THE FOUNTAIN

US, 2006, 98 minutes, Colour.
Hugh Jackman, Rachel Weisz, Ellen Burstyn.
Directed by Darren Aronofsky.

The Fountain is a somewhat esoteric piece of science fiction and imagination. It was written and directed by Darren Aronofsky who also made the tantalising film Pi and the stark drama, Requiem for a Dream.

The Fountain is very ambitious in its scope, covering the past, present and future. The past is focused on an expedition to Mexico in the 16th century and the search for a fountain of life, the battles of the Conquistadors. The present focuses on a scientist, his work with chimpanzees, an attempt to find an elixir, a potion that will ensure eternal youth. In the meantime, his wife, a novelist, is dying of cancer. The future focuses on the same man, in a bubble, floating in space, with a tree and the means of eternal life – but wishing to die and be reunited with his wife.

The main protagonists are played by Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz (Aronofsky’s wife). Jackman appears as a Conquistador in the past as well the scientist in the present and future. Rachel Weisz portrays the queen in the past and the scientist’s wife in the present and the future. Ellen Burstyn (who appeared in Aronofsky’s Requiem for a Dream) is a fellow scientist.

The film is particularly intellectual – appealing to the mind rather than to the heart and to the emotions. While emotions are shown, the audience is invited to respond in a somewhat cerebral manner.

Perhaps this is what led to divided critical opinion. While some championed the film as imaginative and adventurous, it was booed and hissed at its screenings at the Venice film festival.

1. The impact of the film? Critical attack? The blend of science fiction, philosophy and mysticism? The cerebral impact of the film? Its narrative, post-modern style? The visual impact? The emotional performances – but a cool emotional impact on the audience?

2. The present and the laboratories, the hospitals, the home, the winter setting, Izzy’s grave? The ordinary present? Comparisons with the future, space, the galaxies, the bubble, the tree? The comparisons with the past: Spain, the Conquistadors and the court, the comparison with Mexico, the battle and the fort? The effect of the different locations for past, present and future?

3. The structure of the film, the intercutting of past, present and future? Each story commenting on the other? The links with Tommy? The links with Rachel Weisz playing the queen as well as Izzy?

4. Light and darkness? The musical score and its moods?

5. A reflective film, the strength of the dialogue and reflection, the mystical aspect, the role of music, the importance of time?

6. The focus on the present: Tommy, in himself, his working with the staff in the laboratory, the experiment with Donovan, his relationship with the superior? The tumour, the experiments, the medication for helping Donovan? The comparison with Izzy, her health, dying? Her wanting to walk with Tommy, his busy approach, her wanting him to read her story, The Fountain? His reading it, imagining it? Her not finishing it, her saying that he should finish it? The refrain of ‘finish it’ throughout the film? His vigils at her bedside, her death? The superior and her assisting at the bedside? His anger at Izzy’s death, the reaction of the staff, the funeral, the director’s speech and his angrily walking away? The contrast with Donovan improving? The possibilities of health – and eternal youth?

7. The focus on the past: the Queen of Spain, the audience with the Conquistador, the friar, the mission? The tree and its power? His going to Mexico, the battle, the soldiers leaving, the fight, the Mayans, the friar dying? The Mayan priest, the confrontation with the Conquistador? The tree, its sap, giving life and beauty, the growth of the flowers, the growths growing out of him and his being consumed by the flowers? The mysticism of life and death?

8. The focus on the future: Tommy in the bubble, floating in space, in the galaxies, bald, his clothes, his age – ageless? The importance of the tree, the bark, giving life? The tree and its dying? Izzy and her immortality, the seed buried and growing into a tree? The touches of pantheism in people present in the trees? Embracing the tree – but his dying, to be together eternally with Izzy, not lost in space and time?

9. The themes of life, identity, science and its development, philosophical understandings of the human person and identity, the role of history, the need for death? Immortality as a delusion? The human need for death?

EXILED (FONG JUK)

Hong Kong, 2006, 103 minutes, Colour.
Anthony Wong, Francis Ng, Nick Cheung, Josie Ho, Lam Suet, Simon Yam.
Directed by Johnny To.

Exiled is another action film from Hong Kong director Johnny To. To had made quite a number of films in the 80s and 90s but burst upon the international scene, especially with the two films Election and Election 2. Exiled is very much in this vein.

The film takes place in Macau in 1998 just prior to Portugal handing over the territory to the Chinese government. Hong Kong gangsters want to make money before the handover. The film is a portrait of the different gangs, the interactions with each other, the treachery? There are many set pieces as setups for shoot-outs between the various members of the gangs.

The film is not so much interested in characterisation yet, nevertheless, it draws strong portraits of its main protagonists. It is interesting as a picture of the darker side of Hong Kong and Macau society – and a social comment as well as a violent interpretation of people and times.

1. The films of Johnny To? Gangsters in Hong Kong and Macau? The social background, the political background?

2. The visual style, influence of such directors as Sergio Leone and Sam Peckinpah? The focus on faces, tableaux, action sequences and operatic style? Score?

3. The setting: 20th century ending, Macau, 1998, about to be ceded to China from Portugal? Hong Kong gangsters trying to make money before the handover, the social comment about Macau?

4. Opening, the gangsters arriving, Wo, the baby and wife, hesitation, Wo and his arrival in the truck? The men waiting outside, boss Fay and his orders to kill Wo? Wo as a renegade, the men following Wo into the house, the preparation for the shootout, emptying the bullets, getting the guns, the three way shootout, no one killing the other, the wife watching, the baby crying?

5. The background of the men, friends from their young days, the gangs, the phone calls to Blaze, the policemen watching, observing, passing through with Boss Fay’s permission? Getting the furniture, settling in the house, cooking the meal, the celebration, the photos with everyone in it?

6. The decision about what to do – the pressure from Boss Fay, his wanting to expand into Macau? The boss in Macau and the threats? The group deciding to steal the gold – available for police corruption?

