Bank of Dave | Official Trailer HD

I'm here with a movie recommendation. It is on Netflix in the US, but I would think it would be on Netflix in England also as it is an English movie, set in Burnley. I read that part of it was filmed there but it was mostly Bradford, Leeds, Wakefield, and London. I began watching knowing absolutely nothing about it. If you like to do that, you can skip the trailer! Anyhow, it is a wonderful movie.

Merrily down the stream

When the virus came along, our local movie theatre began to offer streaming movies. Part of the cost of the film went to the theatre.

And oh, what wonders we've seen.

Once Were Brothers - about the band called, well, The Band. Did any of you buy Music From Big Pink? The film was just great. It was narrated by Robbie Robertson with lots of old film and footage. Excellent even if you weren't into the music then.

The Booksellers - about the antiquarian book biz in New York City. Absolutely fascinating. These are passionate folks.

Up From the Streets - about New Orleans music. Perfectly wonderful.

Sometimes Always Never - I think Bill Nighy may just be my favorite actor ever. This is a quiet, moving film that we loved.

Never Too Late - wonderful film about older men and a woman having "happy endings". One of my other favorite actors is in it - Dennis Waterman from The Sweeney, On The Up, New Tricks. He was born the day before I was.

Next up is Ella Fitzgerald: Just One of Those Things. So looking forward to this.

Unrest - film

I know a young woman who has had the illness described in the film Unrest since she was ten or eleven years old, and I know a teenager who has had it for a year now, but is just letting the news out. I also have a long-time internet friend who has it, and whose daughter has it. Jennifer Brea, who has it, and who made this film, says there are a million cases in the United States, and seventeen million worldwide. That is more that there are cases in the world of multiple sclerosis. Yet unless you know someone with it, you have very likely never heard of it.

The horrors of this disease are expressed in a few letters. ME/CFS is the sort of umbrella name. Myalgic encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. The latter name is the most familiar. As the movie shows, there are jokes galore. It was not taken seriously for years.

But there are many other illnesses that people with ME/CFS may also have. You should see the hashtags that my 29 year old friend attaches to her Instagram posts. Here are but a few: Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, Mast Cell Activation Disorder, Dysautonomia, Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia, each one sounding worse than the other. And they are awful.

The people who have this, mostly women (85%) often refer to themselves as "Spoonies". The dictionary says "a disability metaphor - how much energy you have left to complete tasks before becoming exhausted".

People can be sensitive to sound, smell, air temperature. Sometimes they are unable to speak. They have "brain fog." Some, like my friend, get their nourishment through a port.

There is no day without pain. They often cannot remember what life without pain is like.

The film is available on Amazon Prime and YouTube. You may also buy the DVD. If you have never heard of any of this, the film will tell you what it is all about. If you have a friend with it, the film will help you understand the day-to-day hell which is their lives. The film educates and angers and makes one cry. We see the pain of those who have it, and the pain of those who love them.  I can't recommend it strongly enough. This is a very important subject.

I cannot wait for this movie!

Mrs Bale watches a movie on DVD

Two fellows in the movie Mid-August Lunch are sitting, drinking wine, and watching the world go by.

“Some weather.”

“You said it. Plenty hot.”

“It’s August. It’s hot.”

“It sure is."

My Friend Rockefeller - 2015 movie

Can you imagine a situation where you met someone and assumed he was the person he said he was, and then found out that everything he told you was a lie? What if he had been your friend, a business associate, a boyfriend, or indeed, even a husband? I would feel so ashamed, so betrayed, so stupid. Most of us think we are pretty good judges of character. But how do we really know?

If this is intrigues you, you might like to see a documentary film which is on Netflix streaming. It is called My Friend Rockefeller. I was riveted. I sat down expecting to just give it a try, and maybe quit after a few minutes, but I watched it straight through.

You may read more about it on various internet sites, including the IMDB site here. Click there only if you don't mind knowing the plot before you watch. I had just a very vague memory of hearing something about "Clark Rockefeller." There have been a few other tellings of this tale, including a couple fictional versions, but this is the real deal, the real story which is incredible and strange.

