Bhonsle

Seen at the Glasgow Film Theatre as part of the Glasgow Film Festival 2019

Cecil says: We saw Bhonsle at the Glasgow Film Festival. We chose it to get a view of Indian cinema, having seen Belgian and Ukrainian films earlier in the Festival. It’s what film festivals are all about, and I actually wish some of these films were available to watch more widely in between events like this.

Bhonsle was not an up-beat Bollywood style film by any means. It is set in Mumbai (I think), but it’s not the hustle-bustle Mumbai we’d normally see in Indian films.

We follow the early retirement of police officer Bhonsle, who lives in a damp, dripping one room dwelling inside a community tenement. It’s actually stiflingly quiet, and one of the early scenes has a nightmare in the head of the new retiree as he imagines himself getting old in this same space, doing the same mundane tasks day-in, day-out.

But the film is actually all about the criss-crossing hierarchies of Indian society. There’s inter-tribal conflict, dreadful hierarchies within the different castes or ethnic groups, and most significant of all, horrendous violence: I’m not sure which scene was the more disturbing, when the bottom-of-the-pile Vilas rapes the outsider, but educated and professional woman Sita, or the final scenes when Bhonsle gets into a deadly fight with Vilas.

Hierarchy and status, belonging and excluding. These are the aspects of Indian society that Bhonsle the film highlights. It’s a depressing sight, but maybe that’s the aim of Director Devashish Makhija, to raise awareness and to make people see the folly of such layers.

What’s interesting if you stand back from the film and assess things with some distance is that the main character Bhonsle is clearly sick and tired of these structures, and actually the vast majority of his neighbours also really just want to get on with their lives. It is a small band of resentful men at one level, and powerful men at the other end who have an interest in maintaining the status quo.

But even the local cop who keeps Bhonsle from access to his boss, while seemingly organising the politics of his tribe, the Marathi, tells Vilas that his methods are out-of-date and he needs to change with the times, too. So maybe there is hope in there somewhere. It’s just hard to see it, and I didn’t leave the cinema with a joyous skip in my step.

We did finish the evening with that other great export of Indian society, though, and feasted on the excellent curries round the corner from the Glasgow Film Theatre, at the Wee Curry Shop.

***.5

Bea says: I saw Bhonsle at a time where I was feeling quite stressed by work and was dreaming of retirement as a potential way out.  Bhonsle's forced retirement and struggle with meaning gave me a different perspective on my own situation, and if a film can do this it is in my view always a sign of good writing and production.

Generally though, this is a grim watch that explores India's complex society, but again has relevance for all societies, with themes such as the position of migrants (particularly those who come in to work) and gender violence.

Not a feel good film, but worth a watch.  I recommend a comforting, fun activity afterwards. 

***.5

Yesterday

Seen at the Theatre Royal, Castlemaine

Cecil says: If you want a feel-good movie with lots of music you know and love, then Yesterday might just be the film for you. We saw it on a dreary winter’s afternoon in our local cinema, the Theatre Royal in Castlemaine.

The film is about a rather average singer in suburban England, who happens to be one of only three people on the planet who know all the Beatles songs after a worldwide power cut deletes any history of a range of things from cigarettes to Coca-Cola and from The Beatles to Oasis.

He puts together a couple of collections of ‘Beatles’ songs and gradually rises from unsuccessful pub singer to sharing a stage with Ed Sheeran (who plays himself in the film) at major gigs around the world.

The funniest scenes for me are of his first efforts to make a recording, when a local lad gets him into his makeshift ‘studio’ in his living room. This reminded me of my own early efforts to create a podcast a few years ago. We used my friend Dylan’s lounge room to make the recordings, but were constantly interrupted by barking dogs, ice cream vans, kids next door coming home from school and Dylan’s Mum arriving back with the shopping in crinkly crunchy plastic bags.

There’s also the very true-to-life saga of putting together the words of ‘Penny Lane’ (there was no song sheet of course since The Beatles hadn’t existed): who did pick up the rice and what was Father McKenzie upto? How did that second verse end?

That’s the beauty of the film, though. This is a very ordinary bloke doing what all of us would do ourselves, but trying to work with absolute masterpieces of music and poetic insights.

