The Blind Side

The Blind Side is a Pygmalion & Galatea movie I've waited four years to see. Like a sprinter in full flight, I first raced through Michael Lewis' book, while flying home from Florida, and would not put it down. It's Pygmalion, on a gridiron, one unbelievable story. Michael Oher, in the words of Michael Lewis, 'goes from being the least valued human being in America, to the being the most exalted 18 year old.'

For the next year, I gave away copies, as thank you notes, as confidence boosters, as Christmas presents to males and females alike. Michael Lewis, when I first came across his writing, was a reporter with the NYT Magazine, writing on new technology. Like Nick Hornby (An Education), Lewis explores hidden underbellies, figuring how things work - in this case, race, schools, class, conventional thinking.

The Blind Side depicts the remarkable story of teenager Michael Oher (Quinton Aaron) surviving on his own, virtually homeless, when he is spotted on the street by Leigh Anne Tuohy (Sandra Bullock). Learning he is one of her daughter’s classmates, Leigh Anne insists that Michael—wearing shorts and a t-shirt in the dead of winter—come out of the cold, invites him to stay at the Tuohy home for the night. A gesture of kindness turns into something more as Michael becomes part of the Tuohy family. And as the family helps Michael fulfill his potential, both on and off the football field, Michael’s presence in the Tuohys’ lives leads them to some insightful self-discoveries of their own. The Blind Side is written and directed by John Lee Hancock (The Rookie) Gil Netter, Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove produced the film with Molly Smith, Erwin Stoff and Tim Bourne serving as executive producers. Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw star as Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy, and Kathy Bates as Michael Oher’s dedicated tutor, Miss Sue. Quinton Aaron is introduced in the central role of Michael Oher. The film also stars young actors Lily Collins and Jae Head as the Tuohy children, Collins and S.J., respectively. Women's book clubs across America have been wrapping their minds around The Blind Side for the last three years.

Here is Michael Lewis, on YouTube, talking about his book: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7F-_HHriWSQ

For mavens who are readers, here's a NYT magazine excerpt from the Lewis book: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/24/magazine/24football.html?pagewanted=all Here's the trailer: www.theblindsidemovie.com

*****

The Blind Side est le film que j’attendais depuis quatre ans. Tel un sprinter, j’ai parcouru le livre de Michael Lewis, durant mon vol de retour de la Floride, étant incapable d’en cesser la lecture. C’est du Pygmalion, sur un terrain de foot…une histoire tout à fait incroyable. Michael Oher, selon Michael Lewis, passe d’un personnage très peu valorisé en Amérique à un jeune homme de 18 ans merveilleusement passionné.

Durant l’année qui a suivi, j’ai offert des copies de son livre en tant que marque de remerciement, outil de motivation, cadeau de Noёl. Lorsque j’ai découvert l’écrivain Michael Lewis, il était chroniqueur de nouvelle technologie pour le NYT magazine. Comme Nick Hornby (An Education), Michael Lewis explore les aspects cachés tentant de découvrir la façon dont les choses fonctionnent – dans le présent cas, la race, les écoles, les cours, la pensée conventionnelle.

The Blind Side relate une histoire vécue, celle d’une étoile de football américain, Michael Oher. L’adolescent, Michael Oher (Quinton Aaron) est un sans-abri abandonné et subsiste par ses propres moyens. C’est alors que Leigh Anne Tuohy (Sandra Bullock) le remarque sur la rue. Apprenant que le jeune homme est un camarade de classe de sa fille, elle insiste pour que Michael, vêtu d’un short et d’un t-shirt en plein hiver, sorte de ce froid terrible. Sans aucune hésitation, elle l’invite à venir passer la nuit dans la maison des Tuohy. Ce qui devait être un simple geste de compassion devient beaucoup plus intense alors que Michael fait partie de la famille de plus en plus, malgré leurs différents antécédents. Vivant dans son nouvel environnement, l’adolescent doit affronter plusieurs nouveaux défis. Cette famille l’aide à réaliser son potentiel sur le terrain de football de même qu’en dehors. En même temps, la présence d’Oher dans la vie des Tuohy les amène à se réaliser eux-mêmes.

The Blind Side est réalisé par John Lee Hancock (The Rookie), qui a aussi écrit le scénario basé sur le livre The Blind Side : Evolution of a Game, de l’auteur Michael Lewis. Gil Netter, Broderick Johnson et Andrew Kosove ont produit ce film avec Molly Smith, Erwin Stoff et Tim Bourne en tant que producteurs exécutifs.

Sandra Bullock et Tim McGraw incarnent les rôles respectifs de Leigh Anne et Sean Tuohy, et Cathy Bates celui de son dévoué professeur, Miss Sue. Quinton Aaron joue le rôle principal de Michael Oher. Dans ce film, de jeunes acteurs tels que Lily Collins et Jae Head interprètent les rôles des enfants Tuohy, Collins et S.J., respectivement.

Plusieurs clubs du livre s’adressant aux femmes se sont penchés autour du livre The Blind Side depuis les trois dernières années. Michael Lewis parle de son livre

sur YouTube : www.youtube.com/watch?v=7F-_HHriWSQ

Pour les cinéphiles qui s’adonnent aussi à la lecture, voici un extrait du livre de Lewis :

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/24/magazine/24football.html?pagewanted=all

Et voici la bande-annonce : www.theblindsidemovie.com

Shrewd Assessments:

I'm enjoying the new season of the movie club. Cinémagique gives people new experiences and exposure to movies we'd be unlikely to see otherwise. Plus I like the social aspect of the club and the discussions afterwards. My favourite movie so far this fall was Mary and Max, which made me laugh out loud several times and also brought some tears at the end. Last night's Blind Side was entertaining but I thought too simplistic to be completely believable - even though it's based on a true story. It doesn't seem plausible that a family of four would embrace a new member so uniformly lovingly with no resentments or jealousies. I enjoyed the commentary of the two young football players - even though I don't understand football and am rather repelled by the sight of it. And the quiz with prizes was fun! I put up my poster at the Atwater Library in a prominent place.

Lynn

***
Good turn out for tonight's screening and interesting discussion (thanks to Robert and Tony from the McGill Redmen).

Movie was just OK in my opinion. Similar to Remembering the Titans: inspirational, manipulative with a dose of social commentary. Perhaps it moved too quickly away from the early life of Big Mike to his redemption in Republican suburbia? Perhaps I just never bought into the possibility that he could fail?

Nice to see Sandra Bullock in a somewhat meaty role after some recent awful parts [The Proposal, Miss Congeniality 2, ...].

Paul

***
Peter: I thought your comment was so 'right on': that the film allowed us to watch someone transform from being the most worthless person in society into one of its most valuable ones - that is so true! My reaction to this is that there is such human potential just being wasted - because we as a society just let it.

And that's what brings me to Leigh-Anne. I loved watching her transform from being a smarty-pants, get-it-done, Sarah Palin-type wife/mother/powerhouse decorator into someone with heart and self-doubts. I'm thinking of the Thanksgiving meal: realizing the value of what she really had, and moving the family from the TV room into the dining room. Another moment was the questioning of her own deeper motivations after Michael spoke to the NAACP - did she save Michael for Michael or for herself? I really appreciated Sandra Bullock's performance, as I did the smart-Alec 'younger brother' SJ - but I thought he was just a little too cute and over-used, especially when he was dealing with all those college coaches. It may have even been true - I didn't read the book - but it didn't feel true. I think they could have fleshed out why the family trusted him with the negotiations for Michael. Funny, but I could believe him as being a trainer to Michael, but not a negotiator. I also thought he was a wonderful actor, and loved him when he was on the screen - but you asked about my reaction and that's what I thought of when I was analyzing my reactions.

Again, thank you and Warner Brothers for letting us have the film - and getting the McGill football players to speak to us was inspired!

Leslye
***
Thanks for the screening last night Peter. We really enjoyed it. We both thought the set up until we see Michael on a football field, too long ..... the first act. Thanks for understanding, we had to run off and watch the game. The interesting thing when you watch the real # 74, Michael play for the Baltimore Ravens is that on every play he's involved in, he helps to pick up a player on either team all the time. What a mensch!

Jimmy
***
Some of my "fears" about Hollywood have been present last night, but at the same time, this week's movie, from a movie viewer point of view, is a great example of the US pattern we will see in the coming year: very christian values, sustained by lots of violins... They even added a very US argument with the mention of the NRA, which is for me very anti-catholic!

As you mentionned, Hollywood produced, and is still producing some amazing movies. This one is a correct, standard production, that should not make history but reflects current USA values. Yes, you can thank MGM (he means WB - pp) for this presentation. It is good to see movies from as many sources as possible. And they were great to give you this movie at your first meeting!

Thanks for your work, and see you at the next presentation.