The official website is here, but again much is revealed. The story takes us from Germany to California, New York, Connecticut, Boston, and New Hampshire. It is done very well, and I was fascinated.

Like Sunday, Like Rain

Generally, in life or in the movies, friendships are between peers, often either the same age or at the same stage of life. But this movie, and my own life, proves this isn’t always so. When Tom and I were in our early twenties, we moved into my childhood home after my mother died. There were lots of new people on the street since I had grown up, and these people had children. A month after my mother died, we met a boy out in the field between our houses. He was about to turn nine. Through him we met all the kids on the street. While they were growing up, our house was the place to come and play. It was magic. We all just connected in this amazing, amazing way. And these kids are now in their late forties or fifties, and are still our dear friends.

That’s what Like Sunday, Like Rain is about. A true, probably lifelong, and definitely life-changing, friendship between a twelve-year old boy, Reggie and a twenty-three year old temporary nanny, Eleanor. They talk, they understand one another, they care about one another. This is a wonderful, wonderful movie, and the theme music that runs through it is exquisitely beautiful. 

This is a quiet, gentle film. I was captivated by it, and didn’t want it to end. There’s also a little treat for Green Day fans - Billie Joe Armstrong has a small role as Eleanor’s ex-boyfriend. I almost didn’t post the trailer because of the beginning of it. Honestly, that is the only loud part in the whole film. This is not a movie about an aggressive ex. His existence and their breakup is just the catalyst that gets her the nanny job. It is on Netflix Instant, and DVD.

The Intern

I was so pleased when I read Heroic Measures and it didn’t feature the older people or the dog dying. Those kinds of events seem to be standard fare in books and movies. It is much, much harder to write a book or make a movie about real, everyday people living mostly happy lives. Of course that isn’t necessarily the truth of life, but it is certainly a truth. There are a whole lot of happy, good people out there. They have their troubles and cares but they also have great joys, and I, for one, like to read about them in books or see them at the movies. 

I began watching The Intern with no previous knowledge. I knew who the main actors were and that’s it. Robert De Niro and Anne Hathaway. 

And I knew it was a Nancy Meyers movie. 

I love The Holiday, Something’s Gotta Give, The Parent Trap (the remake), and Father of the Bride (remake). I like her view of the world, and had high hopes that I’d like this one, too. And oh, how I did. I loved it. And Tom felt the same way. Here is how she describes her work:

Nancy Meyers knows who she is and who she isn’t.
What she isn’t is a filmmaker known for high-concept, ambitious stories or action sequences and stunts.
What she is, is a producer, writer and director known for “Something’s Gotta Give,” ”The Holiday” and “It’s Complicated” who creates well-developed characters having relationships that unfold on screen.
“You don’t come to my films for that amazing plot twist,” she said in a recent interview. “I’m not trying to put myself down but the plot isn’t sort of what stirs it all up. “
She says characters are “Where I put my energy. I want to make them people you care about. I just want to make them people you care about so you get invested as you tell the story. You’re in with me.”

Robert De Niro is a widower who misses having a purpose in his life. Even though he has money and friends he feels there is a space that needs filling. He sees an ad for a senior intern, and applies for the job. And the movie goes on from there. 

There aren’t the expected stereotypes. First of all the different generations in the company get along well together. Younger people listen to the older man. The young people are not superficial and vacuous. Every person in the movie seemed real to me. There were surprises all through the movie. I’d think, ‘well, I didn’t expect that.’ Good surprises. Small surprises. No one is perfect, no one can hold it all together all of the time - just like real life. And there's a delightful heist scene! 

I will add this spoiler, as I did with Heroic Measures, there’s a happy ending. The old fellow doesn’t get sick and die, and in fact, has a romance! The young people work on their problems.

This is a movie with much kindness and compassion and intelligence. One of the very best I’ve ever seen. 

Hopscotch

How do I explain why I love this 1980 movie so much? I must have seen it when it first came out, but since then I haven’t gone looking for it, or even remembered it particularly. But a while ago I watched it, and then watched it again, and again, and then finally bought the DVD. 

