inevitable.
    The film is very intense. It left me feeling emotionally exhausted but very glad to have seen it and wanting to see it again. The acting is superb; the writing is very powerful; the characters are well developed and we care deeply about what happens to these two brothers. The central premise of the film is that reconciliation, however difficult, might be possible, if we strive for it diligently and with understanding.

Angela's Ashes (1999): (8)  A boy loves his father. That may not seem unusual, except that the father seldom works and when he does, he spends all of the money on alcohol, even when his family is starving. Eventually the father (Robert Carlysle) abandons the family yet the boy still loves him because the father told them such wonderful stories. This may seem far-fetched but Frank McCourt wrote the book and he was the boy.
    They live in a society where love has been supplanted by piety: the teachers beat their students mercilessly; the priests ignore the poor as much as possible and the family is marginalized because the father comes from the north of Ireland but there is a kind teacher, a priest who cares, a bitter aunt who helps him when it is really needed and a loving, unselfish mother (Emily Watson) who does whatever is needed for the survival of her family, so Frank learns that evil is not a necessity. Even though half of the children in the family perish, the others have a great time growing up together. The father left the family largely because their presence continually aggravated his deep guilt. The mother kept the rest of the family functional.
    Frank is played by three actors as he grows from about six to sixteen. The story is about him, growing up and he is the narrator. The others are supporting roles and the actors act accordingly. The film is very dark both emotionally and visually but is entirely gripping.

Animals Are Beautiful People (1974): (8) A very funny nature film. The scene of the drunken animals is hilarious. Jumbo (962-9248) has the only copy in town, that I could find so that may be your last chance to see this.

Artemisia (1998): (9) French--subtitled. Valentina Cervi plays a beautiful and talented 17th century woman, Artemisia Gentileschi, a real person born around 1595, who was determined to be an artist in a world that did not value female artists and placed severe restrictions on them. Her father, himself a great painter, had taught her how to paint. He is working on a major project with a friend, Agostino Tassi, who becomes Artemisia's tutor and lover. When the father discovers the latter, he brings charges against his friend, with different results than he had anticipated.

Atlantic City (1980): (9) A weasely, middle-aged, numbers runner, Lou (Burt Lancaster), acts like an indentured slave to the widow of his late mobster boss, on whom he is financially dependent. She continually puts him down but he, amazingly, puts up with it. Then he has an affair with a beautiful younger woman, Sally (Susan Sarandon), a casino croupier. When Sally gets into serious trouble, through the actions of her estranged husband, Lou, in order to protect her, finds himself pushed beyond what he had ever done before: a great boost to his self-esteem.

Avalon (1990): (7) The chronicle of the family of Sam Krichinsky (Armin Mueller-Stahl), a Russian Jew who emigrated Baltimore, Maryland, in 1914 to join his brothers. Family was all-important and many other relatives were sponsored. As the years progressed, the extended family became less important and the nuclear family became dominant. Each generation became more Americanized. His son Jules (Aidan Quinn) and nephew Izzy (Kevin Pollak) become discount store owners, with Izzy, the driving force, pushing the business to the brink. The third generation, the grandchildren, are also well developed and have central roles. The film follows the up and downs that occur in any family and it does so with warmth and understanding.

Babe (1995): (9) Australian.  This film about talking animals does not look dubbed in; the animals mouths are computer-controlled to look natural. It was nominated for 7 Oscars and won for Best Visual Effects. The film is wonderful for children and adults alike.
    Babe is a young pig on the Hogget farm. Mrs. Hoggett is looking forward to the day when Babe will make a delicious feast. Babe wants to be a sheep dog and Farmer Hoggett (James Cromwell) tries to train him but Babe learns it on his own: when he acts like a dog, the sheep laugh; when he asks them nicely, they follow his instructions. Hoggett enters Babe in a sheep dog competition, to the chagrin of the judges and organizers, who feel that they are being held up to ridicule. The climax is suspenseful and uplifting, even though it is predictable. Babe, the pig, provides a great role model for children by interacting with the other animals in a very loving and respectful manner. Babe was nominated for 26 awards and won half of them.

Babette's Feast (1987): (10) French & Danish--subtitled. This won the Best Foreign Film Oscar for 1987. A religious community in a small Danish village is joined by a more worldly person, a cook from Paris who is a political refugee. She adds a new whole new aspect to their spirituality. The most memorable scene has very little dialogue; just watching the characters eat is a treat. This is a superb film about good people, living in the service of God and man. The story is by Isak Dinesen, who also wrote Out of Africa.

The Bear (1989): (9) This delightful film is set in a mountainous region of the western USA in the late 1800s. A grizzly bear cub is orphaned when his mother is killed by a falling rock. He attaches himself to an unwilling, roving male and they have a variety of encounters, culminating with their encounters with human hunters. Most of the scenes are totally captivating and the ending is absolutely beautiful. The film is suitable for children who are not too young but I would advise an adult presence to discuss several issues. This is an art film that is suitable for family viewing. It even includes a bear's dream sequence. It surpasses the many similar past efforts of the Disney studios.

Beyond Rangoon (1995): (8) Laura (Patricia Arquette), a doctor, has just lost her husband and son; they have been violently murdered. She tours Asia, in a tour group, with her sister, Andy (Frances McDormand), to try to forget her loss. In Burma, during a crackdown on protesters, the tour group is ordered out of the country but Laura has lost her passport and is trapped, alone, in Burma. She hires a tour guide, an older man, who had been a professor and was a strong supporter of the protesters. Under his tutelage, Laura becomes more and more interested in the protest in support of Aung San Suu Kyi (winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize). The superb musical score, by Hans Zimmer, is very haunting. Janet and I could both see this film again.

Big (1988): (8) Tom Hanks plays a young boy who made a wish, on a magical arcade wishing machine, to be bigger. When he wakes up the next day he has an adult body but he is still the same child within. He must now cope with the adult world but lacks the requisite experience. He gets a job in a business that is just right for him: toys. He rises rapidly in that business because, as others perceive it, he has an uncanny insight into the minds of children. It gets tricky, however, when a female co-worker falls in love with him. Eventually, the pressures of the adult world overwhelm him and he yearns for the simplicity of his past life. Unfortunately, the wishing machine has been moved elsewhere: the search is on.

The Big Chill (1983): (7) The film sums up the attitudes of the 80s. A group of ex-hippy, now-establishment yuppy, friends gather for a weekend for the funeral of a friend who has killed himself. They spend most of the time talking but, fortunately, the dialogue is intelligent.

Bound (1996): (7) A gangster's mistress enlists the aid of the girl in the apartment next door (her lover) in order to break away from the gangster while taking along a lot of money. This thriller has some very intense moments and some interesting looks at the home-life of a criminal. My son, Jeremy, rated it higher than I did.