Daniel
***
I did indeed like your "Hollywood Movie". In fact I liked everything about it, the excellent cast, the fact that it was a true story and the football players were a great addition. Thank goodness our universities don't have athletic scholarships. Thanks for bringing it to Montreal.
Cheers

Mary
***
Ce film comporte plusieurs messages de vie...l'amour inconditionnel d'une mère, la réalisation de soi et cette phrase "quand on veut, on peut" n'a jamais été si bien représentée. Ce film s'adresse à la famille toute entière...convaincant et regénérant ! À voir...avec une boîte de Kleenex !

Louise

***
Thank you for letting me be a part of last night. Sandra Bullock lived up to her statement that she was indeed a multi-tasker; wife, mother.
psychologist, even the coach for the football team. Totally unbelievable but I managed to cry anyway.

More history of Michael's past would have made the film more endearing. And what happened to Mr. Tuohy. He seemed totally in accord with whatever the Mrs. said and did.

I wonder how he became so successful.

In summary I have and would recommend the film.

Beverley

***
It was exciting to be among the first to see this film. It was also somewhat reassuring to slide back into the competent hands of Hollywood. Yes, the film had the familiar tone and predictability , but I was also surprised and pleased by its new approach, less sensational and more human.

I was glad it was a true story - for some reason the fact that something like that actually happened makes it more meaningful. My movie partner, however, found it an entertaining and very realistic presentation but it made no difference to him that it was based on a true story.

His comments: a happy movie, it held the audience, was very realistic and had no nastiness. It leaves one feeling complete. A movie to see but not one that would generally not need a second viewing.

For my part, this movie gave me an insight into a part of American life - I felt it rang true more than many other movies. Compared with Peter's description of the book, I think the movie did not capture enough the depth of emotion and commitment of Mrs. Touhy . I liked the football although it did not help me understand the game. The movie avoided dealing with the exploitation of the players that I hear actually does go on. And I liked the photos of the actual people at the end.

Nancy R.
***
dear peter, i like writing but i am not really comfortable about publishing my reactions to the films..all that being said, i am now bleery-eyed after reading the new york times review (of Blind Side) which is really a synopsis of the book...which i suspect was actually better than the film on many levels.

We have often discussed at [McGill] that no one sees the same film...it is an interactive process to which we bring ourselves. I, for one, was the mother of a quarterback at lcc and then westmount high; he was a gifted athlete but we still spent many hours at the orthopods with injuries...he could have gone to college on a football scholarship, but decided early on that he needed his brain, gave up contact sports for an education and received a medical degree from mcgill university. I am positively shocked at the amount of money paid to star athletes. What is wrong with this society's values when scientists, educators, nurses, doctors and other essential service givers have their work so comparatively, poorly recompensed?

On another level, it is very heartwarming to see that poor kids can use their athletic prowess as a means to upward mobility. Your two athletes were very articulate about mcgill's position concerning athletics and the academic priorities valued at this institution; maybe hockey players will shed a different light on their experience in this northern climate! Last night's film underscored the fact that success on any of life''s playing fields equates to success in life...there is nothing like positive reinforcement as a motivator!

I give the film a 3 star rating and i'm sure it will have wide appeal and be financially successful....sandra bullock was very endearing in her role...but even with a southern accent, she still played sandra bullock...in other words she is no meryl streep! i hated all that body smashing and predictably covered my eyes...this is a hollywood film for the masses and I am sure will last more than the two week stays that have marked some of the very best films you have guided us to.

Just a little aside...i found it very amusing when cathy bates spoke of science and body parts being buried under the football field...do you know where enrico fermis first atomic pile was housed? Under the football statium in chicago...probably northwestern university's...

Farla
***
The Blind Side is a fine movie to recommend, both to sports enthusiasts and to people who enjoy a great story, well told, with a happy ending: a first-rate date movie. I laughed whole-heartedly, and needed a hankie for the final scenes. Sandra Bullock nailed the Memphis twang and looked great wearing Erin Brockovich's dream wardrobe. The football side of the story was well explained, and Quinton Aaron was appropriately lovable as the young Michael Oher, although physically he seemed flabby, knock-kneed and not very athletic. The whole cast performed very well, and Kathy Bates's story about the FBI's forensic science lab underneath the University Of Tennessee playing field was a hoot.

Although I am very glad to have seen the movie, I have two big reservations about it. The first is the motivation of the Touhy family: why did they take in this kid? People explain that Leigh-Ann is a do-gooder, but why? She wears a cross around her neck, but never speaks of her Christianity, except as a way of networking with the district attorney. We can certainly understand where Michael Oher comes from, but the principal driving element of the story is the Touhy’s magnanimity, whose origin remains utterly mysterious. What’s the back story?

My second reservation is that almost all of the problems these people face are solved by spending more money. Want a private school education? A kind family will pay. Need clothes? Money and wheels to store provided. Need an identity? Get a drivers license and a nifty red-neck pick-up truck. Have an accident? There’s insurance. Problems in school? The family hires a full-time live-in tutor. The fact that the Touhy’s seem never to make sacrifices (when in real life they confronted many obstacles) blunts the message of selflessness. The Touhy’s seem so rich that we might reproach them for not fostering an entire orphanage or, indeed, all of Bangladesh.

Margaret

***

Thank you for the opportunity to see this well acted (if not over-acted (SJ)) movie. Sandra Bullock was the best I have seen her, and Tim Mcgraw was passable as the doting husband. As it was my first experience attending a cinema club, I tried to look beyond the characters, and thought that the camera angles and positioning, especially in the football scenes, was good. I also enjoyed the music score, which was upbeat and added to the positive attitudes put forth in the movie.

With the links you gave us before the screening, I got a good understanding of Michael's character, and I found it missing in the movie. Where he ran out from the NCAA inquiry was the only movie indication of Michael's evasions throughout his life up to that point.

I also liked the use of photos of the actual people portrayed in the movie, during the closing credits. I studied them all, looking for the similarities with the actors. It seemed a good fit, an enjoyable experience. I hope to see you again soon.

Wayne

I so enjoyed my first film as a member, The Blind Side. You gave insight into a film to which I would normally have paid little attention. The two young footballers were an inspired choice. Too bad they cannot tour with the film. Warner Brothers could use such film buffs of the football genre.

Marlene

I found the set-up up too long, and (as someone who has not read the book and was only minimally aware of the story) very disjointed. It took too long, in my opinion, to get us "hooked".

Once under way, I enjoyed the ride. I must say, though, that if I didn't know it was a true story, I'd have a hard time buying it. The couple's relationship was just too perfect to be true. Whether this is a fair reflection of the book or not begs the question.... how in the world could they have gone through that with so little tension or disagreement? It would have added so much to the movie, in my opinion, had we seen even a small bit of the discord that must surely have gone on in that family. All, in all, this movie feeds into my bias about the somewhat deluded world-view many of our republican neighbours to the south seem to have. This Blind Side will probably go over gangbusters with that market segment, but I like a little more depth to my movies.

Barbara

Enjoyed The Blind Side experience, my first outing with your group - A feel-good movie with good actors. Felt it didn't portray well enough the family's struggles and challenges when Mum brought home a street kid. The book would have gone into better detail I would guess. Enjoyed the younger boy's amusing coaching tactics but felt things went overboard when he bargained with the various university football coaches. Liked the pictures during the credits which showed the real family whose story this movie tells.

Nancy W.

Love & Savagery

Kathrine Moore's Conversation with John N. Smith

What is happening now that film is coming out and you are no longer under pressure?

Just returning from Chicago where Love and Savagery was well received, John is taking next year off. Things are in the offing, but for now he just wants to enjoy his well earned time off .

Where did the passion bloom for moviemaking come from?

His very cultured mother’s artistic input. They went to at least three times a year, John going to live theatre and museums.

Can you give some insight into the writing of Love and Savagery?

In 1979 the poet, Des Walsh spent three months in County Clare. In 1989 he auditioned for a role in Welcome to Canada and his band Tickle Harbour did much of the music. After shooting Random Passage (directed by Smith, written by Walsh), they rented a place in Ballyvaughan, County Clare, and started shaping the script for Love and Savagery.

How would you describe Love and Savagery?

A universal, atavistic story set in what is at once both a real and mythical landscape. Losing someone you love with all your heart is a terrible, if common, ordeal. Although set in a faraway time and place, audiences will find emotions we all know well. Human love is a universal experience. The collapse of love is always savage. Two people meant to meet, carry each other in their hearts forever, a meeting that must be cherished and respected. It is partially an exploration of the spiritual yearning that exists in all of us.

How did you find the lead characters?

Michael McCarthy is from Trinity Bay, Newfoundland, and Cathleen O`Connell from County Clare. Producer Kevin Tierney observed something very innocent in Allan Hawco`s being that shines through the camera lens.. Sarah’s Cathleen is sensual and innocent, both modern and traditional. She celebrates her lust, while understanding it will make her a better nun - a fabulous paradox. As she matures, she finds spiritual peace.