Somehow or other our hero gets to meet the real John Lennon, still alive on the South Coast somewhere in 2019. I forget how that story-line connects up, but it is a very poignant meeting, with Lennon philosophical about life and happiness – and no sign of McCartney anywhere.

The music of course is great, though I had expected we’d hear more of Yesterday, given the film’s title, and brings home yet again just how wonderful the Fab Four were, with lyrics and tunes that can make even an average singer sound great.

Hey Jude is the only hit I actually remember singing along to on Top of the Pops so that was poignant for me, even with Ed Sheeran’s twist to the title (no spoiler from us here…).

And we walked away from the cinema with a smile on our faces, arm around each other, though a wistful sense of nostalgia also in the air around us as we headed home.

A lovely afternoon

***.5

Bea says: This film had received mixed reviews and I was somewhat hesitant about seeing it, but as it was on at our (lovely) local, and we had some weekend time, and I was in need of a pick-me-up, I thought there was really nothing to lose.  And there certainly wasn't - I loved this film. 

I should have known, as Richard Curtis (screenwriter for this one) is always good, even when he isn't.  The premise is clever, it is well handled and at times very funny (particularly Ed Sheeran), but with a twist of poignancy and nostalgia, just the right ingredients for a feel-good film which stays the right side of being soppy or overly sentimental.  

For me, the best part of the film is the gradual revealing of the meaning of the yellow submarine, and the overall message that things sometimes do work out, and that music brings joy into the world regardless.

I would highly recommend this to anyone, but perhaps particularly if you are in need of a tonic generally.

****.5

Mary Poppins Returns

Seen at the Regent Theatre, Melbourne

Bea says: Cecil and I were lucky enough to bag advance tickets to some special screenings of this film at Melbourne's historic Regent Theatre, and a couple of friends joined us which made for a lovely city outing in those days between Christmas and New Year.

I probably last watched the original Mary Poppins when I was the age of many audience members (perhaps 5 or 6) and don't remember the story well, except for the Chim-Chimenee scene and song, the chalk paintings and the carousel horses.  But I did read the books (all of them) in early primary school, so also have a sense of how the books present the characters and stories.  I say stories as they are just that - a sequence of short stories really, and I understand that this was a challenge for both films.

But - it is a good effort for a sequel.  The all star cast (Emily Blunt, Colin Firth - playing a baddie, Meryl Streep, Angela Lansbury to name a few) save any weaknesses in plot and context, although Cecil and I both felt the songs were not as strong, and I at times felt the writing team may have been struggling to keep a distinct plot line going.  It did occasionally venture into Harry Potter territory (Meryl Streep's sequence particularly), and that was when I felt it was most tangential in terms of plot and context.  There are many (I think) references to the original; I didn't really need those and sometimes they just made me wonder why - the penguins for example, don't really belong in the book sequence...

The second half of the film picks up the pace and overall it is satisfying and a great little piece of escapism as a film, with a few nice moments and messages.  Again, perfect for those days between Christmas and New Year; Cecil and I had just been for a long walk on a pier before entering the theatre so we both had a few minutes of shut eye during the first half, with no ill effects in terms of following the plot or characters. 

We had a slap up cream tea afterwards with our friends; highly recommended as a follow up to a screening of this!

***1/2 

Cecil says: It’s confession time for me, here. I have never seen the original Mary Poppins. I kind of knew some of the songs, but to be honest these mid-60s classic musicals all blur into one for me, so Sound of Music and My Fair Lady as well – films I never saw when they came out in my childhood.

Bea had to give me a quick tutorial on Mary Poppins before we left for the day out, especially as it was impossible to find an online copy of the original movie.

And really we went to Mary Poppins Returns because it was a chance to see a film at the wonderful Regent Theatre in Melbourne. I’d have gone even if it was the most unsuitable loud fantasy war game movie because it was the venue that counted.

So I had nothing to compare the new Poppins to.

As Bea says, the songs were a bit disappointing, I thought. None of them felt catchy enough to be humming them later; none of them felt particularly enjoyable to watch even on the screen. In fact, if comparisons are to be made, my other recent experiences of musicals – Sunshine on Leith and the Greatest Showman – both had catchier and more uplifting tunes, to be honest.