Brassed Off (1998): (8) A North England coal mine in Grimley is being considered for closure, as Britain converts to nuclear power in the 1980s. Grimley is a mining town, so the potential disruption is enormous. The film focuses on the members of the Grimley Colliery Brass Band, an excellent band, with little chance of survival if the mine closes. Brass bands are an important part of British life and the band and their families are a good sample of the townspeople. The band leader, Danny (Peter Postlethwaite) lives for the band and its trips to competitions but some members, thinking of future hardships, are planning to drop out.
    The sudden appearance of a beautiful new band member, Gloria (Tara Fitzgerald, a beautiful actress with a fascinating mouth), fascinates the all-male band and all thoughts of quitting vanish. The band goes into competition seriously, which leads to the country's finals. The point of the film is the hardships that unemployment can have on individuals and communities. That point is made implicitly, throughout the film and very explicitly in a surprise ending that could have been inspired by Frank Capra (It's a Wonderful Life). The film makes one feel good and the brass band music is played exquisitely.

Breaking the Waves (1996): (8) A shy, religious, young woman (Emily Watson) marries an oil rigger (Stellan Skarsgard), who then becomes a quadriplegic in an accident. Since he can no longer enjoy sex first-hand, he coaxes her into having promiscuous affairs and then coming back to tell him about it so that he can enjoy it vicariously. This course of action is devastating to her relationship with God and with the community. Ebert and Scorcese both placed this disturbing film, by director Lars von Trier, in their top 10 films of the 90s. Available at Rogers, Blockbuster and Jumbo.

Central Station (1998): (10) (QFA) Portuguese--subtitled. It was nominated for best foreign film of 1998 and was my personal favourite film of last season. At the Toronto Film Festival I rated it 8 and when the QFA showed it I rerated it 10; it grew on me. A boy, whose mother has just been killed, adopts a retired teacher, Dora, to help him find the father he has never seen. Dora tries to avoid this but reluctantly gives in. Watching the relationship grow between them is spellbinding. Their personal growth is beautiful. The young actor was a shoe-shine boy in an airport where he was discovered by the director after a long and, until then, futile search for just the right boy.

Chariots of Fire (1981): (10) This British film tells the story of real competitors on the 1924 British Olympic team, focusing on the lives of Harold Abrahams, Eric Liddell and Lord Lindsay. It won the Academy Award for Best Picture of 1981 and truly deserved it. The main characters are all well developed and distinctive. They display a wide variety of motivations: Abrahams, a Jew, runs to prove himself to the world; Liddell, a preacher, runs for the glory of God; Lindsay runs for enjoyment and camaraderie. Two women, Abrahams' future wife and Liddell's sister play key roles in the development of the plot. I see no weakness anywhere in the film; every scene has meaning.
    The key plot point lies in the fact that Liddell, a strict Presbyterian minister, cannot, according to his conscience, run on the Sabbath, but the Olympics requires it. Many dignitaries from Edward, Prince of Wales, on down, attempt to persuade him that his duty to his country supercedes his duty to God; Liddell is unmoved. The solution comes as both a surprise and an inspiration, in one of the most selfless examples of good sportsmanship imaginable.
    The film shows a variety of attitudes to sportsmanship, all of which are presented fairly so that they appear understandable and valid. I will not attempt to list them here because, to do so would require oversimplification; count them yourself. In an age where sportsmanship seems to be largely ignored, especially in the professional sphere where "win at all costs" appears to be its main manifestation, this film can open our eyes to greater possibilities. I have seen the film more than five times; it is a true inspiration and one of my top-ten, all-time favourites.

Chasing Amy (1997): (8) The highly critically acclaimed film, Chasing Amy, starts as a movie about young men and women talking freely about sex and using foul language. If you find that offensive, hang in anyway: the film is definitely worth it. The three principle characters are comic-book writers. Two of them, Holden McNeil (Ben Affleck) and Banky Edwards (Jason Lee), are writing partners and Alyssa Jones (Joey Lauren Adams) writes her own. Holden and Banky meet Alyssa at a comic book convention. A romance begins between Holden and Allyssa but there is a problem: Holden is straight and Alyssa is a lesbian who just wants Holden to be like a girlfriend/buddy. This could easily have been played as a silly gender-bender with comedic potential. Instead the film becomes a fascinating romance and a sensitive, comprehensive study of human sexuality: love vs. sex, stereotypes, understanding others from their own points of view, the psychology of straights and gays, promiscuity, group sex, love triangles, committed relationships ... When the film ended, I felt that I had a much deeper understanding of these issues and the feelings of the people involved and I was moved by those feelings. James Berardinelli, a tough reviewer, placed it in his top ten films of 1997.

Cold Comfort Farm (1995): (8) (QFA) Set in the late 1920s, this film alludes to Pollyanna, Wuthering Heights, Gone with the Wind, etc. A young English lady with an allowance of only £156 per year, moves in with poor, depressed relatives. She changes all of their lives by her positive thinking. This is a very charming movie.

Cube (1997): (8) This low-budget, Toronto, horror film was a hit at the Toronto Film Festival and in France. Six strangers wake up in a computer-game-type maze, not knowing why or how they got there. Each person has a special ability that helps the group but they must discover what it is. Each room in the maze has a number code, which they must crack in order to avoid the lethal traps and escape. The film is a fascinating allegory about the senseless aspects of man's nature, with the cube and those in it forming a microcosm. There is considerable psychological and philosophical dialogue as they try to understand the game, each other and themselves. The film satisfies the intellect more than the emotions. Trying to fully understand the symbolism of the ending is about as productive as their attempts to understand the ultimate meaning of the cube.

Dave (1993): (7) Dave (Kevin Kline) is hired as a stand-in for the president of the USA (Kevin Kline) while the president is away with his mistress. When the president has a stroke, the White House Chief of Staff keeps Dave on, instead of the Vice President, hoping to be able to manipulate him. The heart of the film is the relationship between Dave and the estranged First Lady (Sigourney Weaver). The message is similar to many Capra films: if people in power behaved sensibly and with good will, a lot of our problems would solve themselves.

Down in the Delta (1998): (8) A black family in a Chicago ghetto has problems. The mother is an addict and her mother has to support her and her two children. The grandmother sends them all off to live with her brother in the Mississippi delta for the summer. In the gentler new environment, and with the brother's patient wisdom, they all learn to cope with life. Sometimes a little simplistic, it is, nevertheless, uplifting.

Edward Scissorhands (1990): (8) A young man (Johnny Depp) is created by a mad scientist, who dies before completing the job. The young man is left alone in a huge, old mansion, with scissors for hands. He is discovered by the local Avon Lady (Diane Wiest) who brings him home with her to live in suburbia with her family. He becomes the whole suburb's darling (like the Elephant Man) for a while and becomes the ladies' favourite hair cutter and the mens' topiary designer. His differences, however, do create some problems. The film also works very well on a symbolic level.