The Mother Superior character reminded me of my favorite teachers.

Martha Burns had wanted to play a nun since seeing The Sound of Music in her native Winnipeg. Without judgement, this Mother Superior tries to help Cathleen find peace. The Church is a vast and complex continent, spanning many communities and peoples. Some of the greatest people he met during the production of the Boys of St.Vincent were priests and nuns.

How was filming in Ireland?

We went to Carrigaholt, which has the architectural integrity of a coastal town from a different century! The townsfolk brought their knowledge of grief in their faces. Postmaster Pat Gavin transformed the bus-stop built by the crew into a protected outdoor coffee shop adjacent to his post office.

*****

And three separate member reviews of the movie...

*****

Si vous aimez qu’on vous raconte des histoires empreintes de véracité!

Si vous êtes du genre qui aime voir des comédiens qui ont l’air d’être de vrais humains!

Si vous aimez les belles images non peintes en 3D ! Alors vous êtes du genre à poursuivre cette lecture.

Love and Savagery, le dernier film du réalisateur John N. Smith, raconte une histoire d’amour que le scénariste et poète Des Walsh situe en Irelande et à Terreneuve. Le film pose l’éternelle question: est-il mieux d’avoir aimé et d’avoir perdu cet amour que de n’avoir jamais aimé ?

Carrigaholt, ce petit village côtier d’Irlande mieux connu pour ses huitres, quoiqu’on y voit débarquer des homards, est à la fois charmant et pitoresque. L’endroit regorge d’histoires de sièges et de captures, de mythologie et de magie. Du quai on peut voir la silhouette de la tour d’un château médiéval. Il semble même que les rochers ont autant de vécu que les habitants du village.

L’action des passe en 1969. Un jeune poète et géologiste Michael McCarthy ( Allan Hawco) débarque sur la côte ouest de l’Irlande pour y étudier les formations géologiques de The Burren . qui regorge de crevasses, de symboles et d’histoires vielles de milliers d’ années et de flores surprenantes. À l’auberge ou il loge il y rencontre une belle jeune fille; Cathleen O’Connel (Sarah Greene) tout a fait époustouflante par la justesse de son jeu.. Martha Burns comédienne, bien connue du milieu du théatre et de la télévison anglaise et récipiendaire d’un Génie, interprète le rôle la Mère Supérieure d’un couvent qui double d’hôpital La belle Cathleen vient certains jours y faire du bénévolat une fois son travail de bairmaid terminé à l’auberge et bar/restaurant de son oncle.

Le jeune homme troublé par la belle vient à son tour troubler la paix du village et soulever les ires des villageois. Les comédiens principaux sont entourés de Sean Panting, interprétant le rôle du meilleur ami de Michael. Jark Whelan, Macdara O’Fatharts, Dylan Scott Smith and Nicholas Collins qui se mèlent aux têtes intéressantes et traits creusés des villageois.

Les paysages Irlandais époustouflants sont superbement saisis par la camera de Pierre Letarte. Il est intéressant de noter que Letarte, le scénariste et poète Des Walsh et le réalisateur John Smith, avaient préalablement collaborer sur la série de renommée internationale The Boys of St.Vincent en 1992. Dix ans plus tard ils se réunissaient sur le tournage de Random Passage, une mini série à succès qui se méritent 2 Génies et récolte la faveur du public de la CBC .

Deux des producteurs, Barbara Doran (Terreneuve) et Tristan Orpen Lynch (Irelande) ont fait aussi équipe auparavant sur un autre film de John. N. Smith, The Englishman’s Boy. La musique est de Bertrand Chénier, le montage de Michel Arcand - des noms bien connus d’ici au Québec.

Le film existe en langue anglaise uniquement mais si vous posséder la langue vous pourrez apprécier le joli accent Irlandais. Si non, prenez-des cours! Ca vaut le coup.

Surtout ne dites-pas que l’on ne fait plus de films comme on les faisait autrefois.

Nicole de Rochemont

*****

J.N. Smith has done it again, this time a Canadian-Celtic gem based on Del Walsh's book, 'Love and Savagery'

As the Irish 'Celtic Tiger' continues to skyrocket into the international community, Irish diaspora greats as J.N. Smith ensure the eternal celtic culture stays abreast within the endless celtic artistic circle. At this dawning of 21st century globalized mass communication, few professional artists are capable of communicating the continuations of ancient cultural societies. John N Smith makes us appreciate the role played by the diaspora of an ethnic people born out of genocides, famines, endless wars. Thank God, for the Irish diaspora of Newfoundland/Labrador and Quebec that was instrumental in producing this gem, 'Love and Savagery'.

In Love and Savagery, one of the curious young, a Newfoundland geologist and poet returns to his ancient land. Michael McCarthy (played by Allan Hawco) travels in 1968 to Ballyvaughan to examine the "Burren", a geological wonder. In County Clare & the Aran Isles, Michael discovers not only in the rocks but within the lifestyle of the area people, his own roots. One colleen, Cathleen O'Connell (played by Sarah Greene), wins his heart while teaching him far more of his peoples' ways, sacrificed in the diaspora. Irish celtic way to one's path in life is not as evident as his North American culture led him to believe. A price must be paid for any introspective spiritual search within oneself. Kathleen O'Connell shows Michael that the journey may not lead to simple conclusions. The insightful & patient Mother Superior, Louise Nicol enlightens Kathleen to the fact that convent walls will not dispel the 'aching total pain of lust'.

A fine piece of Celtic art, this film's music score and sweeping cinematography join symphonically with a sound script & fine performances. Of course, one cannot help ponder the inability of our fast paced international film business to link this cinema gem to comparative cultures of the masses fearing the loss of their own continuance with the march of a one-culture globalized world. So, do your part and spread the word so that others may experience this excellent film. Canada and namely Montrealers are so honored that JN Smith is one of us but not surprised by this latest gem knowing the legacy he continues to give us:

Katherine Moore

*****

Quel BEAU film! Bravo à tous ceux qui on collaborés à cet œuvre du cœur si bien rendue.

Si on parle des ingrédients qui font d’un film un succès, on pourra affirmer que Love and Savagery a suivi la recette et que le plat est une superbe réussite.Le scénario de Des Walsh est simple et sans aucuns artifices, comme les émotions qui y sont évoqués. Michael rencontre Cathleen et ils tombent amoureux, rien de plus simple. Mais Cathleen veut devenir religieuse et même si elle aime Michael profondément elle optera pour la vocation divine. Histoire déchirante à laquelle tous peuvent s’identifier.

La réalisation de John N. Smith est simple comme les décors d’Irlande et les gens qui le peuplent. Il n’est nullement nécessaire d’en faire beaucoup quand c’est si facile à comprendre, et John N. Smith possède le don d’extirper des comédiens une performance poignante et vraie.

Les comédiens : Je m’attendais à voir des stéréotypes Hollywoodiens, mais les deux protagonistes principaux du film ont l’air si vrais et jouent si juste que l’on est littéralement aspiré dans cette histoire d’amour. Allan Hawco et Sarah Greene portent ce film impeccablement. Le reste de la distribution est aussi juste et bon ; Impeccables. J’ai été particulièrement touché par le jeu de Dylan Smith dans le rôle de Sean Collins, quelle maîtrise de son personnage. La Caméra de Pierre Letarte est irréprochable et les éclairages si naturels que cela en devient remarquable. Enfin, le montage est doux et fin. L’expérience d’un Michel Arcand s’intègre tout doucement dans cette équipe de professionnels chevronnés.

Michel Siry

*****

Mary and Max

Animated Hollywood flicks transport us into magical worlds where dragons fly, romances bloom and endings are forever happy. Mary & Max, a feature film debut by Australian animator Adam Elliot, is not Hollywood. It is a captivating journey of a friendship between two improbable people: Mary Daisy Dinkle [the voice of Tony Collette] is 8 years old at the start of their friendship and lives in Melbourne, Australia; Max Horowitz [the voice of Philip Seymour Hoffman], fat and forty, lives in New York.

Mary & Max opens like a book. The narrator [Barry Humphries, better known as TV’s Dame Edna Everage] chronicles the enduring friendship of two unalike, unlikely people, spanning two continents and 20 years. We accompany Mary from childhood to middle age, Max from middle to old age.

We first encounter Mary’s uncaring world in her Melbourne suburb, gloomy hues of brown evoking her melancholic mood. Friendless, the target of schoolmates’ scorn, Mary is ignored by both her chain-smoking, sherry-nipping, kleptomaniacal mum and dull dad who stuffs dead birds for a hobby.

Mary randomly comes upon Max when she picks his name out of a NY telephone directory. Her letter panics Max. Anxiety prone and lonely, he can’t relate to people, can’t hold a job, lives alone with Hal, his one-eye cat, and Henry, his stupefied goldfish. He frets over everything and nothing. He resents his fit psychotherapist, since his passion for ‘chocolate hot dogs’ has prevailed over Overeaters Anonymous.