I think one of the reasons I love it is that the hero, Miles Kendig, played by Walter Matthau, is always in control. There is never a moment in the film when he is outsmarted or thwarted or in danger. Another reason the movie is so appealing is takes place in some beautiful locations - Salzburg, London, the English countryside, Savannah, and Munich.

Kendig is a savvy ex-CIA agent who decides to write his memoirs when the agency demotes him to an office job. He reconnects with an old girlfriend, played by Glenda Jackson. They have one of the best on-screen relationships ever. They really understand and deeply love one another. 

The movie is fast-paced and funny and relaxing because we know that Matthau will come out on top. Now that I have the DVD, I watch it as often as I like, and I never, ever tire of it. The cast is excellent, and Matthau’s son and step-daughter are also in the film which makes for a little extra fun. 

David Matthau, Herbert Lom, Ned Beatty, Sam Waterston

Another treat is that Kendig is a Mozart fan so there is a lot of beautiful music. There’s a great deal of humor - some slapstick and some intellectual and I love it all. 

Here are a couple quotes from the movie that I found interesting. 

At one point there is a discussion about how many publishers are in London, and the answer was

A dozen or so major houses. Perhaps 30 or 40 small presses.

I wonder how many there are now. I’d guess a lot fewer.

And there's a funny line spoken by Isobel -

An American without ice in his drink is unthinkable, if not unconstitutional.

This is certainly true of all the Americans I know, but not this one. I never put ice in my cosmo. 

You may read a great review of Hopscotch here. And you may watch it on Hulu Plus.

If you buy the DVD, there is a wonderful conversation with the writer of the book, which won the Edgar Award in 1976, Brian Garfield and the director of the film Ronald Neame who says that Hopscotch "didn’t get very good reviews but it was tremendously popular."

Here is the trailer

Judi Dench short movie

There's a wonderful 2011 short (about ten minutes) film on youtube called Friend Request Pending which stars Judi Dench. It is simply delightful. And here it is!

A Child's Christmas in Wales movie

The movie A Child’s Christmas in Wales takes on a whole new meaning for me now that I am a grandmother. We first watched it with our Margaret and Michael when they were very young. I identified with the mother, and now suddenly I see the grandfather, played wonderfully by Denholm Elliot, as my contemporary. When did I change from a mother in her thirties/forties to a grandmother in her sixties? It doesn’t seem real in a way because I see this movie every single year, and it doesn’t change at all. 

I took special notice of a particular part of the movie. Geraint has been telling his grandson about Christmas when he was a boy. His daughter, the boy’s mother says, “thanks, dad, for keeping an eye on him," and he responds, “it’s no trouble, it’s a pleasure. He sits there good as gold while I ramble on. He seems interested, too.”  

This may be the last great gift of a lifetime - the grandchild (or great grandchild) who hangs on your every word. The way Campbell Walker and Hazel Nina look at me sometimes, I begin to feel like the genius of the world when I’m just telling them about say, the KitchenAid mixer, or remote controls, or Jack Johnson. 

The first year I began writing the blog I posted this as a quote du jour:

Monday, December 25, 2006

Looking through my bedroom window, out into

the moonlight and the unending smoke-colored snow,

I could see the lights in the windows

of all the other houses on our hill and hear

the music rising from them up the long, steadily

falling night. I turned the gas down, I got

into bed. I said some words to the close and

holy darkness, and then I slept.

After the grandfather says these words to the boy, he looks down and his grandson is asleep. And then the most tender look comes upon his face as he kisses the boy goodnight, and the boy gently touches his face. I’ve always loved this scene, but now. Oh, I know the feeling behind that look. The love, the amazing, amazing love for a grandchild is in his eyes. I know now. I thank God I lived to experience this. 

The story is one of continuity. The grandfather is living with his daughter, her husband, and their son in the very house he grew up in. He gives the boy a snow globe he was given when young. The boy sleeps in the same room his grandfather slept in. Since my children’s children have been born, they speak often of their childhoods. They want Hazel Nina and Campbell Walker to experience what they did. Margaret in fact showed Hazel A Child’s Christmas in Wales as her first movie. At one point the boy says your Christmas as a boy is just like my Christmas, and we see that yes, in many ways it is. 