7. Their going to the hotel, Jeff, his information, giving them the contracts and the prices for the murders? the rival boss? The prostitute in the hotel, watching?

8. The build-up to the assassination in the restaurant, the boss coming in, his bodyguards, Boss Fay arriving? Boss Fay and his anger with Blaze for not killing Wo, Wo being in the group? Blaze and his being slapped? The beginnings of the shoot-out, the words for the set-up? The staging of the shootings in the restaurant?

9. The group, their personalities, Blaze as the older man, loyalty to Boss Fay, sense of loyalty to the group? Cat and his cheekiness? Fat and his eye on the girls, jovial? The slicker criminal? Wo and his fitting into all of this?

10. The shoot-out, Wo being wounded, his being taken to the underground doctor? The doctor and his being with the prostitute, getting the money? Beginning the operation? Boss Fay arriving, their hiding, Boss Fay and his wounds, his wanting to be treated first? The set-up for a further shoot-out? The doctor being killed? The girl taking the money? The escape?

11. The five men and their grief at Wo's illness? Taking him home to his wife? His death? The wife and her anger, the gun? Her smashing the furniture, making a pile, burning the furniture and her husband’s body? Taking the baby?

12. The wife going to the hotel, trying to get the information about the men, showing the photo? The prostitute and her giving the information? Jeff and his collaboration?

13. The four men, driving out of the town, wandering, finding the Buddha Mountain? Their personalities, their interaction, memories, jovial with each other, teasing Fat? The arrival of the police with the gold truck? Their watching – tossing the coin, deciding not to attack?

14. The shoot-out and the robbers for the gold, the police being killed, the captain surviving? Their intervening and indicating where the attackers were? The confrontation with the sergeant? The discussion, his realising he would be blamed? Their decision to divide the gold? Packing it up?

15. Going to the hotel, Jeff’s betrayal, Wo's wife with the gun, her shooting at Blaze, his bullet-proof vest and his not dying? Her throwing the gun away? The two bosses and their presence?

16. The four men, their decision about the gold, giving the key of the car to Wo's wife, the gold in the car, her future?

17. The beginnings of the shoot-out, everybody dying? The prostitute taking the gold?

18. The Hong Kong style of gangster film? Codes of honour? Futility in being in a gang, the violent end? The critique of the gang culture – while glorifying it in a spectacular film?

 

 

 

 

L'INTOUCHABLE

France, 2006, 83 minutes, Colour.
Isild le Besco.
Directed by Benoit Jacquot.

An interesting short film about the confrontation between European culture and that of Asia, specifically India. The film focuses on a young woman, who wants to be an actress, is involved in an affair with her director, but who confronts her mother on her birthday, wanting to know the identity of her father. When it emerges that he was from India, she decides to visit India, try to find him and meet him.

This is familiar material, especially with Europeans making journeys to India. However, within its short time, it shows the young woman and the way that she met relatives, tracked down her father, saw him but did not make herself known. In the meantime, she experiences the culture and traditions of India, dresses like an Indian, participates in the celebration of an Indian wedding. She also encounters some Frenchmen who are visiting a relation, a Frenchwoman who has become a nun in India – which gives the occasion for some conversation about the nature of commitment, detachment and vocation.

The young woman is played by Isild la Vesco. She is a strong screen personality, enough to make the film persuasive. The film was directed by Benoit Jacquot who has been directing films from the mid-1970s and whose films include Princess Marie, A Tout de Suite and Sade. He also did a version of the opera Tosca.

1. Brief? Personal journey? Europe meets Asia? How successfully did the film blend these themes?

2. The French settings, homes, cafés, the streets, the film set? The contrast with India, the Delhi airport, Delhi, the countryside, the experience of being in the crowds of India, the ceremonies, schools, visit to the convent, an overview of contemporary India? The musical score and the blend of western and Asian music?

3. The focus on Jeanne, her being slapped at the opening of the film – touchable and untouchable? Her anger, leaving, her mother calling her back, her going back to celebrate her birthday with her mother, blowing out the candles, the wish? Her mother and her drinking? The revelation about her father, Jeanne not knowing anything? Her mother in India, her affair with the Indian, the brief meeting, her pregnancy? Going back to Europe? Never finding the right time to tell Jeanne? The impact of the mother’s monologue, revelation of herself? Her drinking, collapsing on the bed?

4. Jeanne, her telling the story, her going out into the streets, wandering, in the café, meeting the worker, going to his home, leaving? On the train? Her going to the set? Her audition, her loud rendition, her being asked to tone it down? The performance of the speech from St Joan of the Stockyards by Brecht? Her later meeting the director, the affair with him, the night, her not wanting sexual relationship, silence? Her decision to go to India?

5. The film, the direction, the sexuality, the nudity, her performance? Her getting the money to go to India?

6. The plane, the old man on the plane, the discussions with him, his explaining the meaning of the Untouchables, the caste system? Rich and poor Untouchables? His drinking, his collapse, her going to the back of the plane – his disappearing?

7. At the airport, the taxi, the hotel? Her enjoying India? The massage? Her meeting the two Frenchmen? Conversation, the homosexual man, wanting to visit his cousin the nun, asking Jeanne to come? The nun, her being in India, her choices, the man not understanding? Suggesting loneliness? The nun saying she was never lonely? Her reason for joining the convent, prayer? Her understanding his situation, her frank reference to his situation, Jeanne, in the background, the interview, enjoying the visit?

8. Getting the information as to how to find the family, her meeting the young student, his friendship, accompanying her to the massage, showing her the city, his introducing her to the family, arriving for the meal? Her being welcomed? Staying in the town, viewing it, approaching the young man’s father, claiming that he was her father, his explanation about his brother?

9. The wedding celebration, Jeanne and her dressing in the sari? Her enjoying the experience of her Indian heritage, the dance, celebration, her joy?

10. Her going back to Delhi, her going to the school? Watching the father and his communication with the children, teaching? Not saying anything? Following him down the street, the possibility of revealing herself? The decision to turn back?