I think the last song of all was my favourite, but even that one I have already forgotten, just a week later.

As for the all-star cast, Emily Blunt was pretty good in the title role; Meryl Streep was flamboyant and clearly enjoyed herself, but I kind of wondered ‘Why?” at her cameo; Colin Firth was fine as the baddie. But my favourite was Angela Lansbury, who comes on very late but for me took the show.

It was fun to see the Two Chairmen pub in one of the early scenes, since I used to work in an office very close to there.

But I really haven’t got much else to say about this film.

The venue was fabulous, and they put on a ‘Cockney’ chimney sweep on a bike in front of the screen before the film began, who made a quick welcome and intro for the audience in the Regent, which was a nice touch.

**.5

I, Claude Monet

Seen at the Rivoli Theatre, Camberwell VIC

Bea says: Cecil and I picked this out due to its time and location; we wanted to visit this cinema which is not nearby our home at all, and were fitting it in with another event we had on in that area.  I had no idea about the "Exhibition on Screen" series prior to this, and loved it.  I have to say, it was one of the most relaxing and absorbing cinema events I have been to for a long time.  The gentle music, the images of Monet's works (often repetitive, as he was known to paint the same scene many times over), fading in and out of real life footage of the scene, whilst listening to the narration of his letters, was fascinating and I could have sat there for much longer (something I actually rarely say about film, much as I enjoy the cinema).

Monet's early life was a struggle financially and for recognition, and it was interesting to listen to the tone of the letters change into his later, more well-off and established life, and watch the development of his famous garden, which I have never visited but is now definitely on my bucket list.

Highly recommended, as is anything from this series, which I shall now be following much more closely.

****

Cecil says: The film had already started when we walked in so I’m not even sure if the contemporary scene of a small ferry tug on the harbour waters (in Le Havre, I think) with a voiceover from Monet (voice of Henry Goodman) was the actual opening scene of I, Claude Monet.

But it certainly set the tone for the whole of this Exhibition on Screen genre movie, which switched between shots of Monet’s works filling the screen and contemporary footage of the places he painted.

I actually liked the way the producers faded so easily from current day footage to paintings, and it’s extraordinary in many cases how the scenes or buildings even haven’t changed that much in upto 150 years.

I had no idea in advance that this would be the whole of the film and that there would be no characters, dialogue or plot to speak of.

All the text of the voiceovers was taken from lines of Monet’s correspondence (2,500 letters apparently), so it gives little insights into different stages of the artist’s life. But it also meant that lots of things were left unanswered.

So we get the impression that this Impressionist was on the one hand overwhelmed constantly by the beauty of the natural world around him, but was also anxious and depressed a lot of the time by the penury he appeared to be living in for many years of his long life.

He writes very openly to friends and acquaintances he obviously regards as wealthier than him, asking for funds - once even for a 20 franc note, very specific that one - and intimating frequently that he would be out in the streets if funds weren’t somehow to be forthcoming.

But we never really find out what happened when he reached the edge of destitution like that or how we got himself out of each fix he was in.

Having studied 19th century French history, I was fascinated by the absence of any comment on the political context of his life (though Wikipedia suggests he was in fact quite a leftie, which means the Paris Commune of 1870 must surely have figured in his life. It actually reminded me of Flaubert whose arty character in one novel set while the 1848 revolution was raging inside Paris was lounging around the grass outside town musing on life, while the socialists battled inside the city for radical change.

It also reminded me of a film I saw some years ago called simply London, which consisted of footage of parts of London being mentioned in the (fictional?) narrative being spoken in a voiceover. These are not the sorts of films to go to for a night out, I don’t think, but I, Claude Monet kind of worked for our mood on a December Sunday, especially in such a beautiful cinema, which is a work of art itself.

I was also intrigued by the sudden appearance of Georges Clemenceau in Monet’s life. I wonder if some sort of explanatory subtitles might have helped at points like these. How many viewers - especially in a place like Australia - would even know that Clemenceau was a key political figure of his day? And how on earth did Monet come to have such connections that he can simply mention him as ‘Georges’. An early version of ‘Tony’, ‘Gordon’ and then ‘Dave’ in the UK?