Ed Wood (1994): (8)   Johnny Depp plays the real Ed Wood, a transvestite film producer who loved cheap films and made some of the worst ever made; of course, he believed that they were great. Depp portrays him as almost manic, totally believing in himself, despite all of the evidence to the contrary. His star, Béla Lugosi (played by Martin Landau, who won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor) is an aging and impoverished drug addict and not very reliable but he did have a big name and worked cheap. Rick Baker also won an Academy Award, for make-up Bill Murray plays a would-be trans-sexual and Jeffrey Jones plays a con artist who help Wood get financing. Since all of Ed's movies were in black and white, so is this film.

The Elephant Man (1980): (10) When my wife and I saw this film in 1980, we returned the next week and saw it again, the only time we have ever done that. This is the very touching true story of John Merrick (John Hurt), a Victorian Englishman who was born normal but became grotesquely deformed through disease. Abandoned by his mother, he became the slave of a vicious entrepreneur who lived by displaying him in a freak show. He was rescued by a doctor (Anthony Hopkins) who wanted to study him. When treated like a human being, John responded and proved to have a very noble nature. The cast and everything about this film is superb.

Eve's Bayou (1997): (8) (QFA) Ebert's favourite movie of 1997. The QFA showed it in April of 1998. This is the story of a black family in which the father is a doctor and a womanizer. The focus is through the eyes of a young girl, who does not understand everything she sees. Eve thinks that her father (Samuel L. Jackson) prefers her sister and discovers that he is not faithful to their mother. "Beautifully written and acted." "A passionate mesmerizing drama." "For the viewer, it is a reminder that sometimes films can venture into the realms of poetry and dreams." (Ebert)

Fearless (1993): (8) Max Klein (Jeff Bridges) is afraid of flying; his plane crashes. On the way down, he accepts his death and suddenly becomes fearless, a feeling that he had never before known. While others cower, he leaves his seat to comfort a young boy who is travelling alone. After the crash, he calmly extricates a trapped person and leads others to safety. He has been changed: addicted to the feeling of fearlessness. After that, when he starts to feel fear, he does dangerous things to bring back the fearless feeling. He believes that he is indestructible, that God has tried to kill him but failed.
    A psychologist (John Turturro) who is treating survivors for post-traumatic stess, pairs Max off with Carla Rodrigo (Rosie Perez), a young woman who lost her infant son in the crash and who blames herself for his death. The hope is that Max's mania will counter Carla's depression and vice versa. They develop a very close bond, to the consternation of Max's wife Laura (Isabella Rossellini).
    The acting from Jeff Bridges and Rosie Perez is superb. Their friendship becomes the heart of the story. There are many other subplots that are left undeveloped so that the the focus may be on their helping one another work through their problems together. Some of the subplots could have been removed entirely.

La Femme Nikita (1991): (8) French--subtitled. A drug-crazed young lady, who lashes out wildly like an abused animal, kills a policeman and is sentenced to life in prison. A government agency fakes her death and then offers her two choices: work for them as an assassin/spy or die. She chooses the former so that the movie will not be too short. Through the training discipline and falling in love, she begins to regain her humanity. She must balance deception, terror and revulsion against the fear of being killed herself. She is like a soldier, serving her country, but with little of the camaraderie that sustains most soldiers. Anne Parillaud won a César award for best actress.

Freaks (1932): (9)  Freaks is a unique circus movie by horror-film master Tod Browning, who gathered an incredible cast of real freaks for this bizarre film. One can really admire them for the ways in which they cope with their deformities and for the friendship and understanding that they have for one another. Many of them are quite appealing in personality and appearance. They are not the horror of the film. That lies in the cruelty that was continually shown to them by the circus' trapeze star and their revenge against her. The film was heavily censored in the USA and was banned in Britain. I found the film quite fascinating. I was able to locate only two copies in the area, both at Rogers Video. If you want to see this intriguing film, do it soon while it is still possible.

Gods and Monsters (1998): (8) This is a superbly photographed, speculative biography based on the first openly homosexual Hollywood director (beautifully acted by Ian McKellen). The director attempts to seduce his straight gardener, who is uncomfortable with homosexuality but is fascinated to be a friend of a movie maker. Lynn Redgrave is excellent as his housekeeper. "Excellent in every way."

The Gods Must Be Crazy (1980): (10) My wife, Janet, says "If you want a little lightness in your life, this one's a gem." In his travels, a bushman, in the Kalahari desert, encounters civilization for the first time; we hear his puzzled thoughts through a narrator. In a separate story, a beautiful schoolteacher is assigned to a remote village and has to deal with a shy scientist who becomes a total klutz in the presence of a woman. These two hilarious stories converge with even more hilarious results. This beautifully-crafted film contains subtle comedy, farce, romance, drama, action and believable slapstick. You will love these warm, wonderful characters.

The Golem (1936): (8) French -- subtitled. The addled Emperor in old Prague has a nasty Chancellor. The Emperor was friendly with the rabbi Lowe who had created a Golem, a living humanoid made from earth, which was created to protect the Jewish people in the Ghetto. On the death of Lowe, the Golem deactivated and was stored in the attic of the synagogue, to be used only one more time, in an emergency. Lowe's successor has the formula for reactivating the Golem but has been warned not to do so too early or the Golem might turn on them. The Emperor is afraid that the Golem will kill him and the Chancellor tries to have the Golem destroyed. Some eminent Jews are to be hung for resisting the Chancellor, so it is time to reactivate the Golem. The Emperor makes peace with the Golem but the Chancellor is not so wise. The film is very well made but time had aged the print that I saw. The white subtitles were sometimes obscured by white backgrounds.

Groundhog Day (1993): (9) What would you do if, every morning, when you woke up, it was the same day as the day before, when you went to sleep? It happens to Phil Connors (Bill Murray) on Groundhog Day, the day he hates most each year. His first reaction is panic, feeling that the forces of the cosmos have conspired against him. He then breaks laws with wild abandon, knowing every bad consequence will eventually be reversed. He attempts to seduce his producer Rita (Andie MacDowell). He gleans information about her from each attempt and uses it to manipulate her in his next attempt. He has shown nothing but disdain for others and turns his sarcasm against them. He has been very impressed with his own status. Now, in trying to win Rita's love, he finds that he can actually win respect by doing nice things. Like Scrooge, he finds that he likes philanthropy and pursues it zealously. The film says much about human redemption and can be viewed on a religious or philosophical level, which adds intellectual delight to the humour. I found that to be a wonderful mixture. There is an excellent paper, given by David Lavery of the English Department of Middle Tennessee State University, on these deeper aspects of the film. It is worth reading and can be seen by clicking on his name. I would recommend reading it after seeing the film.