I’ve actually bought a second copy of the movie just in case something happens to mine. If you don’t own it, you may see it on YouTube here.

To me it is the essence of Christmas and family and indeed, life itself. 

An August Evening at the Movies - Ida

This beautifully photographed film begins with Ida about to take her vows to become a nun. The Mother Superior tells her that before she does so, Ida should visit her long-lost aunt. Ida is an orphan and the aunt is her only relative. The nuns appealed to the aunt many times over the years to come and take Ida away from the orphanage. She never replied. Ida has no interest in the venture, but does as she is told. 

Her aunt Wanda is just about the polar opposite to Ida. She drinks, smokes, and picks up men at bars. We learn that ten years back she was quite a prominent judge. Wanda tells her niece about the mother and father she never knew. Ida’s mother was Wanda’s beloved sister. Having been brought up Catholic, Ida now finds out that she is Jewish. Wanda and Ida go on a search to find out the circumstances of the parents' deaths during the war, and where they are buried. 

The time is the early 1960s, and the place is Poland. The film is shot in black and white, and we see the desolation, the crumbling buildings, the isolated farms. There are many silences in the movie. The viewer actually sees the characters thinking. It is such a relief from all the talk, talk, talk that surrounds us. I thought Ida was very moving, and visually stunning; a truly wonderful film.

Ida is a very personal film. We see these women, each bereft in their own ways, dealing with lingering hatred of the Jews. There isn’t a lot of kindness shown to them, and when it does appear, it is from the younger generation, for whom the war is ancient history. There is some wonderful music in the movie - pop, jazz, and classical. 

There is a great interview with the director, Pawel Pawlikowski here. It is available on DVD from Netflix next month. 

I first heard of Ida in a review in the New Yorker, which you may read here. The piece is brilliant, with much information about Poland. The official film site is here. And there is a beautiful review here.

Romantics Anonymous (Les Émotifs Anonymes)

The 2010 film Romantics Anonymous 

is my first offering for Paris in July.

It is a sweet and lovely little movie about two people, played by Isabelle Carré and Benoît Poelvoorde, who belong together. 

They meet when Angélique interviews for a job at Jean-René's chocolate factory, a small business of only four chocolate makers, 

which is on the edge of bankruptcy. Angélique is hired as a sales representative. When she goes to visit a client, she is told that no one wants the company's chocolate anymore because it is an old-fashioned kind. I can't imagine what that must mean, but it is very clear that the product is not what people want to buy. Angélique comes up with an inventive, and quite hilarious, idea to save the company.

Alongside the business aspect, we have a dear love story between the owner and his new employee. They are both terribly shy. He goes to a counselor and she attends 'romantics anonymous' meetings for people who are very, very timid. 

The joy of the film is watching what we hope will happen, happen. 

I just loved Romantics Anonymous. It is available (at least in the US) on Netflix Instant and DVD. This movie is one of pure delight; a true romantic comedy with a happy ending that is the perfect one for this couple. It makes the viewer feel wonderful about life. I couldn't ask for more.

A Wednesday evening at the movies - Quartet

Oh, how I loved Quartet. It was wonderful - the acting, the story, the music, the setting - a perfect movie. It was uplifting, yet realistic about aging. The actors were excellent. Tom Courtenay may have the kindest face I've ever seen. The gleam in Billy Connolly's eye hasn't diminished a bit. Pauline Collins still has a kewpie doll look and seems untouched by time. And Maggie Smith. Well, what can one say. She goes from strength to strength. All the talk about there being no roles for older actors seems to be going by the wayside. As the boomer generation ages, I think we'll see more and more films tailored to their sensibilities, though I know I would have loved Quartet in my twenties just as I do now. The movie is set at the fictional Beecham House for Retired Musicians. The real location was Hedsor House.