***.5  

Ladies in Black

Seen at the Regent Theatre, Ballarat, VIC

Cecil says: Ladies in Black is the kind of film I could go and see over and over again, and probably always pick up new little insights into life in 1959 (the year of my birth, funnily enough, so I don’t have actual memories of that time myself!). It stands alongside Strictly Ballroom as one of those films I will no doubt see more than once and not tire of, so it must be my top film of 2018, I think.

There are so many aspects that make this a charming watch: the coming-of-age (but not at all in a sexual way) of school-leaver Lisa (one of the big moves she makes to ‘come of age’ is to drop her androgynous name ‘Lesley’ and start a new life at work as ‘Lisa”); the arrival and gradual acceptance of ‘new’ migrants from other parts of Europe than the UK and Ireland; the social limits on behaviour and propriety, leading to some hilarious and some touching moments, as two of the Ladies in Black deal with developing relationships.

It’s all set in Sydney, so any shots with backdrop to the City and CBD are obviously computer-generated, but there is also careful filming on the harbour, managing to avoid any new build that has sprung up since the 1950s, and use of that beautiful old department store building in the city with its original façade.

As a child in Sydney in 1967, I became a geeky ‘collector’ of bus numbers and destinations, so I know that Circular Quay was the main bus destination in those days (rather than the current-day Wynyard), so the child geek in me was pleased to see Circular Quay on the front of many of the buses shown in Ladies in Black.

There were slightly melodramatic characters like Magda, who managed the up-market couture dresses in the store and was obviously used to mixing in finer circles than other shop assistants, but was having to adapt to Australia’s more working-class but increasingly affluent society.

And there were the lovely cameo characters like Miss Cartwright, who had a soft spot for Lisa from the start, and obviously wants her to make the most of the opportunities open to young women in 1959 that weren’t there for women oi her generation. She’s almost the most beautiful character in the film, managing to overcome any regrets at an unfulfilled life herself to wish well to a new generation starting out.

I was a bit confused at first over the two brunettes who were friends and colleagues of Fay. I thought they were the same person at the start, which is another reason to see this film again.

And in a sense, although Lisa was the central character, it was Fay whose story we followed as closely and who spoke for her own generation at the time: intelligent but not educated; fed up with boorish men in their lives; but lacking opportunities to break out, until the arrival of the new immigrants into Australia.

Well, these are just a few of the highlights for me. I’m sure on second viewing, I’ll find more favourite bits to comment on, so look forward to when it comes back to some cinemas for a second run…

*****

Bea says: I was very keen to see this film because when I saw the preview (at the cinema attending another film) I saw that one of the storylines is about the arrival of the "New Australians" during the 1940s-early 1970s and their assimilation into Australian life.  I am very interested in this topic, as I am the daughter of New Australians myself, and I have just started to notice with pleasure more in Australian literature and film on this - I suspect because the children of the New Australians are now well into adulthood and are writing and making films and art about their influences.

However, Ladies in Black in actually based on an early novel by Madeleine St John - who I know from her later, award winning work The Essence of the Thing; I had no idea she was even Australian, and from my (brief) recent research into her after seeing Ladies in Black I don't think she is of New Australian stock.  It turns out she was at Sydney University with Bruce Beresford, the film's director, and I suspect that Ladies in Black is a coming of age, semi-autobiographical work of hers; she is likely to have identified pretty strongly with Lisa (Lesley), who is busy having her horizons opened (by the New Australians) and reinventing herself during her summer department store job, before starting her first term at Sydney University.  I have to say that Sydney University is a pretty magical place; I spent a year teaching there on a contract in 2017, and my heart skipped with excitement whenever I walked through the main campus - it really feels like a historic place where any possibility can happen...

Other than Lisa's storyline, we follow several other of the department store staff, who are all at different moments in their lives and so the film explores such things as finding a partner, marriage and infertility, spinsterhood, work and life decisions, but with Beresford's light touch, wry sense of humour and beautiful cinematography.