Mary and Max become pen pals, bond over their shared love for chocolate, bizarre anecdotes from their isolated lives and amusing insights into the world they struggle to fit into. Both have come across something neither ever had: a friend.

Despite this, Mary & Max has no Hollywood magic and predictability. As the story unfolds through the ‘70s to the ‘80s and ‘90s, unexpected afflictions occur. Mary’s inapt boyfriend dumps her, her parents die, other disasters befall each. Max is diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome [a form of autism]. Mary determines to find a cure.

Mary & Max is a touching exploration of human foibles, a poignant look at life’s afflictions: loneliness, obesity, sexuality, anxiety, agoraphobia, autism, kleptomania, alcoholism, psychiatry, sexual and religious differences, trust and death. At first we feel detracted by the outré look and dread surrounding of these grotesque clay-made characters, but as they open their hearts, we are captivated by the brilliant and subversive story and the tragic-comic side of life.

As misunderstandings get patched up, the two resume confidences about forgiveness and imperfections. If their world is imperfect, so too are those who inhabit it. It becomes important to mend what has been broken. When Mary finally enters Max’s desolate NY room, she restores the bond which has tied them throughout the years in a long rewarding friendship.

Hilarious, poignant Mary & Max is impregnated with kind of humour and sadness that draws us all in. (88 mins.)

Afra Botteri

Stanley Kubrick's 2001: a space odyssey

You're free to speculate as you wish about the philosophical and allegorical meaning of the film... Stanley Kubrick

And so mavens, with Kubrick's come-hither invitation, feel free to surf the Web at will, questing for 2001: A Space Odyssey meaning. Kubrick never spelled out his own.

2001 is the original seminal epic big-budget sci-fi movie. Before you check out this site: (http://www.underview.com/2001.html,) make sure you've hours to spare.

Everything basic is at: http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/2001:_A_Space_Odyssey

Some vintage classics, neglected and forgotten, take a generation to come of age. Citizen Kane released in 1941, only garnered critical acclaim after WWII. The Wizard of Oz (1939) became a classic only with the arrival of NBC coloured television (1956). Casablanca (1942), didn't become iconic until the 50s when the Brattle Theatre in Harvard Square played it during exam week, a tradition that still endures.

2001: A Space Odyssey got mixed reviews from NY know-it-all smartpants reviewers, who knew everything there was to know about movies. Pauline Kael (New Yorker) called it a monumentally unimaginative movie. Stanley Kauffmann (New Republic) wrote, a film that is so dull, it even dulls our interest in the technical ingenuity for the sake of which Kubrick has allowed it to become dull. Renata Adler (NYT): ..somewhere between hypnotic and immensely boring. Variety called it: Big, beautiful, but plodding sci-fi epic…A major achievement in cinematography and special effects, 2001 lacks dramatic appeal to a large degree and only conveys suspense after the halfway mark. Andrew Sarris (Village Voice): one of the grimmest films I have ever seen in my life…2001 is a disaster because it is much too abstract to make its abstract points. John Simon: a regrettable failure, although not a total one. This film is fascinating when it concentrates on apes or machines…and dreadful when it deals with the in-betweens: humans.

Check out: http://www.kubrick2001.com/
Scientists speculated for Kubrick (and Arthur C Clarke) what computer technology would be like in 2001, generally optimistic that machines with HAL's capabilities could do any work a man can do. Forty years on, only a few technical details of 2001: A Space Odyssey have dated. Pan-Am no longer flies; we don't yet have space stations nor interplanetary vehicles. And yet the film's views on human evolution, nuclear war, technology, artificial intelligence, extraterrestrial life, seem as asture now as then. While the film is scientifically inaccurate in minor details - natural language processing, lip reading and even commonsense reasoning for example - you will spot laptops and notepads, used to view news broadcasts from Earth.

Arthur C Clarke: ...we set out with the deliberate intention of creating a myth. (The Odyssean parallel clear in our minds.) Quite early in the game I went around saying, not very loudly, "M-G-M doesn't know this yet, hut they're paying for the first $10,000,000 religious movie." I might mention that we have recently discovered-this was quite a shock--that there is a Buddhist sect which worships a large, black, rectangular slab. The analogy of the Kaaba has also been mentioned; though I certainly never had it in mind at the time, the fact that the Black Stone sacred to the Muslims is reputed to be a meteorite is a more than interesting coincidence.

***

OK, for another perspective on 2001: A Space Odyssey and the vasstness of space, this one is a stunner! Go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEheh1BH34Q&feature=fvsr

Les Beaux Gosses/French Kissers

@ Cinéma du Parc

lundi, Monday le 26 octobre
6 p.m./ 1800 h

(English text follows...)

Devenir adulte n’est jamais simple, mais nous finissons quand même par passer au travers de la puberté, tôt ou tard, d’une façon ou d’une autre. Pour le meilleur et pour le pire.

Les films qui parlent du phénomène du passage à l’âge adulte viennent nous chercher en ce qu’ils nous rappellent nos plus doux-amers souvenirs. Ils sont une vibrante nostalgie de l’époque où nous avons appris nos leçons de vie parfois de façon brutale. On se souvient du temps où…mais oui, on revit notre propre évolution – la période de la crise d’adolescence où nous passions de mômes capricieux à de gentils adultes. Ayant tous passé par là, nous sourions à l’évocation de notre propre période d’adolescence. Ces films ravivent notre mémoire, faisant reluire nos éclats d’étourderie. On se languit et se souvient du « doux temps » de notre innocente jeunesse..

Les Beaux Gosses (French Kissers), film en compétition officielle, ce printemps 2009, dans le cadre de la Quinzaine des Réalisateurs au Festival de Cannes. Cinémagique a le plaisir et l’honneur de vous le présenter, lundi, le 26 octobre, au Cinéma du Parc. Une comédie croustillante teintée de gags grivois à la Mack Sennett, roi de la comédie et du cinéma burlesque avec des blagues frôlant parfois le ridicule.

Les histoires traitant du passage à l’âge adulte sont à tout jamais rattachées à une époque et à un endroit précis. Des souvenirs personnels à peine déguisés du réalisateur lui-même. Les Beaux Gosses explore cette jungle impénétrable de ce qu’est un adolescent dans une petite ville bretonne en 2008. Et pourtant, quoique ces ados Beaux Gosses 2008 soient tout aussi différents de ceux dans Blackboard Jungle (1955), malgré qu’ils soient au temps de l’informatique, malgré une vie de médiation depuis l’enfance, malgré leur génération et culture MTV, malgré qu’ils soient conscients du virus du sida, malgré une omniprésente pornographie, ces ados nous arrivent comme d’innocents personnages tout naïfs tels que nous l’étions il a très longtemps déjà sur une planète très lointaine.

Hervé (qui ressemble quelque peu à Michael Sera) est un vulgaire petit connard qui veut séduire, qui se masturbe et qui rêve à ses fantasmes. Son univers d’aujourd’hui – comme le nôtre jadis – conspire contre lui, l’amène sur des sentiers dangereux, l’incite à cesser de réfléchir en enfant, à repenser son rôle d’adulte, à surmonter d’innombrables obstacles tels qu’aliénation, opportunités illimitées, la mort, les drogues, l’existentialisme, l’aventure, confusion, flirt, commérages, l’incertitude, l’irresponsabilité parentale, l’insécurité, l’instabilité, libido, mensonges, faible amour-propre, musique, frivolités amoureuses, discours philosophiques, précocité, psychisme, sauvagerie, concentration sur soi, sexe, sexe et re-sexe…Complétez ce programme et vous voilà diplômé adulte !

Bref, les films sur le passage à l’âge adulte sont de nature embêtante. En voici quelques paramètres :

• Pas de romans feuilletons à l’eau de rose.

• Sans banalités, sans soucis d’idéal, et sans fausses émotions.

• Sans exploitation ni lascivité.

• Le résumé d’une génération. Avec ses particularités tout en étant de portée universelle.

Les films sur le passage à l’âge adulte ne se passent pas seulement avec des gars. Rappelez-vous les filles merveilleuses dans ce type de films : Juno; Girl Interrupted; Bend It Like Beckham; To Kill A Mockingbird; Whale Rider; 16 Candles; Rabbit Proof Fence; Celui de Peter Jackson, Heavenly Creatures ainsi que (dois-je le mentionner?) Lolita. Ces films sont aussi de style très Canadien/Québécois. On n’a qu’à penser à : J’ai tué ma mère; Les Bons Débarras; celui de John N. Smith, New Waterford Girls; My American Cousin de Sandy Wilson; Duddy Kravitz (Richard Dreyfus est venu à Montréal à la suite de American Graffiti de Georges Lucas).

