Leave no Trace

Seen at the Star Cinema in Eaglehawk VIC. And seen by Cecil alone as Bea is away :-(

Cecil says: I really liked this film about a father and daughter who live outside mainstream society, first in Oregon and then in Washington State. It’s actually a coming-of-age film, though not in the usual Hollywood way.

Tom, really well played by Thomasin McKenzie (did they give the character that name only after casting, I wonder?), is a resourceful teenager who is learning how to cover her tracks in the woods, how to pick and cook mushrooms and how to survive in the wild of the woods (though the film makes it seem far from wild, and actually extremely serene).

But as the film develops, you realise that she is in fact just following her Dad wherever he goes, and he is the more restless one. There’s a vague reference to the loss of his wife (she barely remembers her Mum), and lots of hints that Will (Ben Foster) has come back from some tour of duty with the armed services and suffers nightmares and probably PTSD as a result.

Tom actually quite likes some of the places they briefly stop in. She enjoys community, meeting others, and quickly settles before her dad wants to move on again.

The film is made with Tom as the central character. We learn more about her than about her Dad, and as they move on yet again, we as viewers share Tom’s frustration at her Dad’s need for constant movement.

I loved the shack community in Washington State, with the wonderful woman who keeps bees, and the older couple who sing lovely harmonies by the campfire.

It’s the side to America Bea and I loved when we lived there, even though we didn’t actually meet such marginal communities ourselves, but it showed that sense of community and togetherness that we did see a lot of, and it felt a million miles away from the America of Trump supporters we see more of on the TV usually.

I won’t spoil the ending for those who haven’t seen the film yet, but there’s something very mature about Tom in the final scenes, as she allows herself to feel emotions but takes a decision that goes with her heart.  

I found it very thought-provoking and atmospheric, peaceful and insightful. Not a rip-roaring tale, but a film very suited to my mood that sunny Sunday in October.

***.5

Mary Shelley

Seen at the Theatre Royal in Castlemaine, VIC

Cecil says: A second film in a day is a bit like having that second coffee in the morning: the second one has to be really top quality to be satisfying because the first one met the addictive need. 

Sadly, Mary Shelley just wasn’t quite good enough to warrant being our second film, and by the end I was wondering how long there was still left to go, and how many more extra bits they could add to the story.

I wasn’t alone in this, though. The woman next to us got her mobile phone out half way through and began reading stuff off it, much to my annoyance. She moved after a few minutes, but when I glanced back some time later, she was still in the cinema, on the back row and still on her phone.

So that’s at least two of us who thought Mary Shelley wasn’t as gripping as we had hoped.

I did get caught up a few times, and enjoyed learning about the connections between Shelley and Byron, Shelley and Wollstonecroft, and even to learn that Mary Shelley was with the poet Shelley and took his name. I must admit I hadn’t even known that beforehand.

But somehow it didn’t retain my attention. I found myself observing the action on the screen, wondering why this felt like a 6^th form end-of-year production (was it the hair, the look, the acting, the script?); wondering if it would have worked better as an 8-part TV drama? And wishing they’d just get on with producing Frankenstein!!

Byron was the worst, somehow. Felt a bit like someone trying to be Alan Rickman in Robin Hood. All evil and doing terrible deeds.

The process of writing was interesting. How an idea is born and how it takes on a concrete form with characters and plot developing as you experience things in life.

It was tragic how all these talented (if aimless) people died so young, and extraordinary that most of the things that happened to them happened in their teens. Maybe that’s why it felt like that 6^th form production. They were all supposed to be 6^th form age…

***

Bea says: A very interesting story, which despite having a degree in English Literature I knew precious little about - like Cecil I hadn't even realised that the "Shelley" in her name was from the poet Shelley, and certainly had no idea her mother was Mary Wollstonecraft! 

The story was strong enough for me to remain interested; but again, as Cecil says, it did rather feel like a 6th form play (I suspect the makeup and costume designers might have been young...).  Certainly made the whole Romantic poets thing look a lot less romantic; and didn't bear comparison with On Chesil Beach, which we had seen right before.

**

On Chesil Beach

Seen at the Theatre Royal, Castlemaine, VIC

Bea says: I was keen to see this after reading Ian McEwan's On Chesil Beach when it first came out in the late 2000s; and wondered how well they would deal with the theme of repressed sex in post war Britain.

I can certainly remember an interesting conversation with my father-in-law about it, who said the novel rather hit a nerve for him - only slightly older than the protagonists in the novel, and film. 

The story centres on Edward (Billy Howle) and Florence's (Saoirse Ronan) wedding night, and their lack of knowledge and experience of sex, leading to a (spoiler alert) disastrous experience and swift annulment of their marriage.  The novel is able to focus more on their internal dialogue and on the what-might-have-been; but the film manages to convey their youth, and the first signs of the beginning of the changing social system for post war generations, which Edward and Florence just slightly miss out on, and also, and most importantly that things tend to turn out ok in the long run, even if it wasn't what we thought would or should happen at the time. 

That was something I took from the book, and although I think the ending was embellished a bit in the film, it still came across, if with less of a light touch, and is what keeps this story from being depressing.

Loved the acting and direction.  Howle and Ronan both give excellent, understated performances and the director keeps it tight.  Not sure however if one could actually complete a long walk (or run) along Chesil Beach in ballet flats however...

***1/2

Cecil says: I actually enjoyed On Chesil Beach. I like period dramas, even if the ‘period’ is now inching its way into my lifetime, and this film’s last scenes are actually set in 2007. But seeing Chesil Beach on film was wonderfully evocative for me of exciting holidays as a child down on the Dorset coast.

The sea was calm for all the scenes shot in this film, but the sound of waves crashing over the pebbles, and that amazing shaped beach, which is so visible in the film, were favourites of mine as Young Cecil.

I really enjoyed the storyline too, with its awkward undertones of sexual frustrations, connections made but then lost, and the conventions of the early 60s, still holding people back before the Swinging years came along a short time later.

I’m sure there are plot weaknesses like the fact that He doesn’t know the difference between Baguette and Brioche, even though he got a First Class Honours in History and specialised in Versailles; and the rather over-dramatic break-up as a knee jerk reaction to a first row as a couple. 

Maybe I’m seeing things through 21^st century glasses, but – in contrast to films like Remains of the Day, admittedly set in earlier times, but where the social difficulties made things ‘impossible’ for the lovers – but did relationships really break down that easily over one bad night in bed??

The people we went with found the pace a bit slow and the mood lacking humour. But it didn’t bother me, and I was gripped all the way through.

The music was lovely, too, with more nice memories of attending concerts in Wigmore Hall in my London days.

I guess we don’t go to see films for the memories or the music, but they certainly kept me engaged through On Chesil Beach. I thought Saoirse Ronan was excellent as Florence; Billy Howle also believable as Edward. Other famous faces are Anne-Marie Duff and Emily Watson, as the two mothers, and both carry off their roles well, though Duff’s ‘brain damage’ is an interesting case.

My own Mum was hit by a train door like that and she too fell to the ground, though fortunately not with the dire consequences suffered by Duff’s character.

So overall I gave On Chesil Beach a thumbs up. I thought I had read the book but actually that’s one of Ian McEwan’s works I haven’t read. And some critics say the story is better told on the printed page. Well that’s as maybe.

 I still give this film ***.5