I saw a programme on TV the other day in the series Movie Connections, about the 80s film Local Hero. The series interviews ppeople involved with certain iconic films, a sort of where-are-they-now type exercise. I haven't seen any of the others as they were about films I either hadn't seen or had much interest in, but Local Hero is different.
It would make my personal top ten -it's a film I've seen many times and have always found magical and very, very special. For those who don't know it, it's about a Texan oilman who's despatched to this Scottish village somewhere on the west coast in order to persuade the villagers to sell the beach, where oil has been discovered, for vast sums of money. which will make the village unimaginably wealthy. They all quite fancy this, except for an old bloke who lives in a hut on the beach and scrapes a living as a beachcomber, and who refuses to have anything to do with it, thus throwing a gigantic spanner in the works.
Over the course of the film, the oilman becomes captivated by the area, the village and the beach, and the deal collapses. The film reveles in the magic of the area - I'm reminded, not so much of Whisky Galore, the film its most often compared with, as of I Know Where I'm Going, the semi-mystical Powell and Pressburger film of the 1940s, in which a brittle English girl becomes captivated by the local laird, and the Scottish islands. It's a classic of the highest order, and Local Hero belongs definitively in that category - a lovely, lovely film. I've been prompted to get it on DVD to as it belongs in my permanent collection.
Wednesday 25 February 2009
Thursday 12 February 2009
Billy Liar
I watched this the other day - it was on an ancient video and I'd taped it years ago; I'd actually written an essay on it, so had watched it several times and knew it very well. But that was a few years ago, so I thought I'd give it another look. It's about a northern working-class lad who lives in a fantasy world, where fantasy is more real and fulfilling than reality. He has 2 girlfriends, both of whom he strings along, because he has a fantasy that he can have both. This doesn't sound very appealing, but somehow Courtenay makes Billy lovable and endearing.
I love Tom Courtenay. He's wonderful-looking, of course, with his chiselled bone structure, but there's a vulnerability about him that's enormously appealing. He was in the recent Little Dorrit - he's about 70 now, and he played Mr Dorrit, Amy's father, who's incarcerated in the Marshalsea, the debtor's prison, with his family He's retained that vulnerability and deep-rooted sadness, and his performance was heartbreaking.
He produced a book recently consisting of letters his mother sent to him when he was a young man down in London at drama school. He comes from a very working-class background in Hull, so he, unlike Billy, got away. The letters are wonderful, and they're interspersed with his memories, and some of his own letters. The whole thing is a marvellous read.
Anyway, back to Billy. The original play was written by Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall, and it's hilarious. In the film, as well as TC playing Billy (who was played by Albert Finney in the original play), his sidekick at the undertakers where he works, is played by Rodney Bewes. Both lads fantasise, and there's a hilarious scene in which the two wander through the town (which I think is Bradford, though I could be wrong), trading witty fantasies and impersonations. Leonard Rossiter plays their boss, and his performance is another gem.
The thing about the film, as opposed to the play, is its vision of life in the early 60s, as Victorian buildings were pulled down to be be replaced by concrete and modernity. The first scene is a joy - Godfrey Winn is presenting Housewives' Choice, something I remember well from my own childhood, and reads out requests. We see the overjoyed housewives in their tower blocks hearing their requestes read out. Winn was a media ever-present in those days; an iconic figure, and hia performance is a joy. We see a nation in a ferment of change, yet which clings to the safety of tradition. The film is full of such scenes - there's a hilarious scene which depicts a supermarket opening, complete with visiting celebrity.
Billy has the chance to escape to London with Julie Christie, but he doesn't leave - he deliberately misses the train to London and life with Julie ,as, in the end, fantasy is safer than reality. I must mention Christie, as her appearance was one of those iconic moments in cinema. The sight of this loose-limbed, fancy-free girl, sashaying through the city streets, summed up swinging Britain and the atmosphere of the first half of the decade, when you really did feel that anything was possible. A true gem of British cinema - delightful.
I love Tom Courtenay. He's wonderful-looking, of course, with his chiselled bone structure, but there's a vulnerability about him that's enormously appealing. He was in the recent Little Dorrit - he's about 70 now, and he played Mr Dorrit, Amy's father, who's incarcerated in the Marshalsea, the debtor's prison, with his family He's retained that vulnerability and deep-rooted sadness, and his performance was heartbreaking.
He produced a book recently consisting of letters his mother sent to him when he was a young man down in London at drama school. He comes from a very working-class background in Hull, so he, unlike Billy, got away. The letters are wonderful, and they're interspersed with his memories, and some of his own letters. The whole thing is a marvellous read.
Anyway, back to Billy. The original play was written by Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall, and it's hilarious. In the film, as well as TC playing Billy (who was played by Albert Finney in the original play), his sidekick at the undertakers where he works, is played by Rodney Bewes. Both lads fantasise, and there's a hilarious scene in which the two wander through the town (which I think is Bradford, though I could be wrong), trading witty fantasies and impersonations. Leonard Rossiter plays their boss, and his performance is another gem.
The thing about the film, as opposed to the play, is its vision of life in the early 60s, as Victorian buildings were pulled down to be be replaced by concrete and modernity. The first scene is a joy - Godfrey Winn is presenting Housewives' Choice, something I remember well from my own childhood, and reads out requests. We see the overjoyed housewives in their tower blocks hearing their requestes read out. Winn was a media ever-present in those days; an iconic figure, and hia performance is a joy. We see a nation in a ferment of change, yet which clings to the safety of tradition. The film is full of such scenes - there's a hilarious scene which depicts a supermarket opening, complete with visiting celebrity.