It certainly really spoke to me, and to Cecil, but I have heard mixed reviews amongst friends.  But I say - go and see it; it may speak volumes to you about your life, or not, but if not it will certainly be a pleasant diversion, particularly if you have any memories of Sydney life in earlier decades.  I also gifted the DVD to my parents for Christmas.

*****

Boy Erased

Seen at the Westgarth Theatre, Northcote VIC

Cecil says: Another film seen at the Westgarth as part of my Vintage Victoria cinema search. So seen without Bea this time, too.

Boy Erased has had good reviews. It even got a mention at my little local film club as a film on release that we should all see. But I actually found it a bit depressing, and even made me think of a kind of LGBT version of Handmaid's Tale, seeing a dystopian America, where the religious fundamentalists rule and anything outside the very orthodox around gender and sexuality is to be not only hidden but punished.

The trouble is, unlike The Handmaid's Tale, however real that may become, Boy Erased is based on real life characters so this really did happen.

Basically it is about a gay man, whose father is a church minister preaching about moral rectitude week-in, week-out, and his Mum goes along with what the father wants.

And what the father wants, after getting advice from other awful church elders, is to send his son off for conversion therapy to help him rid himself of the sin of homosexuality.

The whole concept is deeply disturbing, as are some of the scenes both inside the 'education' centre, and in Jared's own initiation into gay sex, where he basically gets raped.

It all ends up OK, and Jared manages to come out of it - still gay, of course - with his mind and his family relationships intact, but this is not a feel-good movie. And I was dying to ask the gay couple next to me what they made of it; what their overall feeling at the end was? Depression at the oppression, or lifted up by the outcomes?

I didn't feel able to ask them and they left just before I did.

Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe are good, though I'm not sure why they cast two Aussies in these middle American roles. Lucas Hedges is excellent at Jared Eamons.

Not the most uplifting end to a lovely afternoon at the Westgarth

***

Hello Hemingway

Seen at the Latin American Film Festival at the Westgarth Theatre, Northcote VIC

Cecil says: I went to this one on my own as part of my Vintage Victoria project, because I wanted to see the Westgarth Theatre. So I just chose whatever film they had on next.

I was really pleased to see this Cuban period drama made in 1990 so not a new release, but interesting as it was set in 1956 as political unrest was growing in Cuba.

Funnily enough, it came hot on the heels of our seeing Ladies in Black (still not quite done our review of that one), which was also set in the 1950s and had as its central focus a school girl coming-of-age.

The Cuban one was fascinating and showed the difficulty of the bright, bookish Larita, who dreams of getting a scholarship to study in the States, but is up against a bunch of posh kids from private schools. It's not her education which lets her down, but her lack of connection and her rather unsettled home life.

Things are difficult at home as the uncle she lives with (along with her Mum and auntie, cousin and grandmother) loses his job as a policeman. It's not a job he enjoys anyway, as he has to see things he can't describe to the ladies at home (presumably torture of left-wing revolutionaries and activists), but he is the main breadwinner in the household.

Suddenly Larita's dreams of university and getting to America seem stupid romantic fantasies to the rest of her family, and indeed to her revolutionary boyfriend Victor who wonders why she'd want to leave him and the Association just when things are getting interesting.

It's a classic tale of dreamy teenagers, passionate politics, poverty and survival, with some lovely observations on life threaded through it.

Hemingway is visible but out of reach. That is Hemingway himself, since he lives in the mansion up on the hill and he is seen from time to time, but never seems to be home when Larita needs his help.

But also Hemingway's novels, which Larita discovers via the most endearing character in the film, the guy who runs the local bookshop, but which her boyfriend Victor regards as romantic rubbish and a fantasy.

I loved the shots of the coastline in Havana, the Malecon. Especially as I have been there for one of my old jobs. What intrigued me even more was that this film was made three years even before I was there in 1993 so must have looked pretty similar to what I saw myself, even though supposedly set a few decades earlier. (After all, one of the beauties of Havana is the old buildings and cars, since nobody has had money to do terrible 'development' since the revolution in 1959).

I really enjoyed this film and was very glad I had timed my visit to the Westgarth to coincide with its start in the Latin American Film Festival 2018.

****