On découvre d’excellents nouveaux réalisateurs de films traitant de ce même sujet : Truffaut avec (Les Mistons, Les 400 Coups); Fellini (I Vitelloni, et puis a suivi Amarcord); Giuseppe Tornatore (Cinema Paradiso), Francis Ford Coppola (You’re A Big Boy Now); Peter Bogdanovich (Last Picture Show). Et ceux du réalisateur John Hughes : (Breakfast Club, Ferrie Bueller’s Day Off, Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink); Soderbergh (Sex, Lies and Vidotapes); L’acteur et bédéiste Riad Sattouf, auteur de plusieurs fils de comédie, est le réalisateur et co-scénariste de cette comédie tout comme s’il l’avait extirpée tout droit de ses bandes dessinées.

Venez et préparez-vous à bien rigoler !

****

On Monday October 26th, Cinémagique is delighted to be showing you Les Beaux Gosses (French Kissers) at the Cinema du Parc. It's a raunchy sex comedy, abounding in ribald humour, Mack Sennett slapstick and bad taste gags. Director Riad Sattouf (who grew up as a teen in Brittany) explores the ever impenetrable secret teen jungle of provincial Brittany. Author/artist of prodigiously funny adult comic books (La vie secrète des jeunes), Sattouf co-wrote this notable first movie as though he lifted his script right out of his comicbook panels.

Growing up is never easy. We all bumble though pubescence, sooner or later, one way or another. And for better or worse.

Which mebbe explains why coming-of-age movies are our most beloved (IMDb lists 2110 titles), our most bittersweet of genres - they're our instant nostalgia back to that time when, our being teens on the cusp of maturity, we first learned our own cruel life lessons. Ah, yes! We watch and remember our own transition - brat adolescent to emerging adult - our never having a clue what was going down at the time. So, having been there, done that, we smile. Coming-of-age movies are our memory prods, buffing shiny our dross of forgetfulness. And we still pine and probe after that ''simpler time'' of our own long ago innocence.

While these Beaux Gosses 2008 ados are as different from the teens in Blackboard Jungle (1955) - despite their computerese, despite their mediated life from infancy, despite their MTV explicitness, despite their AIDS-awareness, despite their ubiquitous pornography - they come across as sweet innocent naifs as we remember ourselves to have been long long ago. Hervé's a fantasizing, masturbating wiseass charmer (with a passing resemblance to Michael Sera). His world now - as ours then - conspires against him at every turn, makes him navigate perilous passages, forces him to give up thinking like a kid, begin auditioning for his role as adult, overcome a veritable A to Z of hurdles: alienation, boundless possibility, confusion, death, drugs, existentialism, flings, flirtations, gossip, gropings, irresponsible parents, insecurities, instability, libido, lies, low self-esteem, music, petting, philosophical rambles, precocity, psyche, savagery, self-focus, sex, sex, sex, and sex, Get through and you graduate into adulthood.

Iconic coming-of-age movies are a tricky genre to execute, forever locked in their own time-and-place capsule: coded, personal, barely disguised remembrances of a filmmaker's own adolescence. Consider the genre parameters:

• No soap opera.
• No banality, no high-mindedness, nor sentimentality.
• No exploitation nor prurience.
• A summation of a generation. Particular and yet universal.
  

Because they're so hard to pull off, we often first spot the next breakthrough director in his coming-of-age movie. Consider: Truffaut (Les Mistons, Les 400 Coups); Fellini (I Vitelloni, and then later, Amarcord); Giuseppe Tornatore (Cinema Paradiso), Francis Ford Coppola (You're A Big Boy Now); Peter Bogdanovich (Last Picture Show). Director John Hughes made a career of his adolescence:(Breakfast Club, Ferrie Bueller's Day Off, Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink); Steven Soderbergh (Sex, Lies and Videotapes).

Coming of age movies are not only boy genres. Remember all the spectacular girls we saw come of age on film: Juno; Girl Interrupted; Bend It Like Beckham; To Kill A Mockingbird; Whale Rider; 16 Candles; Rabbit Proof Fence; Peter Jackson's Heavenly Creatures, An Education (last week) and (dare I mention it?), Lolita. Coming of age is also a very Canadian/Québecois subset: J'ai tué ma mère, Les Bons Débarras; John N. Smith's delicious New Waterford Girls; Sandy Wilson's My American Cousin; Duddy Kravitz (Richard Dreyfus came to Montreal right off the set of George Lucas' American Grafitti).

So come, prepared to laugh. At these kids. At what we once were..

peter

****

The Damned United

...the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat

by Bob Foster

One of the most exciting sporting events I've ever attended was a UEFA Cup qualifying soccer match between Amsterdam Ajax and Bochum in 1997 held in Amsterdam's home stadium. The max 70,000 crowd was like one living being, moving together, screeching together, breathing together. The final score was Ajax 6 to Bochum's 4, a high scoring game, that moved the home crowd to even greater heights of excitement. The atmosphere is difficult to imagine if one has never been to a crucial European soccer match.

The film Damned United takes the excitement of European soccer and brings it into the realm of Shakespearian tragedy while at the same time illustrating the old TV Sports adage of "the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat".

The story, based on a creative non-fiction “novel”, is essentially about real life Brian Clough http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Clough , one of the greatest soccer coaches ever in England and how after bringing Derby County from the bottom of second division to the top of the first division in the 60s/70s he took over Leeds United from Don Revie (of anything-to-win renown http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Revie ) who then became manager of the England national team. Brian's 44 days with Leeds was his "agony of defeat" hiatus that taught him how to deal with life more like an adult (and less like a “braggart out of his depth”) and the importance of excellent friends and help which he had in Peter Taylor - and which makes up the keen yet chaste “bromance” that underlies the whole story. Clough had a big mouth which got him into trouble and apparently he didn’t lose the lip (there is a clip of boxer Mohammad Ali talking about him) but learned how to use it more wisely, perhaps with some help from Taylor. The relationship with Taylor is contrasted against Clough’s rocky relationship with Revie and Derby chairman Longson.

Clough is played by Michael Sheen (David Frost in FROST/NIXON, Tony Blair in THE QUEEN). Taylor is played by Timothy Spall (SECRETS AND LIES and more recently HARRY POTTER). Don Revie is played by look-alike Colm Meaney, with Jim Broadbent (TOPSY TURVY amongst many other superb films) as the Derby chairman Sam Longson.

The title Damned United can refer to the damned period Clough spent with Leeds United but also how the pair of Clough/Taylor were temporarily damned then united then re-united after Clough worked his way through some pettiness to see the bigger picture that life as an adult has to offer. Apparently, there were still some ups and downs to come between the two but they aren’t mentioned in the film.

I liked the prudent and always clear flashbacks used to show how Clough got to his Leeds “damned” disaster and then a final flash forward to show just how much he really did learn.

I highly recommend the film for both soccer/”foootball” aficionados who like “guy” sports flicks though the game shots are few, but more for those who thoroughly appreciate a character study that shows how man can overcome tragic faults and finally become a human hero.

For a wealth of other reviews of the film see http://www.mrqe.com/movies/m100071909 and for cast/crew particulars see http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt1226271/

****

...and here's J. Paul Higgins' take of the same film...

...enjoyable, but not quite a triumph

by j. paul higgins

On the surface The Damned United is a sports movie, a dramatization of the real-life career of English football manager Brian Clough from 1968 through 1974. Luckily for those with no real knowledge or interest in soccer, the film focuses on a more universal theme: a man struggling with success and failure in a rapidly evolving society at the dawn of the multi-media age. There are soccer sequences but surprisingly few.

The film starts as Brian Clough - the most successful young football manager in England - arrives to take a new job as the manager of the Leeds United, the top team in the top division. The team has dominated the game for years under the long-time management of Don Revie, who has moved on to lead the national team. On the way to his first day on the job Mr. Clough stops and gives a television interview. He scoffs at the idea that he will have any trouble filling Don Revie's shoes. He also brazenly states that the team may be winners but are also thugs and cheats and not worthy of being called real champions. The players and board of directors have heard about the interview by the time he arrives at work and not surprisingly Mr. Clough's first day on the job does not go very well.

Director Tom Hooper flips back and forth between Mr. Clough's struggles to succeed at Leeds and his earlier remarkable success in bringing Derby, a feeble second division squad from no hopers to the top of their division and then to the top of the first division. The flash backs are illuminating as we see how Mr. Clough's arrogance and ferocious ambition develop but are moderated by assistant manager Peter Taylor, Clough's long-time friend, partner and collaborator. Importantly Taylor did not follow Clough to Leeds and we learn that many people see this a big problem. Also in the flashbacks we see how the rivalry between Clough and Don Revie developed and turned into a personal feud.

The cast is excellent. Clough is portrayed by Michael Sheen (David Frost in Frost/Nixon, Tony Blair in The Queen). Colm Meaney (The Snapper, Gene Hunt in the original version of Life On Mars) plays Don Revie. Peter Taylor is portrayed by Timothy Spall (Beadle in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street). The cast also includes several excellent British character actors.