The movie is peopled with real musicians and singers as well as actors. In a marvelous touch, the credits show photos of the people in the movie and how they looked when younger in one of their acting or musician jobs. Quartet is directed by Dustin Hoffman. Along with the aforementioned actors, we see Trevor Peacock who actually made an appearance on the blog in his role as Jim Trott in The Vicar of Dibley; Andrew Sachs, 'our Manuel' from Fawlty Towers; and Michael Gambon who played such a good Maigret, and was famously in Gosford Park. 

The young people in the film are not portrayed as patronizing the older ones. There's a good scene where the Tom Courtenay character is teaching a class about opera to teens. You can see that he is really getting through to them, and that he is listening and learning from them. He tells his students that opera used to be for people like them, regular, casually dressed people, but then the rich took it over. At the end, the doctor at Beecham House, played so well by Sheridan Smith, says how the residents give younger people hope for their futures.

As always, I don't want to say too much, except see it! In my little theatre, where Tom sells the tickets and runs the projector on Wednesdays, we all clapped at the end. 

The official movie site is here. I thought of posting the trailer, but honestly, it comes off as a bit silly. The film itself is so much more. 

Today's movie - The Red Balloon

The Red Balloon is a beautiful movie in every way. The story is magical, and so appealing to children and the child within us all. Who wouldn't love being chosen by a balloon? A balloon that obeyed us and stayed with us as we went about our day. Pascal is about six years old when the red balloon appears in his life. He is delighted by it, but also accepts the situation, as children do. In case you haven't seen it, I don't want to say much more about the story itself, but I do want to talk about the look of the movie. It takes place in Paris about ten years after WW II ended. The red balloon is a startling bit of color in a gray, stone city. Very few people wear bright colors. Children and adults are in mostly browns, blacks, and grays. I read that the setting is the Belleville area of Paris, which was in such bad shape that it was all torn down in the years after this movie was made. I thought I saw waste water draining away along the sidewalks. There were areas the young boy walked that were barren with uneven ground and holes. The stark setting made the balloon all the more miraculous.




The boy Pascal's real name is Pascal, and he is the son of the director, Albert Lamorisse. Part of the joy of The Red Balloon is the sense that maybe, just maybe, this could really happen. Wonderful, wonderful film which won many awards when it came out in 1956.

This movie is an offering for Paris In July.

I watched it on Netflix Instant, but it is also available on YouTube. It is only about 35 minutes long. You'll never forget it.

Paris in July 2012

I'm joining in this fun event for the month of July. With 'rules' like the following, how could I resist?! You may go here for more info or to sign up.

Watched The Red Balloon on July 12.
Reminisced about our 1971 trip on July 14.Listened to Françoise Hardy on July 19.
Shared a poem by Arthur Rimbaud on July 23.

There will be no rules or targets in terms of how much you need to do or complete in order to be a part of Paris in July - just blog about anything French and you can join in.

Some ideas for the month might include:

Reading a French book - fiction or non-fiction -

Watching a French movie -

Listening to French music -

Cooking French food -

Experiencing French art, architecture or travel (or remembering travel experiences)-

Or anything else French inspired you can think of...

I can't wait to see this!

It's coming to our little theatre the end of June. SO many of my favorite actors and actresses are in it. I may go twice! (And I've ordered the book, of course)

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

Have you seen or heard of this wonderful animated short movie which won an Academy award? I so loved it, and had tears in my eyes at the end. It is fifteen minutes long, and you may see it here.

Feed the Fish

Having lived my entire life in the north, I adore movies which are set in northern climes, particularly small towns during the winter. There aren't a lot of them. Grumpy Old Men is my favorite, which I watch each December. This year I discovered a new favorite, a movie I saw on Netflix Instant called Feed the Fish. It is a gentle romantic comedy. The story is this: Joe Peterson, played by Ross Partridge, the author of a very odd but successful children's book is suffering from writer's block. His girlfriend is annoyed with him. He has conversations with his goldfish. The fellow isn't in good shape. He comes home one day to find the goldfish bowl on the toilet, empty. Joe's girlfriend's brother encourages him to come to Wisconsin where he is going to participate in the Polar Bear Plunge on Christmas day (a real event in which people jump into frigid Lake Michigan!). There are a few 'quirky' perhaps outrageous moments like the badger bite in a particular body part, but somehow the movie is so quiet and understated and sweet that it doesn't have the same impact it would in sillier, more offensive movies.