10. Her return home, with the director? The relationship, the effect on her, her quest, her Heritage? A European understanding the mysteries of Asia?

11. The importance of this kind of film for the 21st century, Europeans learning how to understand Asia without being colonial or patronising?

 

EUPHORIA

Russia, 2006, 73 minutes, Colour.
Polina Agureyeva, Maxim Ushakov, Mikhail Okunev.
Directed by Ivan Vyrypaev.

Euphoria is a frantic 73-minute film written and directed by Ivan Vyrypaev, a prolific writer of plays and other books. This is his first feature film.

The film appealed to young jury-members in Venice, 2006. However, its rhythms, visual style – in the frantic Russian manner – may not appeal to audiences beyond eastern Europe or beyond Europe. While the film is full of energy, it is bizarre in its creation of its characters, in their behaviour, in the way that the whole film is made.

The director gives a great attention to the strange landscapes of Russia, desert-like at times, a river, lush and mountainous at times. The characters glide through these landscapes. The plot involves jealousy, boredom in marriage, betrayal – and, ultimately, violence.

There is a directness in the approach of the director, in the graphic presentation of violence, in the in-your-face presentation of sexuality.

Of interest for developments in Russian cinema after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the stories that it tells, the manner in which the films are made. A permissiveness that would not be allowed in Soviet times. To this extent, Euphoria is probably significant in its insights into the changes in Russian film-making.

1. The Russian sensibility of the film? How particular? How exotic? For sensibilities of non-Russians?

2. The brevity of the film? The focus on landscapes? Characters in remote landscapes? Isolation, strange behaviour?

3. The title, euphoria as excitement, increased perception? As applied to the central characters and their relationship to each other?

4. The musical score, highly orchestrated, the accordion-playing? Appropriate – too strongly-scored for the story and the landscapes?

5. The landscapes, the helicopter shots, the emphasis on the different landscapes, the dry and desert-like countryside, the ravines, the river and the lake? The isolated and dilapidated homes? The characters in the landscapes?

6. The focus on Pasha, his made behaviour, Russian delirium? His friend trying to advise him? His going to Vera, accosting her, the declaration of love, seeing her at the wedding? Her response? The refrain of Vera standing against the wall, moving her hands? Pasha and the wall?

7. Pasha, his work, passion, coming to the house, stalking? On his boat? The car? Taking Vera to the hospital, the return home, the collapse of the car, in the boat, walking? The sexual encounter? His seeing her and her burying the dog which bit her daughter’s finger? The rowing on the boat after going to his house, changing clothes? Being shot, her surviving, floating down the river, the sinking of the boat?

8. Vera as a character, her isolated life, her drunken husband, her daughter, the puzzle about Pasha? Out in the countryside with her daughter, the accident, the killing of the dog, burying the dog, getting back late, getting to the hospital? The future for her daughter? The return with Pasha, the sexual encounter, her death?

9. Valery, his alcoholism, in the house, love for his daughter, attitude towards his wife, seeing Pasha outside? The child and the bitten finger, his caring for her? His drinking again? His going out into the landscapes, shooting the cow, shooting his wife and Pasha? Sitting under the tree?

10. The animals, Pasha going berserk with the goats, the herd of cattle, Valery killing the beast?

11. The opening and close, the blind man on the motorbike, his euphoria, exhilaration? Symbolic?

12. The overall impact of being in this strange landscape, meeting these characters? Sharing their experience – or an experience of alienation?

I DON’T WANT TO SLEEP ALONE

Malaysia, 2006, 110 minutes, Colour.
Lee Kang- Sheng, Chen Shiang- Chyi, Norman Atun.
Directed by Tsai Ming- Liang.

Tsai Ming- Liang was born in Malaysia but spent his career in Taiwan. For the first time, for this film, he returns to Kuala Lumpur to make a film in his home country.

Tsai Ming- Liang is a great favourite of festival-goers and of juries, especially those from the International Film Critics’ Association. In 1994 he won the Golden Lion in Venice for his film, Vive L' Amour. He made the striking films The River and The Hole during the 1990s. Again, in Venice, in 2002, he won an award for Goodbye Dragon Inn. He won the critics’ award in Berlin in 2005 for The Wayward Cloud – an exercise in pornography, about pornographic film-making (along with Busby Berkeley-style musical numbers).

I Don’t Want to Sleep Alone is far more accessible than his previous films. It focuses on three young people in Kuala Lumpur. The first is a young man, a Bangladeshi migrant, who takes compassion (like the Good Samaritan) on a young man who is bashed by thugs in the street. He takes him home, bathes him, sets up a bed for him, cares for him until he is better. The young man is a local, a wanderer. The third person is a young woman in the same building, who has a sexual entanglement with the man who is restored to health.

In the meantime, upstairs in the building (which seems a bizarre kind of apocalyptic building, an abandoned warehouse with a deep pool at the bottom), a young man lies in coma (played by the same actor who portrays the man who was beaten up). He is cared for by the young woman and is the object of sexual desire from the owner of the café where the young woman works upstairs.

At times, the film is difficult to follow – but soon, all the characters are in place. The film also used techniques popular in Ming- Liang’s films, very long takes, a very static focus on characters. Many audiences will be impatient with this particular slow style.

Ming- Liang is often very explicit in his representations of sexual activity, both heterosexual and homosexual. In this case, he intended for much more explicit relationship between the two young men. However, the amateur performer from Kuala Lumpur was Muslim and did not want to enact these scenes and in fact, homosexuality is condemned by Islam. The director adapted – and the relationship is much more humane and benefits by the reticence. Eventually, again in a kind of apocalyptic tone, the three young people float on a mattress in the pool, with some hope for survival and the future.

1. The work of the director? In Taiwan? Themes of identity? Sexuality? Society?

2. The director working in his homeland, his insights into life in Malaysia? Life in Kuala Lumpur? For the poor? For the migrant workers? For work, for the environment?