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1968): (8)  This movie might seem a little dated because of the central focus of interracial marriage, so just think of it as a period piece, set in the 1960s. A mixed couple, John Prentice (Sidney Poitier) and Joey Drayton (Katharine Houghton), have just met in Hawaii, fallen in love and plan to marry within weeks. John is a 37-year-old black, a widower and a world-renowned doctor, working for the World Health Organization. Joey ("Johanna") is 23, an idealistic optimist and the white daughter of a liberal-minded newspaper publisher. Each appears to be flawless so that the members of the audience will side with them, unless of course they are opposed, in principle, to miscegenation. Most of the movie is set in her home, the rest is in airports and in between the two.
    The plot focuses on the reaction of their parents and the Draytons' black maid to the impending marriage. The plot takes a sudden turn when John, unbeknownst to Joey, tells her parents that he will not marry her unless they approve. He seems sincere in this but his motives are left unstated. Is this a ploy to increase the probability of obtaining their consent? If he fails, will he try again, after sufficient time for the Draytons to have pondered the matter? Fortunately we never need to know: the plot leads to the inevitable conclusion. John's parents (Roy Glenn and Beah Richards) are also invited to dinner. All parents are concerned but the mothers, being romantics, approve, while the fathers, being pragmatists, are opposed. Monsignor Ryan (Cecil Kellaway is delightful, as usual) is a close friend of the non-Catholic Draytons, who acts as a prod for Matt's conscience. The maid, Tillie (Isabel Sanford) is the most intransigent opponent of all but, of course, she is not in charge.
    The mood is 1960s sentimental; the acting is superb; there is considerable wit and humour and we can care about all of the characters and understand their differing points of view.

Harold and Maude (1972): (9) This hilarious black comedy focuses on a 20-year-old man who is obsessed with death, to the point of visiting funerals as a pastime and romancing a 79-year-old swinger. These two characters have a profound effect on each other. The great sound track is by Cat Stevens. The film was not a hit on its release in 1972 but has become a cult favourite. My wife, Janet, and I both love it. It is my favourite black comedy; I can enjoy it often.

Henry Fool (1998): (7) Henry, a down-and-out writer, is a charming slob, an irresistible pervert, a colossal egomaniac, generous to a fault, hopelessly untrustworthy but perfectly honest. He is writing his memoirs or, rather, a defense of himself. He rents a basement apartment from a family that includes a depressed mother, a promiscuous daughter and a painfully shy garbage man. He befriends the garbage man and encourages him to write poetry. The writer helps the man to become a poet and he becomes a better one than his mentor. The poem is very controversial: hated by many; loved by some. The film raises the question "Is there such a thing as 'good' writing?" My son, Jeremy, liked this film even better than I did.

In the Name of the Father (1993): (8)   This film is a very gripping telling of one of the most egregious miscarriages of justice ever perpetrated. The story is true. The acting is superb. Gerry Conlon (Daniel Day Lewis) and his father, Guiseppe Conlon (Peter Postlewaite), are jailed, along with several other members of their extended family, for the IRA bombing of a pub in Guildford. The police hid exonerating evidence and forced confessions in order to get convictions, since they could not find the real bombers. They would not admit their error even after the real bomber confessed. After more than a decade, a lawyer, Gareth Peirce (Emma Thompson), locates that evidence and gets all of the prisoners exonerated.

Julia (1977): (8) Three Oscars went to this real account of playwright Lillian Hellman's and novelist Dashiell Hammett's (The Maltese Falcon) involvement in the European Resistance movement of World War II. Academy Awards were won for Best Screenplay based on material from another medium (Alvin Sargent from Pentimento, Hellman's novel/memoirs), Best Supporting Actress (Vanessa Redgrave) and Best Supporting Actor (Jason Robards for his second year in a row). The film was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Director (Fred Zinnemann) and Best Actress (Jane Fonda).
    Lillian (Fonda) risks her life when she smuggles money into WWII Germany to help her lifelong friend (Redgrave) who is involved in the European Resistance to the Nazis.
    Also starring are Hal Holbrook, Maximilian Schell, and Meryl Streep (in her screen debut).

Karakter (1997): (9) How is it possible for a boy, whose parents are devoid of normal humanity, to grow up to be loved and respected? The film, Character, presents a credible demonstration. It has the darkness of Ingmar Bergman or Charles Dickens, is slow-moving, thoroughly engrossing and it left me emotionally drained, which always elicits a high rating from me.
    Dreverhaven is apparently an evil man: a bailiff who is quite willing to evict people in a terrible storm. He embodies two Nietzschean concepts: 1. the will to power (he entered into power struggles with anyone whom he felt he could dominate) and 2. that a life becomes better by becoming stronger through adversity (he did everything in his power to bring adversity to his son, believing that that would strengthen him--and in many ways it did). His internal struggle between the will to power over his son and his desire to strengthen him is the prime mover of the film; his son's reactions to that are the core. Dreverhaven is also totally fearless; the question arises whether it is caused by bravery or just being tired of life.
    The film opens with his son, Jacob Katadreuffe (Fedja van Huêt), coming home, all bloody, only to be arrested as a suspect in the murder of Dreverhaven. He then tells the two interrogators a most amazing story. Since he is describing his own life, one might suspect that he is embellishing the story in his own favour but I believe that he was totally candid.
    The story is too complex to dwell on but certain aspects must be mentioned. Jacob's mother, Joba (Betty Schuurman), was a servant to Dreverhaven. On one and only one occasion he may have raped her: it is not made clear if she resisted. As soon as she discovered that she was pregnant, she left him and tried to sever all ties. For a long time, however, Dreverhaven repeatedly proposed marriage and was refused. His motivation is ambiguous (propriety or affection) and Joba was apparently determined not to allow Dreverhaven to beat her in a power struggle.
    Because of his Mother's silence, young Jacob believed that she did not like him and, being a pariah because he was illegitimate, he turned to books for solace. Through this he developed a love of learning and a willingness to work hard and he advanced rapidly in a law firm, winning the respect and admiration of most of his colleagues, especially De Gankelaar (Victor Löw), who hired him. De Gankelaar, a man with a huge underbite and a heart to match, became Jacob's mentor, adviser and protector.
    Denied access to his son, Dreverhaven began a game of terror against Jacob through legal channels.
    The film is a study of character and characters. Their motivations are subtly hidden by consistent and superb acting. In my attempts to understand this dysfunctional family (if it can be called a family) I was forced to think. The slow movement allowed time for that. I want to see the film again, expecting that each viewing will bring a closer understanding. Even the evil Dreverhaven was more an object of pity rather than despicable; his actions were caused more by ignorance of human sensitivities, a dogmatic respect for the law and an unusual philosophy rather than by malice. The film is open-ended: what will Jacob do with the rest of his life?

Kolya (1996): (9) (QFA) Czech--subtitled. Won the oscar for best foreign- language film of 1996. A 55-year-old, self-centred, womanizing, bachelor 'cellist enters a marriage-of-convenience, for profit, and ends up with a 5-year-old boy to look after. Through the experience, the man matures and becomes ready to take on a real wife and child. The young actor is amazingly convincing and touching.

