Change Your Image
drgordon-caldwell
Reviews
Play It Again, Sam (1972)
Play it again - watch it again!
I remember the week I saw Casablanca and Play it Again Sam for the first time. Casablanca so authentically over the top romantic and Play it Again Sam so authentically and reverentially funny. Now about 20 years on multi-region DVD players allow us to see Play it Again Sam in the UK. What a great comedy film! Usually I am not too keen on Woody Allen, but in this one there is wonderful humorous dialogue matched with some Jacques Tati class silent movie style comedy. I have had to watch the "Blind Date" chapter twice tonight to see him wrestling with his jacket, dropping the girl's coat and finally flinging the Oscar Peterson album nonchalantly over his shoulder - the rest of the cast are biting their hands to control themselves. Makes fun of, and honours Casablanca at the same time.
Gregory's Girl (1980)
Better than Napoleon Dynamite
Gregory's Girl is a forerunner of films like Napoleon Dynamite and 40 Year Old Virgin and subtle like the former, not obvious like the latter. If you were ever an innocent adolescent and can recall your first infatuation with a girl with a wry smile, then this will make you laugh at yourself and cry at the same time - what more can you ask from a film? I can still remember the cinema, the seat, the friends I first saw this film with - myself British and a friend Ausralian, both weeping with laughter as we recognised ourselves in that gawky Scottish lad, and his hilarious younger sister. Bill Forsyth went on to the film "Local Hero", which is also right up there with the greats in my scoring. He made films about real people and all our idiosyncrasies, and made me feel and enjoy at the same time. Favourite scene follows favourite scene - when Gregory walks in front of a car, his father is the driving instructor, when Gregory lies on the ground with "not" Gregory's Girl, held onto the surface of the earth by "the mysterious force of gravity", the boys out taking photos of a nurse undressing using so many elephants at F8, Gregory spraying deodorant onto his shirt, his friend the expert chef, etc. I guess many Americans find the Scottish language incomprehensible - so put on the subtitles! I can understand and enjoy Napoleon - you can enjoy Gregory!
To Sir, with Love (1967)
So many lessons about learning and teaching and Sidney Poitier as well!
Set in the mid 1960s Mark Thackeray has arrived in the UK, as a black British Citizen. He is from a poor background, and has a degree in engineering. He cannot find a job, and decides to work as a teacher in the East End of London. He has had no training to teach. His class is in its final term, before the pupils move out into the world. The pupils are an interesting range of characters, initially defiant and challenging. The degree of antipathy and disruptive behaviour look mild compared with today's images of classroom life in deprived areas, however the characteristics are the same. Mr Thackeray illustrates and teaches dignity and self respect, and one by one wins the class over, with his charismatic steadiness, honesty and personal morality. His is not the extrovert "all together now" leadership of the teachers in "Dead Poet's Society" and "School of Rock", which tends to result in an "in crowd" and "out crowd". Mr Thackeray sets the pupils free to be true to themselves, to be in his words "adults". One of the female pupils tries to "stand too close", and he stands off, but in the penultimate scene, she has grown up and they can dance together in secure distance. Sidney Poitier fills the film with characteristic handsome dignity.
The themes around racial prejudice are handled subtly rather than head on. Britain in the 1960s is portrayed as a tolerant welcoming society, with the humour of humanity drawing people together. Comments about colour and race are made out of inexperience not out of prejudice. The main characters see through each others colours to their personalities. I could sense that Thackeray had experienced prejudice and grown through it, to his full character.
Of course the film is "romantic" and idealised, but that is partly how film has its impact, to overemphasise the messages to ensure they get through.
Definitely one of my top films! Chapter Minutes Comment 13 "I don't know what you know, read from your workbooks" a teacher must find out what the learner already knows.
20 "What they need is a good hiding" the unsuccessful teacher recommends the bullying approach to class control.
28 He loses his temper, leaves the class and takes time out in the staff room and gets support.
30 He realises the class will soon leave school for "the world" and they need to learn to survive "out there", and decides to treat them like adults. He sets rules for speaking and behaviour and teaches them self respect. Uses "front runner" pupil to turn the class 35 "What will we talk about, Sir?" ""Anything you want" within the rules of behaviour he will allow any discussion on any topic.
40 He approaches the head about a class excursion "I would like to try
" demonstrating calm reasoned leadership.
41 "What would you like to talk about today?" teacher gives control of the learning to the class, and this leads into discussion about marriage.
44 "I think marriage is no way of life for the weak, the selfish, or insecure." Just a brilliant quote! 44 "So long as we learn it does not matter who teaches us." Another wonderful quote.
47 The class teach him Cockney slang a teacher should always be ready to learn.
56 "I teach you the truth, well my truths
.." To thyself be true! 59 "You are getting involved with your children!" yes the teacher must be involved, but avoid the "Stand too close" sexual involvement. His handling of the too close girl is a lesson in respect.
60 The PE teacher is a bully. Mr Thackeray defuses the situation, and then teaches the class adult behaviour.
63 "Are you going to use a weapon every time you get angry? Did you behave like an adult?" 64 "If you apologise because you are afraid, you are a child not a man." Another amazing quote.
65 "People make mistakes everyone deserves a second chance."
Mar adentro (2004)
No easy answers - true to life and death
I bought this film because I thought that its theme of Euthanasia might be of interest to junior doctors and medical students. There is not a doctor in sight, and the themes of life, death, disability, family, friendship, society, religion and the law are dealt with in a living manner. The questions have no easy answers, no one is free of the ties of love and tradition, and even as Ramon dies I only felt confusions and questions still circling his bed. This was no trite "euthanasia is right" film, but showed all the grey painful areas of dying, love, and family. The only wrong stance to take in euthanasia is that it is a simple issue! I found the film very dramatic and realistic - these people are like living humans in a real world - it could almost have been a "fly on the wall documentary". Oh by the way it is in Spanish with English subtitles - I knew no Spanish, but by the end of the film I knew the characters. Watch this film if you need to think about life before, during and after life.!
Paris, Texas (1984)
Beautiful Pain
I find the scene where Travis talks with Jane through the one way mirror, very powerful and emotional. The dialogue is slow, tense, and the scene full of dramatic irony. The closest the two can get is hands separated by glass, as Travis negotiates his son back to his wife. Ry Cooder's stark spare music matches the whole beautiful painful film.One of my favourite films - and free too with the Sunday Times - a miracle! I saw this when it first came out, yet I could remember nearly every scene, and had a spooky experience on the 395 on the way to a skiing holiday sitting in the diner,which features early in the film! Slow, powerful film - stick with it - it will stick with you!
Fitzcarraldo (1982)
Follow your dreams
Fitcarraldo has a dream to have Grand Opera performed in the Amazon Jungle and goes to enormous lengths and overcomes innumerable obstacles and set backs to see his dream come to life. He even has a whole steam ship winched up a hill by Amazonian Indians, but their shared effort is to fulfil a different dream, which scuppers Fitzcarraldo's plans. Undeterred he sells the ship, and uses the proceeds to hire the Opera Company, who perform from the decks. Beautiful filming, wonderful Caruso singing, manic acting, and a powerful message to keep on if you believe in a dream and want to see your dream come true. So good I did not even notice the dubbing!