The movie is very good at evoking the mood of Britain in the late-60s and and early 70s, divided by class and regional bickering but beginning to open to the outside world. Clough as portrayed by Michael Sheen is a fascinating and strangely sympathetic character despite his screaming fits, pettiness and overwhelming arrogance. The plot is intriguing and interesting enough to be enjoyable. And yet ...

In the end I was left with the feeling of a near miss. I think the director was very ambitious, trying to explore the complexity of Clough's personality, the symbiotic relationship between Clough and Taylor and the evolving business of professional sports all without driving away the non-sports fan. For me the Clough and Taylor relationship somehow did not ring true, leaving a nagging hole at the centre of the film. An enjoyable film but not quite a triumph.

j. paul higgins


Damned United (1:40) : is opening at the AMC this Friday: 12:10, 2:45, 5:15, 7:45, 10:10

An Education: Lynn Barber's memoir

Mavens:

This chronicle is for those who screened An Education Saturday. And those who didn't - but intend to, when An Education opens October 23rd.

Here, from the Times of London, is Lynn Barber's telling memoir of the making of the film, An Education, based on her own memoir of what she calls a 'dark and shameful memory' of her childhood. It tells endless truths on how movies get written, financed,staffed, cast, produced - or don't as the case may be. I thought you might be interested.

peter

Lynn Barber: My age of innocence

At a party the other day someone asked me quite seriously what I thought about the Oscar chances for “my” film, An Education. Well, I said, equally seriously, Carey Mulligan (who plays me) seems a shoo-in for best-actress nomination, and there is also much talk of Alfred Molina (who plays my father) as best supporting actor. I think Rosamund Pike deserves a supporting nomination because she is absolutely hilarious in the film, but it’s a “well-known fact” that comedy never wins Oscars. And of course Nick Hornby deserves an Oscar for best film adaptation. All this uttered with convincing gravity, as if I actually knew what I was talking about. Since when did I become a film expert? How on earth did it happen?

I suppose it all began six years ago when I wrote about my schoolgirl affair with a conman, Simon, an associate of Peter Rachman, the notorious slum landlord. It was 1960; I was 16, living with my parents in Twickenham, when this suave older man in a red Bristol sports car drew up beside me at a bus stop and offered me a lift home. For the next two years I led a strange double life — going to school and swotting for my A-levels during the week, then swanning off with Simon for weekends in Paris, Rome, Amsterdam.

What was extraordinary was that my parents let me — up till then they’d put all their energy into urging me, their only child, to win every possible scholarship and go to Oxford. But they were completely charmed, or conned, by Simon, to the point that they were putting pressure on me to marry him. I don’t want to give away the denouement but I escaped his clutches in the nick of time. I went to Oxford, he went to prison.

It was a story I always meant to write one day, but I thought it could wait till I was retired and my parents were dead. My parents always hated to be reminded of the Simon debacle — they felt even more betrayed by him than I did. But then my husband was diagnosed with myelofibrosis and told he had only two years to live unless he had a bone-marrow transplant. He was only 58, the same age as me, but suddenly death seemed just around the corner. I went up to my study and wrote the story in about two days flat. I have never written anything so easily before or since — it felt as though the story was already fully formed in my head and I just had to type it out.

I say story, and it felt like a story; I was writing it in a voice that was not quite my own. I think it was the voice of my 18-year-old self: there was an arrogance and sureness of tone the present me can only envy. How brilliant I thought I was then! I published the story in Granta magazine because I didn’t want my parents to see it and knew that Nunton, Wilts, where they lived, was a Granta-free zone. Soon afterwards my agent rang to say a film producer called Amanda Posey wanted to meet me with a view to optioning the story. It was the worst possible timing — my husband was in hospital having his bone-marrow transplant and I was virtually living there — but she said she would come to a nearby coffee bar any time I could get away. She came with her co-producer, Finola Dwyer. They seemed bright enough, but not remotely like my notion of film producers, which involved fat cigars and vicuña overcoats. Amanda asked if I wanted to write the film script myself and seemed delighted when I said no — she said she already had a screenwriter in mind. I thought she was mad and went back to the hospital and forgot about her. It was just one more weird incident in those weeks of constant weirdness that ended with my husband dying.

Among the many funeral bouquets was one “From Nick and Amanda”. Total blank. Some time later my agent explained that Amanda Posey was the girlfriend of Nick Hornby (she is now his wife), and he was the screenwriter she had in mind. He had spotted the story in Granta and showed it to Amanda, who showed it to Finola, who agreed it would make a good film. They kept batting names of possible screenwriters between them and Nick kept finding fault with them (“He was jealous!” says Amanda), till eventually he said: “Why don’t I do it?”

Nick seemed to know the characters way beyond what I’d said about them, and to intuit completely what it felt like to be a l6-year-old schoolgirl who was on the one hand very intelligent but on the other hand very ignorant about the world. He even seemed to understand my parents, which is more than I could ever say myself. He asked a lot about period detail: what posters I had on my bedroom wall, what music I listened to. For a ghastly moment I thought he might be planning a soundtrack full of l960s pop hits — that black hole compounded of Cliff Richard, Paul Anka, Liberace, Lonnie Donegan — but Nick said no, he wanted to know what I and my schoolmates really listened to. So I told him the truth: that we were far too pretentious to listen to pop. We listened to jazz at Eel Pie Island and collected records by French chansonniers like Jacques Brel, Georges Brassens, Juliette Gréco. He evidently took this on board, because it’s reflected in the soundtrack of the film.

I put a clause in the contract that I should have the right to see and comment on (but not alter) every draft Nick wrote. And there were so many drafts over the years — I think eight in all. He fleshed out characters who had been no more than names before and created whole scenes that were not in my story at all. He made me a cellist in the school orchestra and took me to an auction where I bid for a painting by Burne-Jones. He showed a positively eerie understanding of my father, giving him long rants (“Money doesn’t grow on trees, you know”) that are so exactly like the sort of things he might say in real life that

I still have to keep pinching myself to remember Nick Hornby has never actually met Dick Barber. The only bad thing he did was to change Simon’s name to David, which was my husband’s name, and I wish in retrospect I’d put up a fight. While Nick was working on the script, Finola and Amanda were looking for the money to make it. They also started talking to directors and enlisted Beeban Kidron. She was on board for a year and half, and helped Nick develop the script, then she had to jump off-board because she had a prior long-standing commitment to direct Richard Neville’s autobiography, Hippie Hippie Shake, co-scripted by her husband, Lee Hall.

(Big mistake — she made the Neville film but then withdrew her name from the credits.) Nick told me that when Beeban left he was ready to give up. But then Amanda and Finola found Lone Scherfig, and she was passionate about the script. Lone seemed an odd choice, given that she is Danish, but she proved to be exactly right.

Lucy Bevan, the casting director, had already started looking for an actress to play me. They knew it would have to be an unknown, because she was meant to be only 16, but they wanted someone with a bit of experience, and eventually found Carey Mulligan, who had done a memorable episode of Dr Who and played one of the Bennet sisters in Joe Wright’s Pride and Prejudice. When Nick heard she was 22 he had a fit. “I thought they’d buggered it up because I couldn’t believe there was a 22-year-old girl in contemporary Britain who looks innocent in any way. But when I saw Carey’s screen test, I knew she was completely fine, and when I saw her in her school uniform, I thought, oh my God, she looks 14!”

Nick and Amanda asked their friend Emma Thompson to play my headmistress, and she agreed. In fact, she only appears on screen for about five minutes, but it cheered up the backers no end to have an Oscar-winning “name” on board. They were also pleased to have Peter Sarsgaard, who, though not a great box-office name, is universally admired in the industry. And Rosamund Pike clamoured to play the small part of Helen because “no one ever lets me be funny”.

The drafts of the script came and went; the film option was renewed for a second year, a third, a fourth. Occasionally, Amanda or Nick would get in touch and say that such and such an actor was interested, but it all had a comforting never-never feel as far as I was concerned. And then — shock horror! — in December 2007 they e-mailed to say they would start shooting in March. What? I went into complete meltdown. Until then I’d never actually believed that the film would be made (I had plenty of writer friends who’d sold film options without ever seeing a finished film). I thought my Granta story was just fine as it was; I didn’t want to see actors impersonating my parents and audiences criticising them. My parents by now were in their nineties and living in a retirement home. They wouldn’t actually see the film — my father is blind, and they hadn’t been near a cinema for at least 20 years — but they were bound to hear about it. I kept dithering about how to tell them, until my daughters briskly pointed out that my parents never listened to a word I said anyway. So we made a plan that we would take them out to lunch and at some point I would tell them about the film, and Rosie and Theo would be on standby to break a plate or something to distract them if they asked too many questions. I spent the whole lunch in a fever of nerves, but eventually chose my moment and said: “Someone is making a film about my life. About my teenage years, you know, when I went out with Simon?”