3. The setting: the streets of Kuala Lumpur, the abandoned factory, its structure, interior, the corridors, the pillars, the rooms, the pool? How well did the director use this as a commune? The musical score – the classical music? Western?

4. The focus on migrants, their presence from all over Asia, the Malaysian boom of the 90s, the collapse (as witnessed by the building)? Their living hand-to-mouth? The comment on Malaysian society and its possibilities?

5. The groups in the street, friendships, camaraderie, noise? The finding of the mattress – and the elaborate carrying of the mattress through the streets? The mattresses in the building, alternate mattresses? The use of the mattress? (And its being a witness point in the trial of Anwar Ibraham?) The style of the director, the long single takes? Very little camera movement? The cumulative effect of this aesthetic? Slowing the audience down? Contemplating the characters and their situations?

6. The opening, the long contemplation of the young man in coma, shaved head, lying still? As a character recurring throughout the film? The boss-lady of the café, her care for him, washing him? The young girl and her attending him? His continually lying prone, his being washed? The sexual aspects, the stimulation? His future?

7. The homeless man, wrapped in the mattress, brought home? Rawang, his background, Bangladesh? Alone? His settling the homeless man, providing the mattress, washing it, changing it because of the bugs? Getting other mattresses? His tending to the homeless man, helping him to the toilet, the intense detail of caring for him, washing him, clothing him? Continually caring for him? His dependence on him, communication and lack of communication? His helping him, his recovery? Rawang and his life in the building?

8. The homeless man, ill, recovering, wandering the building, the encounter with the girl, the fascination, the sexual encounter? The boss-lady, her approach to him, seduction? His return to Rawang?

9. The young girl, the lodgings, waking up, coming down to the coffee shop and working, looking after the man in the coma? The encounter with the homeless man? Dependence on him?

10. The boss-lady, life in the café, her relatives and their visit, the squabble about the man in the coma? Her sexual needs, the homeless man?

11. The interiors of the building, the pool, people trapped in the water? The flames from the fires in Sumatra? Their gradually covering the city? The effect on the three central characters?

12. The title, the relationships? The sexual relationship between the homeless man and the girl? The Muslim reserved proper relationship between the two men?

13. The finale, the mattress, the three on the mattress, floating in the water? Symbolic – the future?

BOBBY

US, 2006, 120 minutes, Colour.
Harry Belafonte, Joy Bryant, Nick Cannon, Emilio Estevez, Laurence Fishburne, Brian Geraghty, Heather Graham, Anthony Hopkins, Helen Hunt, Joshua Jackson, Ashton Kutcher, Shia La Boeuf, Lindsay Lohan, William H. Macy, Svetlana Metkina, Demi Moore, Freddy Rodriguez, Sharon Stone, Christian Slater, Jacob Vargas, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Elijah Wood, David Krumholz.

Directed by Emilio Estevez.

Bobby was presented at the Venice film festival, 2006, as a work in progress. It was very well received by critics and public alike. This led to some editing and a commercial release of the film – and nominations for awards.

The film is a work of devotion from Emilio Estevez. Estevez was a star in the Brat Pack of the 1980s in such films as The Breakfast Club and St Elmo’s Fire. He moved into direction with films like Wisdom, Men at Work, Rated X. For some years he researched the life of Bobby Kennedy and focused on the day of his death. He was inspired by his political campaigner father, Martin Sheen.

The film is structured as one day at a hotel in Los Angeles, the Ambassador Hotel. This was the place where, in the kitchen, on that night, Bobby Kennedy was assassinated. There are references to the film Grand Hotel in the screenplay and the film is a version of a Grand Hotel of the 1960s.

The history of the hotel is explained, the focus on a doorman who had received visitors for forty years (Anthony Hopkins) and other members of the staff (Harry Belafonte). The film has quite a number of subplots interwoven giving an impression of American society in the 1960s. Lindsay Lohan portrays a woman who has promised to marry a young man who has been called up to go to Vietnam so that he will not have to go (Elijah Wood). Two young men (Shia Laboeuf and Brian Gerraty) help as volunteers in the Democrats’ campaign but are more interested in scoring some drugs than going out knocking on doors. They encounter a rather way-out, spaced-out, drug dealer (Ashton Kutcher).

In the meantime, Estevez himself portrays the husband and agent of the star singer at the hotel, Demi Moore, and is clashing with her. She spends some time at the hairdresser’s. She is played by Sharon Stone in a very strong performance, especially in the scene where she confronts Demi Moore. The beautician is married to the manager of the hotel, played by William H. Macy, who is trying to arrange for the Hispanic members of the staff to vote, against the wishes of his staff manager, Christian Slater. He is also carrying on a hidden affair with a telephonist, Heather Graham. A wealthy couple from New York visit the hotel, Martin Sheen and Helen Hunt.

Laurence Fishburne is the chef at the hotel – and has the opportunity to make a lot of comments about racial attitudes in 1968, the assassination of Martin Luther King, the interactions between black Americans and Hispanics. In the kitchen are Freddie Rodriguez as an ambitious young man who wants to be very much an American in contrast with Jacob Vargas who is critical of the attitudes of whites and blacks. Joshua Jackson is in charge of the campaign.

The film works well in the interactions of the characters as well as the intercutting of the stories.

As regards Bobby Kennedy himself, the prologue indicates the political climate of the 1960s, the role of the Kennedys, the death of Martin Luther King. During the film there are various excerpts from Kennedy’s speeches playing on television sets which are watched by the various characters.

The film eventually shows the arrival of Kennedy, the formal dinner in his honour, his speech, his leaving by the kitchen – and his assassination. In the work in progress, a long speech by Kennedy played over the visuals of the characters reacting to the assassination, the confusion, those who were hurt by bullets.

Emilio Estevez has achieved a considerable work in his focus on America, the 60s, and the speculation of how American society would have been different had Bobby Kennedy survived, won the 1968 election instead of Richard Nixon.

1. The impact of the film? As a film and an entertainment, as American history, as a political viewpoint, as a contemporary 60s Grand Hotel?