The theme is one I love, that of a person being healed by a country setting and its people. Joe joins a choir because the baritone has suddenly died, he becomes smitten with the kind local girl who is a waitress and a hockey player named Kif, played by Katie Aselton. In Norse mythology Kif is the wife of the god Thor, and is associated with the earth. Joe strikes up a friendship with an older man who happens to be her grandfather, played by Barry Corbin, familiar to fans of Northern Exposure. Tony Shalhoub co-produces and plays the local sheriff, father of Kif, and the movie was written and directed by his nephew, Michael Matzdorff. His brother and sister are also in the movie. They hail from Wisconsin so the movie is a kind of homage to the land they love. The movie is set in Door County Wisconsin, one of the prettiest places I've ever seen.






This is a contribution to the Fa La La La Films section of The Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge.

How About You

I know it isn't even Thanksgiving yet in the US, but The Christmas Spirit Reading Challenge begins today, and I couldn't wait another minute to write about this movie for the Fa La La La Films section of the challenge. I watched How About You on Netflix Instant a week ago. It is a wonderful, uplifting, and unique film about life in a home for older people.

The movie opens with Bobby Darin's version of the old standard, How About You. This is one of my favorite songs and it is a fun one because singers often change the lyrics; for example, 'I'm mad about good books; can't get my fill' is followed variously by:

and James Durante's looks, they give me a thrill
and Franklin Roosevelt's looks, they give me a thrill

In Bobby Darin's version he says, 'Mr. Kennedy's looks' and later 'Mrs. Darin's looks'. I so wish there were a video of him singing it, but you may listen to his version here. The song is on his album, Love Swings which you may buy (as I did) at iTunes for a penny under ten dollars - a great bargain!

How About You is based on Maeve Binchy's story The Hard Core, from her collection called This Year It Will Be Different, which I wrote about last December. I read it again after seeing the movie and though there were several changes, the heart of the story remains. The movie in fact really brings the story and the characters to life. Kate, played by Orla Brady runs a home in Ireland for older people, a residential home with a nurse on the premises. It is quickly failing because of four disagreeable rascals who drive away people who want to live there, and the employees who work there. One of the four is so bad she has been banned from all other elder facilities. These four would be labeled enfants terribles if they were younger! They argue, they criticize, they mock, they demand. And they are played by four of the greatest actors around:

Joss Ackland,

Imelda Staunton and Brenda Fricker,

and Vanessa Redgrave.

Oh, Vanessa. In her later years, she seems even more beautiful, more luminous than when she was young. In Letters To Juliet, she played a romantic heroine who reconnects with an old lover, who was her old lover in real life, and with whom she has recently gotten back together - Franco Nero. If you are interested, there is a nice interview with them.

In How About You the younger sister Ellie, played by Hayley Atwell has left college because she wants to go around the world with friends and her boyfriend. She has given up her apartment to save money, and so, a bit reluctantly and because she is quite desperate for help, Kate takes her on. She moves in and does cleaning and serving duties. Just before Christmas their mother has a stroke and Kate must go be with her. Though it is against regulations she leaves Ellie solely in charge. All the residents, the nurse, and staff have gone off for the holidays, leaving the four who have no place to go. And that is probably enough said. I want you to be able to discover and experience the joy of this film on your own, as I did.

There may be poignancy in stories of older people but poignant is not the same as tragic. Tragic is the death of a young person. The death of an older person is normal, the way it should be. In the movie, there is one dying woman who looks back at her life and says it was wonderful. She loved her late husband, and with a twinkle in her eye says she hopes to see him again.

Joan O'Hara,

who played the dying woman actually died the same year the film was released.

How About You offers surprises rather than stereotypes, joy rather than sorrow, and new beginnings rather than staying the same. I really loved this movie, and it was a perfect way to begin my holiday viewing.