The Long Walk Home (1990): (8)  Sissy Spacek is a white wife and Whoopi Goldberg is her maid. The film is set during the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The white woman helps her black maid by driving her the ten miles to work each way, against the wishes of her husband and the white community. Once involved, she becomes dedicated to their cause, despite the social costs to herself. This is an inspiring film and Spacek, as usual, is excellent.

Manhunter (1986): (10) This gripping, serial-killer film is my favourite of the genre. This is the first film involving Hannibal Lecter, the most famous being The Silence of the Lambs. Manhunter is a psychological thriller, focusing on the minds and souls of a serial killer and the policeman who is searching for him. At the end of his love scene, there is genuine pathos for the killer, in his loneliness and anguish as he longs to be normal. The policeman is still recovering from a breakdown, caused by his previous expert work into the minds of other serial killers. The slow, thoughtful mood is nurtured by the haunting, soft-rock, music of a variety of artists. On my fifth viewing, Bryan Dawkins spotted two different continuity errors in the actual filming that I had never noticed. Here is a game for you: can you find them? But do not let them break the mood.

Microcosmos (1996): (10) The world of tiny things is viewed, greatly magnified, as if you were as tiny as an insect. This fascinating film, although officially a documentary, is actually a work of art, depicting the beauty, as well as the ugliness, that exists at that level. There is no story, only many wonderful episodes, beautifully filmed. All aspects of life are depicted: mating, birth, death, violence etc. The mating scenes range from humorous to romantically sensual. The sounds of nature are sometimes enhanced by music and the sights by time-lapse photography. You may recognize some of the scenes; they were used in TV commercials.

The Mighty (1998): (8) Two boys, one mentally challenged and the other crippled, provide support for one another. Harry Dean Stanton and Gena Rowlands co-star.

Mondo (1996): (7) A young boy, Mondo, about 11 or 12 years old, appears on the streets of Nice, France. Immediately he offers himself, to a gentleman, for adoption; the offer is not accepted. Nobody can get any information from him about his family. He develops a small group of adults who will support him: small stores that give him food and people who perform in the streets for money. The authorities hear about him and want to help him but on their terms; he prefers freedom. The film is rather slow-moving but there is never nothing to see; just keep your eyes open and absorb the beauty.

My Beautiful Laundrette (1985): (7) In contemporary England, a young Pakistani immigrant is given a laundrette by his rich uncle. With the help of his boyfriend he turns it into a good business but a racist gang tries to shut it down.

My Girl (1991): (8) The film is very warm-hearted, about ordinary people in unusual circumstances and contains little sex or violence. The focus is on an 11-year-old girl's (Anna Chlumsky) confusion and fears about death. Her father (Dan Aykroyd) is a widower and a mortician; they live in the funeral home. The mature romance between the father and his new cosmetician (Jamie Lee Curtis) is sweet and believable. The story is generally low-key but there is a deeply tragic section, in which the young girl must face death on a very close personal level. The acting is excellent and the characters are likeable and well developed, so that we are able to empathize with them.

My Neighbour Totoro (1988): (9) Japanese animation with voices in English. Roger Ebert says of the animator: "Miyazake is a great man, a master of the cinema." This film is in the children's section but you do not need children to watch it; my wife and I loved it. It is an enchanting fantasy-adventure in which two young children discover a new world, populated with charming, magical creatures, called Totoros. It is an international favourite of children around the world.

Mystery Science Theatre 3000 (1996): (8) A mad scientist intends to rule the world. His theory is that he can break the spirit of the human race by forcing them to watch terrible movies. He has trapped a man and two robots on whom he is testing his theory. We see them watching the 1955 film This Island Earth: we watch the film and they are silhouetted in the front row. His experiment fails because the subjects are able to laugh at the movie; their wisecracks are hilarious. If you enjoy that, try it yourself: bring in some wise-cracking friends to watch Plan 9 from Outer Space, Ed Wood's double-Golden-Turkey-Award-winning film (worst film and director). Then watch the two-Oscar-winning film, Ed Wood, and see Johnny Depp's brilliant performance as Hollywood's worst director, who loved cheap films and made some of the worst ever filmed.

The Nasty Girl (1990): (9) German -- subtitled. A high-school girl wins an essay contest and the whole town is thrilled. She enters the contest the next year and selects one of the contest's topics "My Home Town During the Third Reich." Many powerful locals are opposed to this because they have things to hide. She is unable to get any information for the contest but becomes determined to spend her life finding out what happened. Nobody supports her except her husband, for a while, and then he opposes it because it is destroying their family. Their house is bombed, probably by neo-Nazis. She finally uncovers the truth and writes a book about it which is highly acclaimed. She again becomes the darling of the town but finds that she can no longer trust anyone. The style of the film is very surreal: when her life is under close observation we see the whole town passing by as her family eats dinner -- the house has no walls. The film is a fictionalized version of a real event. I found it a fascinating sociological study.

The Ogre: (8) The film presents Germany's Nazi past as a kind of grotesque fairy tale. Abel Tiffauges (John Malkovich), called "The Ogre" for conscripting kids into the Hitler Youth Movement, is an enigma and a contradiction; through his eyes we see a very different view of the years leading up to and including WWII. Abel fails to understand the significance of key events that are happening. When he finally realizes the evil around him, he tries to save the children but they have been well indoctrinated. He then focuses on rescuing one: a Jewish boy whom he has been hiding.

Pi (1998): (9) A reclusive computer genius is on the verge of discovering a magic number that will prove that the apparent randomness in the world has a predictable pattern. He is using the stock market as his experimental data base and has made very accurate predictions. He has only one friend, an old man who spent 20 years looking for a pattern in the digits of pi but failed; our genius intends to succeed. Two disparate, desperate groups are after the number, one an investment firm and the other a Kabbalist group who believe that the number represents the true name of God. I can not remember ever seeing a mathematical thriller before. I watched it twice before returning it.

Pleasantville (1998): (9) A modern brother and sister are drawn involuntarily into an extreme 1950's family TV show in which everything is idealized and ritualized. Jeff Daniels plays a role like in "The Purple Rose of Cairo" except that now real people come into the screen world instead of vice versa. The changes wrought, in society, by the two real people are welcomed by some and deplored by others. This is a very humourous study of reactionary thinking in a completely stagnant society and it demonstrates the power that a few people, with new ideas, can have.