2. Emilio Estevez and his skill in writing, directing, acting? His personal achievement with this film? The quality of the writing, the performance in the vignettes, the editing? Wit? His personal attitude to Bobby Kennedy from the film?

3. The structure, the prologue with the footage of Kennedy, the 60s, his speeches? The background of Martin Luther King, his speeches, the march on Washington, his assassination in April 1968? The documentary material interspersed throughout the narrative of the film, seen on television, characters listening? The end and Bobby Kennedy’s speeches and values over the images of the aftermath of his assassination? The irony of the day in June being the day of the primary elections in California, the campaigns, his winning the primaries?

4. The impact of the footage, Bobby Kennedy as a figure, as a Kennedy, his past reputation, attorney-general, the association with his brother Jack, the LBJ years? His discussion of rights, equality, the poor? His attitude towards the divisions in the United States, the Vietnam war, bringing the troops home, getting an honourable ending to the war? The sense of humanity, values, unification and reconciliation?

5. The irony of his death, Hubert Humphrey going as the Democratic candidate in 1968, the confrontation with Nixon, Nixon winning, issues of race, the war escalating, going to Cambodia, the experience of Watergate six years after Nixon’s election and the death of Bobby Kennedy?

6. The use of so many stars throughout the film, a distraction or a strength?

7. The Ambassador’s Hotel, as a character, the specific reference to the film Grand Hotel? As a location, the Democratic headquarters, opened in 1921, its grandeur, the staff, the man at the door, the management, the entertainers, the services, the chef and the cooks, the chapel for weddings? The location for the assassination, especially the kitchen (and the film having a lot of the action in the kitchen)?

8. Paul as the manager, his self-presentation, welcoming guests, fixing the problem for Jack and Sam, the issue of the vote, wanting to give all the staff two hours to vote, with pay? Timmons and his not wanting it, his criticism of all the illegals, their lack of English, inability to vote? His wife telling him after listening to his attitudes that he was from the 1920s? Yet firing Timmons for his racist attitudes? The revelation of his affair with the telephonist? Breaking the affair – and this being suggested and not verbalised until afterwards by the telephonist? Discovering his wife, his love for her, her love for him, the effect of the affair? His getting his hair done, her revealing that she knew? Her hurt? Her comment to him of what kind of husband and father he was? His skill in running the hotel? His own attitude, sometimes weary? His confronting Timmons for revealing the affair, punching him? Firing him instantly? The shock of the assassination, Timmons being wounded and his giving him his coat to help him?

9. Miriam, gaudy style, the beauty salon, her relationship with the staff, with the young woman preparing for the wedding, doing her nails, listening to her story about marrying the man so that he would not have to go to Vietnam, the talk about weddings? With Virginia Fallon, discussions, Virginia’s being rude, her being taken aback, especially in the situation of her husband’s affair, Virginia’s apology and her accepting it? Timmons giving her the information? The confrontation with Paul, doing his hair, her strong speech to him about himself, father, as a man? At the reception? The shock of the assassination, her going to her husband, embracing and kissing him? The reconciliation theme?

10. Virginia and Tim Fallon, Virginia continually drinking, Tim and his being tense, having nothing to do, wandering around with the poodle? Virginia sleeping all day, sleeping off the alcohol? The build-up to her performance and introduction of the senator? The agent and his arrival, the booking in Las Vegas during the summer, Tim’s anger and scoffing at it, Virginia and her harsh attitudes towards her husband? His trying to confront her? His wandering, going into the band, their inviting him to play with them? Virginia coming down, with Miriam and the beauty salon, getting her hair done, her being rude about all women being whores? Miriam’s reaction, Virginia coming to her senses, describing herself and her inadequacies, as a bad person, the apology? Ready for the performance, Tim and his stance, leaving her, leaving her alone? Her sitting by herself in the room, watching the television, weeping about the assassination – and her own situation?

11. Timmons, a young man, his work, managing the staff, the kitchen, his racist attitudes towards the Hispanics, America for the Americans, the issues of jobs? His spurning them about the vote? His saying this to Paul, Paul demanding that a notice be put up, his getting Jose to translate it into Spanish, showing his rudeness and limitations? Telling Susan to put it on the noticeboard? His being fired, trying to persuade Paul to take him back? The encounter with the telephonist in the elevator, his realising what was happening with Paul and the affair, going to tell Miriam? His being punched out by Paul, fired instantly? His being shot in the spray of bullets? Paul giving him his coat to help him?

12. Jose and Miguel, the Hispanics working, the low wages, the double shifts? Jose and his wanting to be Latin, Miguel and his angers and saying he was Mexican? The Hispanic issues in 1968? Jose and his tickets, Drysdale and his breaking the 1904 record, the love of baseball, his being really American? Their work and the detail in the kitchen, later with the tables? Timmons and his being the manager? Their fear of him, Jose and the translation of the notice? Their later listening to the baseball – and Timmons listening with them? The chef and his arrival, his pie, a dignified man, talking about angers and the reaction to the death of Martin Luther King, Miguel and his angers, the interplay between amigo and brother? The talk at the table, the other Hispanics listening in? The chef’s theory about letting the whites believe that they were changing everything and improvements in race relationships? Blacks and Hispanics – antagonism? Miguel and his angers, the chef’s explanations, Jose giving him the tickets, no charge? The chef’s response, writing “The once and future king” on the wall – for Jose? The irony of its being on the wall and splashed with Bobby Kennedy’s blood – and Bobby Kennedy as the once and future king?

13. The portrait of the chef, as portrayed by Laurence Fishburne, the voice of the black issues of the mid-1960s, the death of Martin Luther King? The rising problems of the Hispanics?

14. The young girl, her arrival at the hotel, going to get her nails done, her naivety, yet her wanting to do something about Vietnam, willing to marry Edward to save him going to Vietnam, getting a pension, his going to Germany instead? The preparation for the wedding, the chapel, the clash with her parents, their not coming? Edward and his arrival, the issue of Vietnam, his brother in Vietnam, his gratitude to the girl? His being in the chapel, praying, their discussion about prayer, miracles? The bride coming in giggling? His wondering whether he should go through with the wedding, the bonding with the girl, the possibility of love? The ceremony, no visitors? Edward being shot and the girl caring for him?