“Oh that’s nice,” they said. “We’ve got a new chiropodist. He’s very good.”

And so the moment passed.

Soon afterwards, the film started shooting in London. I heard all about it from my 18-year-old niece, Freya, who played a “featured extra” (so much better than an extra extra) in the crowd scenes and became a walking encyclopaedia on the progress of the film. She lived through the heartbreak when Orlando Bloom pulled out just a week before shooting began. He was meant to be playing Danny, the second male lead, and it was an incredible coup for Amanda and Finola to have got him, and the backers were thrilled.

“The deal was done, he’d had his medical, his security people were all sorted, his dog was about to be put on a plane from Los Angeles to London,” says Finola, “and then he started wobbling. I was on the phone to him all night.”

Then Nick got a call saying Bloom wanted to ring him about a couple of script changes. “He rang me and said how great he thought the script was and how much he liked my writing and he hoped we could work together on something else but it wouldn’t be this. I couldn’t understand how we’d got from a couple of script changes to this. So I rang Amanda and said, ‘He just told me he wasn’t doing it.’ And she said, ‘Well, what did you say to upset him?’ And I said, ‘Nothing.’ So Amanda rang Bloom’s agent, who said, ‘Oh, Nick’s just got the wrong end of the stick. I’ll get Orlando to ring again.’ So he gets on the phone again, and I’m in the kitchen with Amanda and before I can say a word, he starts, ‘As I was saying, it’s a great script and I wish I could do it but I can’t.’ Amanda could hear then that it wasn’t anything I’d said.”

Finola spent two hours on the phone to Bloom; his agent rang him, his manager, his fellow actors, but he was adamant. It remains a mystery why he dropped out; Finola thinks he just lost confidence. Anyway, he served a useful purpose in keeping the backers happy while they closed the deal.

The Bloom phone calls happened on a Tuesday and Wednesday; on Thursday Amanda and Finola decided, “Okay, we’ve got to move on.” They had already talked to Dominic Cooper (The History Boys, Mamma Mia!) long before Bloom came on board, and his agent, hearing rumours of Bloom’s defection, rang and said, “You know, Dominic still loves that part,” so they did a deal that same Thursday. And he is great in the part, so Orlando Bloom missed his chance, poor possum.

Shooting started in March 2008 and Amanda asked if I would like to watch. I said I wouldn’t mind watching one of the school scenes. (I couldn’t bear to watch the scenes with my parents, but school felt like neutral territory.)

So she said, come to the Japanese school in Acton on Tuesday. Driving over there, I thought: “Why would they set my school days in a Japanese school?” and suddenly realised that it was April Fools’ day. I almost turned back, but when I arrived, I saw it was the old Haberdasher Aske’s girls’ school that we used to play lacrosse against, and it felt completely right. There was only one surreal moment, when I opened a classroom door and found a group of Japanese teachers quietly marking papers.

Wandering round the school, I was absolutely gobsmacked at the care that had been taken to get all the props and period details right. There were school photos along the corridors that were so much like my old school photos I kept looking for myself in them. It smelt like my old school, it felt like my old school, and when the teacher handed essays back to the class, they were in those scuzzy orange exercise books we always used, and I felt that old tremor of anxiety in case I hadn’t got an A.

Andrew McAlpine, the production designer, told me that he and Lone decided to move the action forward a year to 1961, because Britain in 1960 looked exactly the same as Britain in the 1950s — ie, drab — whereas by 1961 there was some glimmer of style and colour on the streets. He also told me that he’d been to look at my old school, Lady Eleanor Holles, but it was unsuitable for filming because the geography didn’t work — they wanted a scene where the girls came streaming out onto the street, but LEH is set behind playing fields, far back from the road.

He also went to look at my old home in Twickenham (an Edwardian terraced house), but said the street had become too smart, and anyway he’d already decided he wanted to use mock-Tudor. Apparently, foreigners are always thrilled by mock-Tudor houses, because they seem uniquely English and quaint, like red London buses. He found a whole mock-Tudor enclave in Ealing, inhabited mainly by Poles, which was perfect for filming. He also found the red Bristol car that Peter Sarsgaard drives and said it would thrill petrolheads all round the world, “because it’s a truly seminal car. They’ll get excited just by the sound of the door shutting”. And he campaigned successfully to have one scene — where I meet Peter Rachman — set at Walthamstow dog track, simply because he wanted to film the place before it closed for ever. It seems odd that he, a New Zealander, and Lone Scherfig, a Dane, should have this tremendous affection for London, but it’s part of what gives the film its charm.

At one point when I was chatting to Amanda outside the school, I noticed a flock of ring-necked parakeets flying overhead and remarked casually: “Of course, that wouldn’t have happened in 1961. Parakeets are a very recent arrival.” Amanda looked aghast: I swear she was wondering whether they should have marksmen on the rooftops to pick off any incoming parakeets, and what would that do to their budget? But I don’t think there are any parakeets in the finished film.

All the film people at the school kept asking if I was excited to be meeting my 16-year-old self, and I had to keep biting my tongue and saying: “Yes, absolutely thrilled.” How daft would you have to be to believe that meeting an actress was the same as meeting your 16-year-old self? But actually I was thrilled when I saw Carey Mulligan playing one of the classroom scenes. I knew she was pretty, but you have to believe that she is enough of a swot to get into Oxford. Anyway, she was perfect, with a sort of tremulous earnestness that reminded me of myself at that age. When she finished the scene, a film publicist brought her over to meet me and insisted that a cameraman record this deeply meaningful encounter “for the DVD”. I think I was meant to burst into tears and hug her or something, but instead I shook hands and said “Well done”, and she said “Thank you”, and we both smiled for the camera. The publicist was disappointed.

Weeks passed. Amanda had told me that they hoped to release the film in March 2009, so I assumed I wouldn’t hear any more till then. But in August I got an e-mail from Finola saying they were having a private screening of the rough cut in Soho that week if I wanted to come. Of course I wanted to come. I went with trepidation but was then absolutely thrilled. The film is a masterpiece!

Seriously. The film has now moved so far from my own life that I don’t really recognise any of it. Alfred Molina as my father is positively heart-rending. Peter Sarsgaard is handsome and sympathetic and only faintly a conman. Even the suburban streets look idyllic. What was once a dark, shameful memory has become sunlit and glamorous thanks to the magic of Nick Hornby, Lone Sherfig and all. The film had its first public showing at the Sundance Film Festival in January and won the audience prize. Distribution rights have been sold to practically every country in the world — Greece and Turkey were the last to go — so people in Bangkok, in Bahrain, in Budapest will be watching my Twickenham childhood. How weird is that?

An Education

An Education is Duddy Kravitz in Twickenham, located in novelist Nick Hornby (High Fidelity, About A Boy, Fever Pitch) domain – an unsentimental coming-of-age comedy - droll, insightful, subversive. It involves upper-lip British restraint, an unreliable storyteller, a cast of characters acting out their sinister ulterior motives. And, as in all Nick Hornby works, at the centre of this tale, is another aimless obsessive male Hornby doofus.

Three themes braid together – an insouciant British smartiepants falls for a cringe-inducing predatory smoothie, old enough to be her dad. At 16, Jenny’s impatient to be all grown up – she wants to smoke, to have a drink, to see Paris - not just singalong with Juliette Greco in her bedroom. Ok, we've known since precocious Cleopatra that teenieboopers suffer from excessive sexual repression, from Daddy-Love. They ache for sex with older guys. And the feeling has always been mutual: besotted geezers involved in over-the-top, socially unacceptable passions with females young enough to be their daughters (Polanski, Letterman). Indeed, Woody (what a nickname) Allen's oeuvre has been one long elegy to this theme since he took nude photographs of Mia Farrow's adopted daughter, Soon-Ti Previn. And then took up with her.

But wait a second! In An Education, not only does Miss Smartie Pants act of her own volition, she enters into this nascent relationship knowing exactly what she's in it for. She’s making her own declaration of independence. She’s determining her own age of consent, not her parents, nor her teacher nor prissy England. Indeed, she wields more power than her lothario. As a consequence, we, the audience are wedged into the rift between public perception and private truth, voyeurs to one of those can’t-look-away, can’t-bear-to-watch relationships.

The villain of the piece is a Lothario with a don't-mess-with-the-Jews approach to Twickenham. A Duddy Kravitz charmer, he's sleazy in morally ambiguous ways we don't wish him to be: his felonious infectious logic seducing not only the schoolgirl, her parents, his own circle of friends, he's out to seduce us, the audience as well. And he does. It’s not hard imagining a lifetime of betrayals he has absorbed. We don't want him behaving the way he does. Since he's too likeable, too abounding in charms. He fingers Sir Edward Elgar (Land of Hope and Glory) as an antisemite. Then blithely squires his young thing off to some home-schooling of his own devising: an Elgar concert.