The Pledge (2001): (9) Even though the critics varied widely, I believe that this is an excellent film; it leaves one with so much to think about that one could spend many days and several viewings doing that. It is the most intriguing psychological crime drama since Manhunter (1986), which was the movie that first introduced Hannibal Lecter. Jack Nicholson is a superb dramatic actor; I never really believed that before but he carries the film with immense power. The cinematography and music are splendid; the beautiful opening sequences, with haunting music, make this immediately clear. The cast of well-known actors do a thoroughly convincing job. The film is a tragedy; it starts by showing Jerry Black (Jack Nicholson) in a state of mental breakdown and then by immediately letting you know that that is the ending. He is obsessive about integrity: the driving force behind his quest. He is a loner, unable to express his deepest feelings to others. He is a highly respected police detective, who is just retiring. Fate can intervene and destroy the best laid plans. This is a study of his soul.
    Why did the original suspect kill himself? Was Black's mental state the cause of his failure or vice versa? How would the story have ended had he been able to clearly explain his motives and feelings when necessary. Exactly when did he cross the line and decide to use a little girl, whom he loved dearly, as a decoy to catch a serial child killer. In what proportion were his actions driven by his obsession to honour the pledge, by his paranoia about the girl's safety and by his love for the girl who was like a daughter to him. If the killer is not stopped then more children will die, so were Black's actions moral or immoral. When answers come for these questions, they frequently lead to more questions. I do not think that any two viewers will fully agree on all of their answers.
    At Black's retirement party, word comes of a child murder. A witness has seen a man running from the scene. He is caught, confesses and kills himself. The case is closed. But not to Black; he witnessed the interrogation and believes that the confession was false, that the interrogator had tricked a mentally deficient person into confessing. He continues to investigate and discovers that several children have been killed over an eight-year period, by the same method and in a small geographical region. He moves to the geographical centre of that region and starts waiting and watching. He studies pictures, drawn by the dead girl at school, that contain clues about the killer. He enters into a platonic relationship with Lori (Robin Wright), an abused woman who has a daughter Crissy (Pauline Roberts); Lori falls for the much older Black and moves the relationship to the next stage. At some stage, Black considers Crissy to be a decoy to catch the killer and that begins his downfall. He is walking a fine line between two evils, the killer's and one of his own choosing. He acted as if he were choosing the lesser of the two evils, with all of the stress that that incurs.

Ponette (1997): (9) A four-year-old girl's mother is killed and the child learns to cope with this. The main characters are between four and about eight years old; adults have supporting roles. The four-year-old star, Victoire Thivisol, won top honours at Cannes and best actress at Venice Film Festival with a stunning performance. The children provide a great ensemble performance. This is a very spiritual story about how children view religion. Director Jacques Doillon's patience, skill and sensitivity got the child actors to give accomplished and realistic performances. His film offers astonishing insight into the mind and sensibilities of a child. "It is surely destined to be considered a classic of its kind." Some critics thought that the ending was just tacked on but I loved it and spent days thinking of different ways to interpret it.

A Price Above Rubies (1998): (8) A thoughtful, well acted movie. An Hasidic Jewish girl (great acting by Renée Zellweger) marries within the faith but has problems with the narrow limitations of Hasidic female life, with her sexual preference and with her own feelings about God. Her late father has trained her as a jewellery appraiser and she is very skilled at it, so her husband's brother hires her as a buyer in his high-quality-jewellery business but he has other intentions as well. She loves the business so much that there is little time left for her family. Her quest leads to exclusion from her religious community and family and then to her struggle to develop her own role in life.

The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985): (9) A lonely, abused wife (Mia Farrow) is such an avid fan of one movie that, after she had seen it repeatedly, one of the movie characters (Jeff Daniels) leaves the screen, abandons the other characters in the movie and goes off with this woman who idolizes him. The clever script is consistent with the premise that this character knows only what was written into him. In order to get the movie going again, the actor, who originally played the character, is recruited to break them up so that his screen counterpart will return to the movie. Woody Allen wrote and directed the film but did not appear in it.

Queen of Hearts (1989): (8)   A beautiful girl runs away to England with her lover, in order to avoid marrying a wealthy Sicilian. When he finds out where they are, he moves near to them, sets up a business in competition with them and tries to both win her back and disrupt their family. The story is told through the eyes of their eleven-year-old son and has that touch of fantasy that a young mind can perceive. The ending is very touching.

Rain Man (1988): (9) Charlie (Tom Cruise) Babbitt's father dies but the estate goes mostly to a brother whom Charlie can not remember. He discovers that his brother, Raymond (Dustin Hoffman), is autistic and institutionalized. Hoping to gain some control over the estate, Charlie takes Raymond away from his secure surroundings and on the road, with him. Charlie's life has always involved controlling others and living a frantic, stressful life; autistic people cannot be controlled, nor can they tolerate stress. In their journeys together, Charlie works through his frustration in not being able to control Raymond and eventually learns to love and accept him as he is, since he cannot be changed. In doing so, Charlie learns to respect others and he begins to gain more control over his own life.
    There is fine acting from both actors. In order to achieve this, Hoffman spent many hours with autistic people, learning about their behaviour patterns. His performance was superb and endeared this very strange man, Raymond, to us. Winner of 4 Academy Awards for Best Picture, Director, Actor (Hoffman) and Original Screenplay, for a total of 15 awards and 10 nominations, world-wide.

Raising Arizona (1987): (6) Imagine a world populated with simple-minded rednecks. Everything that people should not do manages to get done. Wisdom is seldom sought and never achieved. The slope of the learning curve is somewhere near zero. The standard reaction to fear or frustration is to scream as loudly as possible for as long as possible. From this, comes a film that is very highly regarded by most critics and given a perfect rating by some. This is the second feature of the Coen Brothers, Joel and Ethan, whose biggest hit to date has been Fargo.
    H.I. "Hi" McDonnough (Nicolas Cage) is a failure as a criminal; he keeps getting arrested and imprisoned. He also never combs his hair. The police photographer, Edwina "Ed" (Holly Hunter), and Hi have a strong attraction to each other and eventually marry, with the understanding that Hi will go straight. Ed's main goal in life is to have babies and she is devastated when she discovers that she is barren. Hi's criminal record precludes adoption and so, to solve the problem, they kidnap one of the five local quintuplet babies, thinking that this is acceptable because "they have too many and we have none". As usual, there is no planning: no prepared explanation of where the baby came from, no name for the baby, etc. As soon as a $25, 000 reward is posted for the safe return of the baby, everyone become bounty hunters and the chase begins.
    The part of Ed was written especially for Holly Hunter, a close friend of the Coens. Joel's wife, Frances McDormand, appears as Hi's boss's wife, the mother of children who have never been exposed to discipline. John Goodman and William Forsythe play redneck, jail-breaking friends of Hi, who try to bring him back to a life of crime.
    My first viewing was spent thinking that this film was beyond belief; then I noticed that the caption for the film was "A Comedy Beyond Belief". I hope to see it again, to see if I can appreciate what it is that endeared this film to so many.