15. The two young boys, white, volunteers for the campaign, their ineptitude? Their talking with Susan, knowledge of films? Their wanting to get a car to go out campaigning and not go in the bus, not go to the racially difficult areas of Los Angeles? Their going to the drug dealer, his talk about God, explaining LSD to them? Their acceptance, the trip, the weird feelings, their talk to each other, stripping, one imagining Vietnam and the attacks? The dealer himself and his talking to the orange? The irony of the dealer later dealing with the police and his being arrested? The two young men, going back down, still on a high, discussions about The Planet of the Apes on LSD? Talking with Susan, her recognising what had happened, her giving them some food? Their telling David about what happened, his allowing it? Their photographing the reception, their getting shot?

16. David, the manager of the campaign, the volunteers, friendship with Wade, Wade as the black man working for Bobby Kennedy, his own angers? The hard work, their not getting any sleep? The elections, the announcement about Bobby Kennedy winning in California, David letting Wade do the announcing? The impact of the assassination, David having to handle it, Wade and his grief? His having met the woman from the phone room, their talking, his appreciating her for herself, nice together – a possible future?

17. The telephonist, at work on the phones, the switchboard being large, talking about the affair, going up to the room, the encounter with Timmons, the audience seeing the aftermath, the break-up? Her coming back down, not wanting to talk? Her being at the reception, talking Jack and Sam?

18. Jack and Sam, the broker, his wife, their flight, the difficulties with the room, the age difference, their discussion, Sam and her discovering that she had left her shoes behind, his saying that she wanted to go shopping? Their playing tennis? The irony of the two stoned young men on the tennis court at the same time? Their love for each other, sexual relationship? Getting dressed for the function, the comments about the shoes, the happiness, Sam and her being splattered with the blood, Jack comforting her?

19. Casey and his black friend? Anthony Hopkins and Harry Belafonte? Casey working since 1921, retired but unable to leave, the list of guests that he had welcomed to the hotel, their playing chess together, the relationship between black and white? Their talk, the black man going for his nap, returning, their having a Scotch together, Casey and his being able to welcome Bobby Kennedy to the hotel?

20. Susan, her working in the shop, talking with the boys, coming from Ohio, the auditions, ringing her mother, helping the boys, being at the reception?

21. The Czech journalist, the asking for the interview with Bobby Kennedy, David and the comments about her being a communist, Timmons and the same comment? Her saying she was a socialist from a socialist country, earning the interview, Timmons giving her the meal and her being hungry? Her presence at the assassination and her taping the events?

22. The final speech by Bobby Kennedy, over the visuals? The fact that Jose was helping because of the assassination in the kitchen? The reaction of the police? The glimpse of the assassin, his arrival, his confrontation of Bobby Kennedy? His being taken away?

23. The overall impact of spending a day at the Ambassador’s Hotel, the significance of the day, meeting the cross-section of the United States of 1968, the hopes with Bobby Kennedy – and their being dashed.

A GUIDE TO RECOGNISING YOUR SAINTS

US, 2006, 98 minutes, Colour.
Robert Downey Jr, Shia La Boeuf, Dianne Wiest, Chaz Palminteri, Rosario Dawson, Channing Tatum, Eric Roberts.
Directed by Dito Montiel.

No, this is not a film about saints or holiness. In some ways, it is the opposite, although by using this title, the writer-director of this semi-autobiographical piece is asking audiences to look at who the influences for good and bad in one’s life really are. It is an independent American film acclaimed at the Sundance Festival and then at Venice.

This is a small-budget independent film, a first film by Dito Montiel. He takes the liberty of employing all kinds of techniques and experiments in shooting and editing to make it more offbeat than the standard studio production and to provide audiences with a broken narrative and different ways of looking at and reacting to the events in his life.

Dito Montiel grew up in Brooklyn, one of the kids in the 1980s in New York City, full of talent but pressured to conform to the low expectations of the neighbourhood. School was a drag. Clashing with gangs, graffiti gangs, was taken for granted. Sexual experimentation, sometimes brazen, sometimes tentative, was expected. Life was hanging-out. If you had a good family, you were lucky, but there was a culture of violence, especially from fathers.

His novel of the same name and this film are autobiographical although Montiel stresses that the Dito of the fiction is fiction. Be that as it may, he captures the rough and never-ready lives of his friends in those days, the saints he is guiding us to recognise, their waywardness, their language, their pressures, the sudden irruptions of violence and the need for some to get away.

When a film is set on the streets of New York, there is the temptation to refer to Mean Streets or Kids. So, that is done!

These mean streets are in Queens, in Astoria, in the summer of 1986. Dito (Shia LaBoeuf) has friends, tough friends, especially the abused Antonio (Channing Tatum) who is welcomed in the Montiel household and who finds a father figure in Dito’s father (Chazz Palmentieri). The friends prowl. They are becoming sexually aware and active. They clash with gangs in the neighbourhood – and the ever-present drugs. But Dito dreams of getting out – and eventually leaves for California to become a writer. He has clashed deeply with his father and stays away for twenty years, returning only when his father is ill.

The film captures the gritty atmosphere of Queens in those days and immerses the audience in it.

Shia La Boeuf (Holes, Bobby) plays the teenage Dito with sensitivity. The middle-aged Dito is Robert Downey Jr who brings intensity and anguish to the adult who has avoided his family, especially his father, for fifteen years while attaining celebrity in California. The friends are well cast with Channing Tatum as the ultimately tragic figure who cannot escape the brutality of his own father, his brother’s violent death in a prank in the subway, despite the support of Dito’s father and mother. Amongst the girls, Rosario Dawson gives another sympathetic performance as the adult woman whose life turned out so drably and not as she might have imagined it.