The third Theme - bedroom suburb Twickenham (on the Thames, an hour southwest of London) is a smirky villain in its own right: sexist, straight-laced, anti-Semitic, with an enough about you, what about me self-adoration. This is a bombastic Britannia, just before the Pill, before bra burning, before flower power. Carnaby Street, the Beatles and the Stones, Mary Quant, miniskirts and hot pants have not yet arrived. But all are just round the corner.

As in the best of British films, An Education’s casting has a galaxy of stars. Carey Mulligan is suitably adorable, but American actor, Peter Sarsgaard, in the Iago role, steals the movie. Alfred Molina (Chocolat, Frida) plays the father; Emma Thompson (Remains of the Day, Sense and Sensibility) the starchy headmistress, and Sally Hawkins (Happy-Go-Lucky, Vera Drake), fresh from her Oscar nomination, has a walk-on.

This one will definitely be round, come Oscartime. Don't miss it.

****

An Education est du même romancier, Nick Hornby (High Fidelity, About A Boy, Fever Pitch). Une comédie traitant de la période d’adolescence vers celle de l’adulte, drôle, perspicace, subversive. C’est une histoire invraisemblable qui retient les émotions, où chacun y joue un rôle basé sur des motifs ultérieurs inquiétants. Et au sein de chaque histoire, se retrouve l’acteur principal, personnage obsessif et sans but précis.

Trois thèmes s’y entrecroisent – une adolescente quelque peu gaga mais très astucieuse a le béguin pour un enjôleur du double de son âge. Désire se comporter en grande fille – fumer, prendre un verre, voir Paris – et pas seulement chantonner à la Juliette Greco – elle cherche un homme assez vieux qu’il pourrait être son père. Oui, on est d’accord que depuis les temps de la précoce Cléopâtre, les adolescentes souffrent du complexe d’Œdipe. Ils convoitent le sexe avec des hommes plus âgés. Les preuves abondent en ce sens récemment dans les manchettes de journaux de ces cas de passion avec des jeunes femmes pouvant avoir été leur propre fille (Polanski, Letterman). En effet, l’œuvre de Woody Allen fut l’objet d’une longue complainte depuis qu’il a pris des photos de nue de la fille adoptive de Mia Farrow, Soon-Ti Previn, avec laquelle il a ensuite poursuivi une relation.

Mais un instant ! Dans An Education, non seulement Mlle Gaga vole-t-elle de ses propres ailes mais elle entre dans une relation embryonnaire tout en sachant exactement ce qu’elle désire. Elle décide elle-même l’âge de sa majorité et non pas ses parents, ni son professeur ni l’époque de l’ère victorienne d’Angleterre. En effet, elle a plus de pouvoir que son Lothario de séducteur. À quoi pense-t-elle ? à un apprentissage tacite – à la science infuse. Sommes-nous pris entre la perception du public et nos propres croyances ? Ce sont des films de style impossible à ne pas regarder - intolérable à regarder.

Maintenant, il y a les motifs d’antisémitisme britannique. Notre Lothario séducteur est un juif. Il nous l’avoue dès la première rencontre. Il cite le personnage de Sir Edward Elgar (Land of Hope and Glory), musicien compositeur bien-pensant aux idées conservatrices. Puis tout en changeant de propos, il nous amène sur celui de sa propre invention : un concert Elgar. Il parle d’antisémitisme britannique, sans l’ombre d’une émotion. Et puis, c’est un charmeur à la Duddy Kravitz, lequel fut un frauduleux investisseur. Il est méprisable comme on ne voudrait pas qu’il le soit. Il ne veut pas seulement la séduire, mais aussi ses parents, son cercle d’amis, et il est là pour nous séduire, l’auditoire aussi. Et il réussit. C’est un vilain voyou qui comprend que le pompeux impérialisme tombera bientôt aux mains de l’Angleterre. Son comportement nous déplaît. Parce qu’il est trop aimable et charmant et qu’il est Juif. Il ne peut donc pas être une personne anti-sociale, nourrie par sa vengeance à l’idée de ne pas trop se mêler aux Juifs.

Le troisième sujet, chambre banlieusarde à Twickenham (sur la Tamise, à une heure au sud-ouest de Londres) se trouve un personnage suffisant, homogène, droit, anti-sémite sûr de lui. Une attitude où domine les mots assez de toi, parlons donc de moi. On est dans la période d’avant la pilule contraceptive, l’abandon du soutien-gorge, le flower power. Les habitants de Twickenham tiennent mordicus à leurs opinions personnelles parce qu’ils se sentent menacés. Rue Carnaby, les Beatles et les Stones, Mary Quant, les mini-jupes et les hotpants n’ont pas encore fait leur apparition en Angleterre. Mais c’est juste autour du coin de la rue. Une vie sur mesure à Twickenham.

Tout comme dans les meilleurs films de Grande-Bretagne, la distribution d’An Education est une galaxie d’étoiles. L’acteur américain, Peteer Sarsgaard, dans le rôle d’Iago, vole la vedette. Alfred Molina (Chocolat, Frida) incarne le rôle du père, Emma Thompson (Remains of the Day, Sense and Sensibility), la directrice en chef et Sally Hawkins (Happy-Go-Lucky, Vera Drake), fraîchement nominée aux Oscars, y est figurante.

Celui-ci sera définitivement dans la ronde aux Oscars.


Bon cinéma,
***
John Easterbrooke provided a fascinating link to anyone wanting to know how movies get written:

The following is a link from Script Magazine. It is an interview with Nick Hornby the author and producer of An Education. I though you might find it insightful. Perhaps this link could be posted for other in the group, if you do not think it too late.

http://www.scriptmag.com/interviews/nick-hornby.html

Cairo Time

A stranger in a strange land

Whenever someone asks me where I 'm from, I say I don't know.

Ruba Nadda

director, Ruba Nadda

Movies are transporting - magic carpets which waft us aloft into captivating domains we would otherwise never visit. I cannot recall, for example, the last movie I saw, set in sensual Cairo. (Raiders of the Lost Ark and Purple Rose of Cairo don't count. Mavens had two suggestions: The English Patient and The Yacoubian Building )

Cairo Time's magic carpet takes us of course to pyramids, the Nile, sukhs, hookah bars, camels and the white desert. But director Ruba Nadda is after something more.

Who Ruba Nadda is, tells us much about what Cairo Time is all about. She was born here in Montreal, grew up in Manitoba, B.C. Several times, her family shuttled back and forth to Damascus, before settling finally in Toronto. She studied filmmaking at NYU, then returned to Toronto, where she has made an array of shorts with provocative titles (Slut (1999); Blue Turning Grey Over You (1999); I Would Suffer Cold Hands for You (1999); I Always Come To You (2001). Cairo Time is her fourth movie.) Nadda is also a prolific poet/writer.

Here's one of her poems:

.................................
my 11 year old sister is on fire
.................................

my 11 year old sister
is on fire

she sits at her desk
and dreams up

of lies to tell her friends
then she

lies in bed and wonders
what it is like

to kiss boys, she tries to
shut the talk shows

in the other room out along with
her mother's soft crying

she trys to memorize lines
so she can write

her poetry the next day
she is a little girl

who has overheard a secret about her
sister and who is now too scared to

close her eyes

she calls
me late

saturday and asks me if it is
true, says ruba, i can't

believe you
i'm on fire

.................................

She says of her own upbringing, Whenever someone asks me where I'm from, I say I don't know.

I guess so.

Growing up Canadian and Arab and female in a peripatetic Syrian-Canadian family, she must indeed have felt a stranger in a strange land.

With Cairo Time, the luminescent Patricia Clarkson, not Ruba Nadda, is the stranger in the strange land - a land within Nadda's comfort zone, but utterly bewildering to the Clarkson character, Juliette, wife of a Canadian diplomat. She encounters a suave Omar Sharif character. They play chess, they float on the Nile, they discuss the superficiality of Canadian women's magazines.

She surrenders her stodgy Canadianness, puts down her her iMac, picks up her hookah, attempts to work through her culture shock – shifting from trying to understand to accepting that she never will. She gets on a Gaza-bound bus, and the Israelis kick her off. She doesn’t get why.

Her husband the Canadian diplomat, running a refugee camp in Gaza, can't meet up. Work, doncha know! He seems no better equipped to deal with his own strangerness in an even more strange land. Gaza.

And so it goes.











Patricia Clarkson & Alexander Siddig


Web Resources:

Before the screening, mavens might log onto some Cairo Time material on the web, which will provide you with background about the filmmakers, the stars and the production:

On our website, my-pov.ca, we've posted the Cairo Time trailer, which reflects Cairo Time's languid lush caramel cinematography.

On YouTube are three enchanting clips from TIFF, invues with Ruba Nadda, Patricia Clarkson and Alexander Siddig, the male lead: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gT36gawbrdo

Also a short documentary for Sabah, Nadda's last movie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brl-H9LBab0