May 2006
	by Max (with Walt Oleksy)	view previous issues here

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THE WHITE COUNTESS

The final film of the classy, superior British moviemaking team of Merchant-Ivory (producer Ismail Merchant died during production last year; his partner was director James Ivory) is one of the best movies I’ve seen in the past year. It is old-fashioned moviemaking: mature, intelligent, many-faceted, beautifully mounted, and leaves you feeling you haven’t wasted two hours or the price of admission. Ralph Fiennes, my favorite actor today, plays a British diplomat in 1936 Shanghai who is blinded in a terrorist bombing. Natasha Richardson plays a refugee White Russian countess who works as a hostess at a Chinese night club where the two meet. Their lives come together when Fiennes opens his own more elegant club, hires Richardson as hostess, and calls it The White Countess. The club is Fiennes’ attempt to shut out the chaos and tragedy that surround him in the dark as the Japanese prepare to invade Eastern China, an event that begins as the movie reaches its dramatic conclusion. It may not rank as the best of the Merchant-Ivory team that gave us THE REMAINS OF THE DAY, A ROOM WITH A VIEW, and HOWARD’S END, but it is head and shoulders above most other recent films and they would indeed be hard to beat. Handsome Fiennes, again not even nominated for an Oscar for this or for THE CONSTANT GARDENER, shows what great acting is, while beautiful Richardson again demonstrates she is among our finest actresses. Vanessa Redgrave and Lynn Redgrave are also in the film, but almost lost in small supporting roles. From Sony Pictures.

Max’s rating: two paws up and lots of “woo woos!” I give the same rating to these next three films.

AN UNFINISHED LIFE

You may not even have heard of this film – it came and went with hardly a notice – but it is one of the best in a long time. Robert Redford plays a grizzled, bitter Wyoming rancher down on his luck and life; Morgan Freeman his aging ranch hand and best friend; and Jennifer Lopez plays the widow of Redford’s adored son whom Redford blames for the auto accident that killed the young man. It is a film of rare emotional power involving the bad twists life can take, relationships and blame, and exercises in burying the past and the dead. Directed by Lasse Hallstrom who gave us THE CIDER HOUSE RULES and CHOCOLATE. From Miramax.

MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA

A fictionalized look into the life of a poor Japanese girl from a fishing village who becomes one of the most famous geishas (women who professionally pleasure men) of the 1930s, based on the novel by Arthur Golden. It’s a great life, apparently, until Japan during World War II changes even a geisha’s life. Nominated for six Academy Awards, it is beautifully filmed and acted by three beautiful and top Chinese actresses including my favorite, Gong Li. It may not be historically accurate as to the life of a geisha, but the film recreates the period beautifully and tells an engrossing story. From Sony Pictures.

THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA

I have been very disappointed in the two reigning box-office champions of fantasy – The HARRY POTTER series and also THE LORD OF THE RINGS – (are they really for children?) But I was very pleasantly surprised to find NARNIA to be so enjoyable and that I can highly recommend it for children and the entire family. Unlike the other two series, I can understand the plot and it is not filmed with such dark scenes you can’t tell a person from a tree. It puzzles me why moviemakers spend a million dollars or more on each scene and then film them so dark that you can’t see anything. The children in NARNIA are very watchable; James McAvoy makes a charming, whimsical faun; and the animated badgers are adorable. The lion is a true king of the beasts –- don’t we wish America had an authority figure of such intelligence, compassion, and leadership in our dense forest of discontent? From Buena Vista.

Also recommended this month:

THE CAMOMILE LAWN

An excellent new British film adapted from Mary Wesley’s novel by Ken Taylor who adapted THE JEWEL IN THE CROWN for television. Five cousins return to their uncle’s mansion on the Cornish coast after half a century to spend a summer in which they reflect on the changes World War II made on their lives since they had gathered there in the happier, more innocent prewar years. The strong cast in the darkly humorous movie includes Felicity Kendal, Paul Eddington, Jennifer Ehle, Tara Fitzgerald, Rosemary Harris, Claire Bloom, and one of my favorite and least-appreciated actors, Nicholas le Prevost. The movie comes in a 2-DVD boxed set from Acorn Media.

FLICKERS

This is a delightful and heartwarming drama set during the fledgling silent-film industry in Britain. Bob Hoskins plays a lovable Cockney rogue who aspires to fame and fortune as a movie producer. Romance enters his life as he teams with a haughty, hypercritical woman who becomes a major investor in his quest. As seen on Masterpiece Theatre, the film comes from Acorn Media in a 3-DVD boxed set.

TAGGART

A tougher British detective series, this stars Mark McManus as Detective Chief Inspector Jim Taggart, a gritty, sarcastic gumshoe who may stretch the law a bit to get his killer. “A perfect mix of razor-sharp humor and knife-edge violence,” says one critic of what has become the longest running police detective drama on British television. From BFS Entertainment.

THE LAST DETECTIVE

Based on the Dangerous Davies novels by Leslie Thomas, Series 1 of this light-hearted new detective series stars Peter Davison (the young brother in ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL) as Constable Davies, a likeable if sometimes muddled sleuth whose superior tells him he is the last detective he would assign to a major crime-solving case. The 2-DVD boxed set is from Acorn Media.

SPLIT SECOND

Clive Owen, one of the best young Brit actors, stars as a corporate lawyer at the breaking point from stresses of work and family. When he does snap, he wreaks havoc on his own and others’ lives. Not a pretty story, but a very competent exploration of the consequences of a life gone haywire and deadly. From BFS Entertainment.