Chazz Palminteri is very good as Dito’s father who is kind to the kids in the neighbourhood. We see him as loving his son. However, Dito does not see this and they have a terrible falling out. When he returns as an adult, his father is ill and he has to deal with how he handles meeting him again, his resentments from the past and the possibility of some kind of forgiveness and reconciliation. Antonio (Eric Roberts) is in prison. Can he come to terms with his past? What loyalty has he to his friends? Can he reconcile with his father? His mother is played with feeling by Dianne Weist.

While this is a film that is firmly set in a particular time and place and captures the feelings of people in this environment, it is able to move to more universal understanding of human nature. These themes are played out in an unvarnished and deeply emotional way.

1. An autobiographical film? Portrait of the writer-director? Portrait of character and characters? Feeling? Revelation of himself and his family, his friends?

2. The screenplay, the verbal power? The structure, the introduction with Flori on the phone? The appeal to Dito? The two different time zones, the parallel stories? The visual style for each? The general naturalistic style, the silent scenes, the audience observing action rather than listening to the words? The possibility for reflecting? The editing, various techniques like the blacking out? The musical score and the range of songs, especially from the 1980s?

3. The title, the invitation to the audience, Dito and his recognition and lack of recognition of the significant people in his life? His search for truth in writing the book? In making the film? The ironies?

4. The portrait of Dito Montiel, his having written the book, celebrity on radio, his reading texts? His mother’s phone call, Nerf and Antonio ringing, listening to their pleas, his father ill, his decision to go, the flight?

5. 1986, life in Astoria, the detail of life in the streets, the shops, the cars, the subway, the noise, the music, writing graffiti, the apartments, the swimming pool, the school? An authentic re-creation of the period? Situating the characters well?

6. Young Dito and his age, part of the group, friendship with Antonio, Giuseppe, Nerf? At home, his relationship with his parents? His mother’s care, his father fixing the typewriter, always talking positively? The underlying feeling that his father did not recognise him? His needing his father’s love? His father’s continually talking about Antonio and his needs, his father bashing him? At school, Mike’s arrival, the friendship with Mike? Nerf nude outside the window? The relationship with Diane, Jenny, especially Laurie? The sex talk – and the lack of sex action? The Reaper, the clash, his fears? The bashing? Antonio accosting the Reaper’s little brother? All the talk with the friends, the walk, hanging out? Mike and the sniffing of the glue? The meeting with Frank, the walking the dogs, earning the money, Mike’s sudden death on the street? The plan to go to California, getting the money? Asking Laurie – and then forgetting? His being caught up in the high? Her realising he was stoned? Giuseppe’s death, talking with Antonio at the funeral? These formative years, all these people as part of his life – yet his wanting more? To get out?

7. The portrait of Antonio, Giuseppe as his brother, the brutal father and bashing him, his physical strength and tough, physique, wanting to box? Flirting with the girls? His love for Monty, Monty treating him as his son? The visits? The bashing of Dito and the Reaper? Wanting revenge? The episode of Giuseppe’s death, on the railway lines, his reaction? The funeral, talking about the Reaper and Dito’s reaction? The antagonism towards Dito? Their separating? The final confrontation with the Reaper, Antonio going into the shop, bashing him, killing him? Going to prison?

8. Giuseppe, genial, boasting with the girls, following Antonio, the subway incident, his surliness, the ball, his being trapped, killed? The funeral? The shouting and the reaction of the people in the church?

9. Nerf, a follower, driving the car, always around, Dito’s return and his picking him up at the airport? Their sitting in the car talking? Nerf reminiscing about his life and nothing happening, never moving? Dito staying with his mother?

10. The girls, their age, flirting, provocative, their dress, sex talk, frank? At the pool? Their work? The visits to the house, hanging out? Laurie, the attraction to Dito, their talking, his being high, inviting her to California, his later antagonism towards her? Nerf and the throwing of the knife and Laurie not wanting to talk? Sitting at the window, Dito coming to the window? Her visiting the Montiels’ house after the bashing, Dito harsh on her?

11. Mike, from Scotland, jolly, his friendship with Frank, the job of walking the dogs, the possibilities of support for a band, going to California, getting the money from Frank, his sudden death?

12. Frank, dogs, the music world, gay, the clients, his phone calls, his manner? The final confrontation, the gun, giving the boys the money?

13. Flori, a good woman, getting excited, some clashes with Monty, return? Dito coming back, her sitting on the steps with him, happy to be talking with him? The urgency of getting Monty to the hospital?

14. Monty, in himself, at home, work, the typewriter, demonstrative, Antonio’s visits and his liking him, treating him like a son because he didn’t have a father? With Flori, his antagonism at times, his settling down, telling Dito that it was just she was excited? The discussions with Dito, angers, Dito wanting to leave, his father wanting him to stay, telling him not to shout, Monty and his shouting, his physical collapse?

15. 2005, the situation, Monty’s collapse, home from hospital, Dito’s arriving, his father not wanting him in the house, the pain of not seeing him for fifteen years? Dito leaving, going to talk with Laurie, Laurie and the little boy, her reminiscences, saying she was a naïve young girl, the frank statements to Dito, telling him what to do, especially about his father? His return to his father, taking a firm stand? His father going to hospital? His mother glad? His father urging him to go to see Antonio in jail?

16. Dito and his travelling in the bus, going to the jail, sitting in the room waiting, Antonio’s arrival – and the sudden ending of the film?

17. The post-credits sequences with the real Monty filmed by his son, still talking about Antonio and treating him like a son?

18. The overall impact of the drama, the brash and loud American style, life in the streets, young men and women, coming of age, the swagger, the bravado, their having to learn to grow up? Whether they did or not? Staying here, escaping, even achievement? An interesting piece of Americana?

THE WICKER MAN

US, 2006, 98 minutes, Colour.
Nicolas Cage, Ellen Burstyn, Kate Beahan, Frances Conroy, Molly Parker, Leelee Sobieski, Diane Delano.
Directed by Neil La Bute.