Richard III (1995) (9) (QFA) and Looking for Richard (1996) (8): Try watching these following two related films back-to-back. First watch Looking for Richard, a 1996 DocuDrama starring Al Pacino and Kevin Spacey. It is about the making of a performance of Richard III and on the general understanding of Shakespeare. The scenes that are shown are interspersed with commentary by various experts and with cast discussions of motivation so that you will understand the background on which each scene is based. As I saw each scene, I felt that I had a greatly enhanced insight into Shakespeare. I wish that Shakespeare had been taught this way in my high school days. Richard III is "One of the most effective retellings of a Shakespeare play" (Roger Ebert). The play is set in a fascist state in the 1930s, which is a more familiar milieu for today's audiences, thereby making the film more readily comprehensible.

Rudy (1993): (7) This is one of my wife's favourite films. It has a true and very inspirational story. Rudy had always wanted to play for the Notre Dame football team but there were problems: he was too small, he did not have much athletic ability and he could not get good enough marks to get into college. Did that stop him? No!!! The ending may seem a little far-fetched but there is movie footage of that 1975 game to substantiate it. The real, dauntless Rudy was in the stadium crowd during the final game scene.

Run Lola Run (1999) aka Lola rennt (1998): (9) (German-subtitled)
    The film is really a lot of fun and is full of exciting sights and sounds. The pace is often very rapid, contrasting with the slow romantic interludes and the suspenseful moments.
    Lola's lover, Manni, has lost a bag, containing 100 000 marks, that he was transporting for a powerful criminal. He has 20 minutes to get that much money or he believes that he will be killed. He calls Lola on the phone. Manni has a desperate plan but Lola convinces him to give her 20 minutes to get money. The frantic race is on! Lola's run is driven by high-energy Techno music and is portrayed using both live and animated segments. After Lola's brief interactions with several other people, as she runs by them, we see a rapid series of stills related to the fate of the person encountered. Their fates and, therefore, the fates of the others in their lives depend on the manner in which they interact with Lola ...
    The film is greatly enhanced by brilliant directing and editing and by the clever use of animation. The music beautifully establishes the various moods. The subtitles are easy to read and many scenes have little or no dialogue. Run Lola Run is a film that will excite and delight you and yet leave you pondering for days.

The Seven Samurai (1956) aka Shichinin no samurai (1954): (10) Japanese--subtitled. Directed by the great Akira Kurosawa. This is one of my all-time favourite films. A village learns that bandits will raid them after the harvest. For protection, they hire seven unemployed samurai who will work for food and lodging. The battle scenes are rivetting. There is a perfect balance of character development, honour, romance, pathos, action, drama and relationships.

Sophie's Choice (1982): (10) This is one of my favourite tragedies. It is the engrossing tale of a Polish immigrant woman who falls in love with an American. Both of the lovers have had a difficult past. Sophie has survived the hell of a Nazi concentration camp, at least physically. The whole mood is absolutely mesmerizing. Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline both give the best performances that I have seen from them.

The Spanish Prisoner (1998): (9) Screenplay by David Mamet. A young businessman has developed an extremely valuable business strategy. He feels cheated when he is not paid for his work. A new acquaintance (Steve Martin in a serious role) advises him how to handle the situation. He soon finds himself in a labyrinth of deception, illusion and intrigue.

Tea with Mussolini (1999): (8)   The story is from the director, Franco Zeffirelli's, own autobiography and the screenplay is by him and John Mortimer (Rumpole). The child, Luca, is Zeffirelli. Luca is being raised by an English lady, Mary Wallace (Lady Joan Plowright) who teaches him Shakespeare and right from wrong. Luca's mother, a dressmaker, has died and his 'illegitimate father' is married and wants little to do with Luca. Mary is one of a group of five foreigh ladies living permanently in Florence, Italy. Lady Hester Ransom (Dame Maggie Smith) is the widow of a former British ambassador to Italy. She is extremely self-centred and haughty and is a great admirer of Mussolini, who is the same. When the Fascists start taking their nationalism into the streets, she visits Mussolini and is assured that they will all be safe; she is naive enough to believe him. Arabella (Dame Judi Dench) is a flighty saviour of Italian art, which she feels is being neglected. These three are English but there are two Americans: Georgie Rockwell (Lily Tomlin) an archeologist and Elsa Morgenthal (Cher) a wealthy Jewish art collector. The film takes them through their halcyon days and their imprisonment as enemy aliens. Luca, being Italian, is free and is able to assist them from the outside. Elsa, being very wealthy is able to ameliorate their incarceration. The film tells an interesting story about interesting people. The dialogue appears a little trite at times but perhaps that is simply how we feel, nowadays, about the speech and thoughts of the 1930s.

Terms of Endearment (1983): (8) Aurora Greenway (Shirley MacLaine) is a mother who obsesses about her baby's health. Her husband dies, while the child, Emma (Debra Winger), is still young. Shirley has several suitors but seems disinterested in physical lovemaking. The film focuses on her relationship with Emma. Aurora is still obsessive and totally insensitive to the needs of others. Her daughter marries Flap (Jeff Daniels), a teacher, of whom Shirley does not approve. They have three children but their marriage breaks down. Meanwhile, Aurora's neighbour, Garrett Breedlove (Jack Nicholson), a coarse, middle-aged ex-astronaut with a penchant for beautiful, young women and high living, tries to court her. Emma becomes seriously ill and she and her mother find themselves together: an opportunity to try to work things out between them. The film won 5 Oscars, including Best Picture, Actor, Actress and Director. It won a total of 28 awards and was nominated for nine others.

The Terrorist (1999): (9) What makes a Terrorist? How can a person decide to become a suicide bomber? It is the main question that this film attempts to answer. This question was in many western minds in WWII, when we heard of the Kamikaze pilots. We understood that it was related to the Samurai philosophy, which included Seppuku (ritual suicide). Since then we have observed it all over the world in a variety of societies. It started to be asked again on September 11, 2001. It seems to occur when one group feels that it is oppressed by another group and when constant war, over a period of time, has desensitized people to the fear of death. It also requires a firm belief that the cause is just. Does continual warfare and the loss of many family and friends create a life so horrible that the thought of ending it does not seem to be so fearsome? In our society, we are so well looked after that most people expect to have a long and somewhat happy life, far beyond the expectations of a century ago. These expectations and the ensuing plans, hopes and dreams bind us to life. Do terrorists live in an environment which precludes such hopes and dreams?
    Malli (Ayesha Dharkar), a young orphan girl of nineteen starts the movie by executing a traitor who has caused the death of seven of their comrades; she is unemotional. She is fighting for an undisclosed cause, in an undisclosed part of Asia: it can represent all such causes. Malli’s father was a nationalist poet, who lauded the struggle. Her older brother was the first martyr for the cause who took a suicide pill, when captured, to prevent the enemy from getting information from him. She has been a revolutionary for many years, as shown in many flashbacks, and she is highly esteemed. Five girls volunteer for the mission and Malli is the chosen one. We witness her preparation, travel and training. The final preparations are in an area near the impending assassination. She is billeted in the home of a farmer who is not involved in the cause. In the few days that she lives there, she witnesses a positive side of life that she has been unaware of, a life of hope, love and happiness. The farmer always believes that his wife, who has been comatose for seven years since their son died in the conflict, can hear him talk to her and that she will reawaken one day. Malli is now in a quandary. Can such knowledge be compatible with terrorism?
    The film was made on a $50, 000 budget, in seventeen days, using natural light. Director, cinematographer and co-writer, Santosh Sivan, an experienced cinematographer, has created a beautiful masterpiece that merges horror and beauty into a seamless whole. John Malkovich was so taken with it that he has used his influence to help the film gain a wide audience. The QFA considered showing it but we already had many subtitled films. The only weakness is the subtitles, which are often lost in the background. The film, in Tamil, is not heavy on dialogue; if it had no subtitles, it would still be worth watching. The beauty of the film is in its visual appearance, the breathtaking scenery, the actress’ beautiful eyes and expressive face, her retreats to the riverside, the waterfalls… The film is a cinematographic gem.
    I feel that this film, if it were widely seen and wisely interpreted, could be a powerful force around the world in creating a global society of a kind that would soften the feelings of oppression that lead to terrorism. I hope that the citizens of the developed world have the insight to understand the message, for it is they who will have to initiate the change.