THE SCULPTRESS
This is a movie based on a real British murder case in which Olive Martin, a convicted murderess, earned her nickname because of the gruesome way she killed and dismembered two victims. She is now serving a life prison sentence. The movie is based on a book that suggests Martin may not have been the killer but is trying to protect someone else. A strong movie for those who like very gritty mysteries, from WGBH Boston Video.

More classic movies are out on DVD this month. My favorites include these three boxed sets from Universal:

MARLENE DIETRICH: THE GLAMOUR COLLECTION (including FLAME OF NEW ORLEANS and the very unusual and great MOROCCO).

CAROLE LOMBARD: THE GLAMOUR COLLECTION (including HANDS ACROSS THE TABLE and THE PRINCESS COMES ACROSS).

MAE WEST: THE GLAMOUR COLLECTION (including the hilarious MY LITTLE CHICKADEE with W.C. Fields).

TENNESSEE WILLIAMS (six of his plays that have become movies including the DVD debuts of SWEET BIRD OF YOUTH and THE NIGHT OF THE IGUANA), from Warner.

THE AGATHA CHRISTIE MISS MARPLE MOVIE COLLECTION (the Agatha Christie novels filmed in the 1960s with Margaret Rutherford as one of the most entertaining women detectives in the sleuthing genre, from Warner.

THE REAL DA VINCI CODE investigates the controversies involving questions raised by the novel that suggests Leonardo Da Vinci planted clues in his paintings that support claims about a relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalene and other issues involving the Holy Grail. From Acorn Media.

BROADWAY’S LOST TREASURES COLLLECTION
A 4-DVD boxed set of Broadway musical show-stoppers and dramatic highlights from the annual Tony Award broadcasts. Starring Julie Andrews, Ethel Merman, Angela Lansbury, Morgan Freeman, James Earl Jones, Maggie Smith and others. Special features include 14 bonus musical performances not seen on PBS. This is a lot of top entertainment in one handsome set of DVDs. From Acorn Media.

THE PERFECT CORPSE
An investigation into the mystery surrounding the discovery of a headless torso found in an Irish peat bog that may have been a murder dating back 2,000 years. NOVA looks into whether the body and others found in other bogs in recent years were scarifies to the gods or executions of wrongdoers. From WGBH Boston Video.

BIRD FLU: HOW SAFE ARE WE?
Part of the Rx for Survival – A Global Health Challenge series, this WGBH/NOVA science DVD narrated by Brad Pitt reports on the avian flu health risk and efforts to strengthen global public health systems. From WGBH Boston Video.

EXTRAORDINARY ANIMALS
From marching penguins in Antarctica to killer whales in Australia, this 6-DVD boxed set shows us rare and familiar creatures in incredible stories of survival. Also available separately, the set also includes adventures of sea otters, seals, dolphins, pandas and others. From the Emmy-winning PBS television series NATURE and released by Questar Entertainment. Wonderful animal documentaries for the whole family.

GET IN SHAPE
Two new exercise DVDs this month: DUNCAN WONG YOGIC ARTS: AWAKENING LEVEL incorporates elements of martial arts and Thai massage in a workout that reportedly reinvented Madonna’s “rock-hard body”: for her 2004 concert tour.
Wong, a former martial arts champion, has created a practice that appeals to those who want inner peace and a chiseled torso. From Acacia and Acorn Media. And RICHARD SIMMONS SUPERTOWN: TOTALLY TONIN’, new high-energy workouts from the striped-shorts guru of exercise featuring the hit tunes of the 1980s. From Somerset Entertainment.

A BEAR NAMED WINNIE
This is the true story about how A.A. Milne wrote the beloved Winnie the Pooh stories. Milne and his son Christopher met the real Winnie at the London Zoo in 1926. As a cub, the bear had been a pet of a Canadian army lieutenant, a veterinarian serving in World War I in 1914. He named her Winnie after his home town of Winnipeg. To tell more would be to spoil the fun. The whole family will love this true story of the love between a man and a bear who traveled with the officer and other young soldiers to England and then… but I won’t tell the rest. A wonderful, warm and furry Canadian television movie now from ABC DVD.

With many school budgets so tight as more money is spent on classroom technology than for art, drama, music, and dance,
THE TOY CASTLE is a new DVD series that offers to make up some of the difference. Three imaginative ballet stories danced and mimed by the Royal Winnipeg Ballet encourage creative play on this premiere DVD of programs that first appeared on PBS television and won international awards including the Gemini Award for best pre-school series.
From Questar Entertainment.

I’ve been reading newspaper articles about adults taking kids to R-rated movies. Some parents apparently are avoiding the cost of baby-sitters by taking their children including toddlers with them to movie theaters to watch movies full of violence and sexual acts. One mother said she saw a year-old baby and 4-and 5-year-olds who were crying, they were so frightened by the blood and gore on the theater screen. “Kids up to the age of 6 or 7 don’t know the difference between fantasy and reality,” said Joanne Cantor, professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “What they see, they experience as if it were happening.” Cantor is the author of a helpful guidebook, Mommy, I’m Scared: How TV and Movies Frighten Children and What We Can Do to Protect Them. Probably the best way to do that is not to let them watch violence and sex on TV and surely not take them along to the theater to see such movies.

See you next month at the same fire hydrant.