Billy has the chance to escape to London with Julie Christie, but he doesn't leave - he deliberately misses the train to London and life with Julie ,as, in the end, fantasy is safer than reality. I must mention Christie, as her appearance was one of those iconic moments in cinema. The sight of this loose-limbed, fancy-free girl, sashaying through the city streets, summed up swinging Britain and the atmosphere of the first half of the decade, when you really did feel that anything was possible. A true gem of British cinema - delightful.
Wednesday 4 February 2009
The Wrestler
I saw this last night at a cinema I hadn't been to for years, the Odeon in the middle of Bristol. It was the only cinema which was still showing it at a reasonable time, so, as my daughter and I both wanted to see it, we went along to the 6.00 showing.
The last time I'd gone there was to see The Blair Witch Project, so you're talking about 10 years ago. It was an unhappy experience - the cinema was packed, hot and sweaty, and any suspense in the film was destroyed by mobile phones going off throughout, and a couple of girls behind us talked all the way through. I think one of them was didn't speak English, and the other one translated throughout! At the end, as we all got up to go, someone shouted out, 'Well, that was a load of rubbish!' And it was hard to disagree, though I've heard that it's much better seen at home - much scarier, so I might give it another try sometime.
Anyway, the cinema is now totally different - clean and comfortable, though it wouldn't do to go when it's packed as there's no stadium seating, which is now mandatory in new cinemas. And it's cheap! A new cinema opened in the middle of Bristol recently, in the new development, and it's pricey. I haven't been yet, and I feel I want to support the old Odeon, as I hate seeing cinemas close down. To keep up the competition, they're charging only £4.75, or £5.75 for the deluxe seats, which have higher backs and better leg room, which is where we went, and it was fine, though there was no-one sitting in front of us.
The film was great - Mickey Rourke was a revelation. I don't remember seeing him in anything before this, but I do know that his life has been a bit of a car crash in recent years. This is etched all over his face, and his huge, hulking presence is in virtually every scene. The camera follows him around, so we see what he sees - I've rarely seen a film where the central character has such presence. I found it one of the most compelling fillms, I've seen for a long time - it depicts people who one can believe really exist, doing the sort of jobs and living the kind of lives actual people live, not Hollywood stars. We see the lives of mobile-home-dwellers, supermarket workers and low-rent pole dancers brought to the screen in unforgiving, yet humane detail. Rourke is a wrestler approaching the end of his career, and he has managed to ruin every aspect of his private life; his ex-wife has disappeared from view and his shaky relationship with his daughter is destroyed when he fails to turn up for a meal in a restaurant with her, because he was too busy getting drunk and sleeping with a prostitute. He collapses with a heart attack and after his operation, is told he must never wrestle again. The final scene follows him as he returns to the ring, as it is the only place where he feels validated. Wrestling gives him the only reason to go on living.
I found the film deeply moving, and it's stayed with me. I couldn't recommend it more highly. Rourke, and his co-star, Marisa Tomei have both been nominated for well-deserved Oscars.
The last time I'd gone there was to see The Blair Witch Project, so you're talking about 10 years ago. It was an unhappy experience - the cinema was packed, hot and sweaty, and any suspense in the film was destroyed by mobile phones going off throughout, and a couple of girls behind us talked all the way through. I think one of them was didn't speak English, and the other one translated throughout! At the end, as we all got up to go, someone shouted out, 'Well, that was a load of rubbish!' And it was hard to disagree, though I've heard that it's much better seen at home - much scarier, so I might give it another try sometime.
Anyway, the cinema is now totally different - clean and comfortable, though it wouldn't do to go when it's packed as there's no stadium seating, which is now mandatory in new cinemas. And it's cheap! A new cinema opened in the middle of Bristol recently, in the new development, and it's pricey. I haven't been yet, and I feel I want to support the old Odeon, as I hate seeing cinemas close down. To keep up the competition, they're charging only £4.75, or £5.75 for the deluxe seats, which have higher backs and better leg room, which is where we went, and it was fine, though there was no-one sitting in front of us.
The film was great - Mickey Rourke was a revelation. I don't remember seeing him in anything before this, but I do know that his life has been a bit of a car crash in recent years. This is etched all over his face, and his huge, hulking presence is in virtually every scene. The camera follows him around, so we see what he sees - I've rarely seen a film where the central character has such presence. I found it one of the most compelling fillms, I've seen for a long time - it depicts people who one can believe really exist, doing the sort of jobs and living the kind of lives actual people live, not Hollywood stars. We see the lives of mobile-home-dwellers, supermarket workers and low-rent pole dancers brought to the screen in unforgiving, yet humane detail. Rourke is a wrestler approaching the end of his career, and he has managed to ruin every aspect of his private life; his ex-wife has disappeared from view and his shaky relationship with his daughter is destroyed when he fails to turn up for a meal in a restaurant with her, because he was too busy getting drunk and sleeping with a prostitute. He collapses with a heart attack and after his operation, is told he must never wrestle again. The final scene follows him as he returns to the ring, as it is the only place where he feels validated. Wrestling gives him the only reason to go on living.
I found the film deeply moving, and it's stayed with me. I couldn't recommend it more highly. Rourke, and his co-star, Marisa Tomei have both been nominated for well-deserved Oscars.
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