The Theory of Flight (1999): (10) This film is beautifully written and acted. Jane (Helena Bonham Carter) is a young lady with a crippling and terminal illness. Richard (Kenneth Branagh) is a young man with much emotional baggage, who is sentenced to community service and is assigned to look after Jane. Jane's greatest regret is that she passed up the one chance she had to lose her virginity. The film is one of great contrasts: high drama and farce, fantasy and reality, commitment and irresponsibility, humour and tragedy, joy and pathos, great insights and dumb ideas, etc., all delicately balanced. Even the serious parts have humour. I watched it three times before reluctantly returning it.

The Turning Point (1977): (8)   Deedee (Shirley MacLaine) and Emma (Anne Bancroft) are ballet dancers and best friends. Deedee gets pregnant by one of the male dancers (Tom Skerritt) and leaves ballet to marry and to raise her daughter; Emma went on to become famous. Emma advised Deedee to take that course of action and Deedee has always wondered if Emma did it to land the principal dancer position in a new production. The child is now a ballerina with great potential. Emma is the daughter's godmother and Deedee is getting jealous about that too. The atmosphere is tense and the daughter takes Emma's side. Eventually they all work out their difficulties. Two of the actors, Alexandra Danilova and Mikhail Baryshnikov, were two of the great dancers of history. If you enjoy ballet, then this film will be a real treat for you.

Unbreakable (2000): (8) The film was written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, who also did The Sixth Sense. Bruce Willis is back too, as David Dunn, the sole survivor of a train wreck, who is slowly and reluctantly realizing that he has all of the properties of a comic book superhero. David is encouraged to accept his destiny as a superhero, by Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson), a comic book art dealer who has the opposite condition: his bones can break at even the slightest blow. David seems unwilling to accept the immense responsibilities that that would incur. The metamorphosis of David is handled deftly and convincingly. As in The Sixth Sense, there is a twist at the end but, instead of clarifying the plot as it did before, it felt like an extraneous add-on that distracted from the film. I thought that the film had ended perfectly and then it just kept on going. Personally, I consider that the film ended at that perfect moment and that the rest does not really exist.

A Walk on the Moon (1999): ( ) This was QFA chair Lynn Braun's favourite rental this summer. The plot is soap-opera-like but the characters are very well developed and the acting is great. A woman, who "had to get married" at 17 in the 1950s wonders what her life would have been like had she not married so young. Since it is now the 60s she experiments with free love, with serious consequences to her family. Reviews were mixed, with female reviewers liking it more. I plan to rent it soon.

What's Love Got To Do with It (1993): (7) The story of Ike and Tina Turner. Ike (Laurence Fishburne), was a controller who took Tina (Angela Bassett), the name he gave her, into his band and used her to make his band successful. He could not handle the fact that she was the popular one. Even though he abused her terribly, she kept making excuses for him. A friend of hers planted the seed of leaving him and when she finally did, she gave everything to him except the use of her name and started on a successful solo career. Ike later served time for a narcotics conviction. In the final scene, an on-stage scene, the real Tina Turner appears instead of Angela Bassett.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988): (9) The animator, Richard Williams, lived in my neighbourhood, in North Toronto, when I was young. Even as a boy he knew what he wanted to do with his life. This was the crowning achievement of his career. He developed a method which allowed very detailed interaction between cartoon characters and the real world even before the computer animation of such movies as Toy Story. He won an Oscar for his efforts.
    The basic premise of the film is that animated cartoon characters are really live creatures called "Toons" but they are treated as second-class citizens and live in a ghetto, Toontown, in Hollywood. Their zany antics are not acting; they are the true character of each Toon.
    The film is set in 1947, when the Hollywood studios still had an amazing degree of control over their actors. Roger Rabbit, a Toon, has been distracted by rumours that his girl, Jessica Rabbit, has been unfaithful; the quality of his work has been affected. The studio head hires a private detective, Eddie Valiant (Robert Hoskins), to get compromising photos to convince Roger to forget about Jessica and focus on his work. He succeeds but Roger can not let her go. Then a human is murdered by a Toon, the gravest of all crimes. The jealous Roger Rabbit is suspected. Judge Doom (Christopher Lloyd) declares, "I'll catch the Rabbit, Mr. Valiant. And I'll try him, convict him, and execute him." Roger beseeches Eddie to help him prove his innocence and the story takes off.
    The film is a wonderful parody of both old Hollywood and bigotry. It is full of clichés from the old Hollywood movies. It has the elements of one of my favourite types of film: an impossible premise is assumed to be true and the situation is milked for all the paradoxes that ingenuity can discover. In particular, I am reminded of The Purple Rose of Cairo and Pleasantville. In those two films, real people are mixed together with people from the screen, who know nothing except what has been written into their characters. Who Framed Roger Rabbit is great entertainment.

The Year of Living Dangerously (1983): (9) Set in 1965 Indonesia during the failed communist coup against Sukarno, Mel Gibson plays Guy Hamilton, a naive Australian news reporter and Sigourney Weaver plays a British consular official. Academy Award Winner Linda Hunt plays Billy Kwan, a diminutive news photographer with many important connections, who adopts Hamilton. Billy Kwan is one of the most intriguing characters that I have ever encountered in a film: full of wisdom, understanding, integrity, loyalty and a love of beautiful western music and oriental shadow puppetry. Viewed as an action romance, it is a good film but if you focus on Billy Kwan, it is a truly wondrous character study. "Deserves to be considered as one of the key films of the 80s" (Stephen Cox).

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