The release of The Wicker Man (without benefit of press previews but with two screenings at the Venice Film Festival) has caused more critical dyspepsia than many films in a long time. The original has a strong cult following. For most devotees this means that a remake is impossible (while plays can be represented and re-presented over the years with audiences eager to make comparisons). Robert Hardy, the director of the original, was quoted as wanting to take legal recourse, especially to have his name taken off this film and Christopher Lee was quoted as denouncing the remake vigorously.

Neil La Bute is best known for his early rather misogynistic films like In the Company of Men and Your Friends and Neighbours. He had great success with the satirical Nurse Betty, less with his adaptation of A.S. Byatt’s Possession. He probably won’t be venturing into the horror realm after The Wicker Man.

At an entertainment level (especially for those who do not know that there was an original to be defended), it is quite watchable. The plot has been transferred from a sinister island off the Scottish coast to an island off the coast of Washington state. The lord of the island (Christopher Lee) is now a descendant of a Celtic cult of the goddess and the feminine (Ellen Burstyn). She is all smooth but sinister smiles and rhetoric compared with the solemn resonances of Lee. Otherwise, the plot (based on Anthony Shaffer’s screenplay) is much the same as the original. Some critics have mocked the strong-minded and emasculating feminism of the cult (which is believed in by some women all around the world). It is not necessarily any more absurd than the kind of neo-Druidism of the original.

One of the main difficulties for non-American audiences with this version is that Nicolas Cage is so contemporary American, in police attitudes (‘stand away from that bicycle’ is an unfortunate line!), in language and in delivery of his speeches. Edward Woodward had so much more gravitas, as did the presence of Christopher Lee (think Dracula blended with Sarumon). This gave the original a strength and dignity which the American style does not give – and this despite a stronger supporting cast including Frances Conroy and Molly Parker.

It would be interesting to read an overview and review of all the critical apoplexy.

1. The status of the classic original? The qualities of this remake? Defects? The transposition to the present, to the United States? The adaptation? The transition from men ruling Summersisle to women?

2. The original and the horror tradition, elements of horror in this film? Drama?

3. The opening Californian settings, the town and the open highway? The Pacific Islands, the coast? The community of Summersisle, the woods, the old-style houses? The musical score?

4. The story and the Americanisation? The Celtic tradition? The female goddess? The persecutions in the 17th century, the women going to Massachusetts, to Salem, the experience of the persecution of witches? The pioneers across to the west? The west, the island, the isolation?

5. Summersisle as a community of women, addressing everyone as Sister, female control, the men subservient, hardly speaking, cowering, doing the menial work? The image of the beehives? Sister Summersisle as the Queen? The men as drones? The bees as a symbol, the mead, the harvest of the honey? The issues of reproduction, the role of men and women, control? Ed and his coming to the island? His being acclaimed as the drone to be killed?

6. The background of the Celtic rituals, age-old, the books of rituals, Egypt etc? The goddess? The sacrifice of the Wicker Man?

7. The plausibility of such a commune? The United States and the various isolated communities, cults? The nature of this cult?

8. The prologue, Ed and his work, police, on the road, encountering the family, the doll thrown out of the car, his meeting the mother, her nerviness, the child throwing the doll out again? His rescuing it, the truck and the car exploding? His being off work, the visit of the fellow officer and his tension?

9. The letter, the letter from Willow? The news about Rowan, her disappearance, the puzzle about how the letter arrived? The story of Ed’s past, his decision to go to Washington State, the ferry, his nightmares and imagination with the child, the car, the burning, the truck? Discussions with the pilot, paying to go to Summersisle? Later finding the radio sabotaged, the pilot dead, the plane sunk?

10. Ed as a character, as a policeman, his manner, his standing by the law, barging into the island, his angers? His police style: stand away from the bike! The nature of his investigation, at the inn, killing the bee, the sisters’ reaction? The mead, the finding of the bees, his being pursued by the bees, the camera lifting to show the whole field in the pattern of beehives? His being rescued, awakening at the doctor’s place? His visit to the doctor, waiting till she left, the photographs, Rowan’s photo disappearing? Sister Beech and Sister Oak, the young woman at the inn, Sister Rose and Sister Thorn? His going to the school, interrogating the class, finding Rowan’s desk, her name crossed off the list, accusing Sister Rose of lies, accusing the children of lies? His meeting with Sister Summersisle, the audience with her, their discussions, her seeming sense of freedom, the explanation of the Celtic tradition and the feminine? The history of the island?

11. Ed with Willow, the meetings, clandestine, her anxiety, the photo, his fears, finding the grave, digging it up, finding the doll? Going to the pier? Ed and his nightmares, the drowning girl, swimming underwater to get the radio, its being sabotaged?

12. Willow, in herself, her plaintive style, searching for Rowan, clandestine meetings? The revelation that Sister Summersisle was her mother?

13. Sister Summersisle and her ideas, her explanations, attitude? The visualising of her room – as a Queen Bee?

14. The women, Sister Beech at the hotel, Sister Oak and her destroying of the plane and the pilot? Sister Rose and the class – and her superiority and contempt for Ed on the road? The young woman wanting to leave? The doctor and the rituals book? Sister Summersisle and the handmaidens?

15. The men, subservient, the nature of their work, in the inn, their silence, no force – present at the ceremony?

16. The build-up to the ceremony, Ed disguising himself in the bear costume? The procession and the ritual, the masks? His coming to Willow and Rowan, Willow’s revelation that she was in league with her mother, the overall plan, trapping him step by step? For the daughter, for coming to the island, for becoming the Wicker Man? His being trapped, put in the wicker cage? Rowan lighting the fire? His trying to defend himself, verbally, no bullets? His being called the drone? His being burnt to death?

17. Willow and the young woman, going to the town, seeing the two young police graduates, having the drink with them – the seduction style and the cycle starting again?

VACANT POSSESSION

Australia, 1995, 95 minutes, Colour.
Pamela Rabe, John Stanton.
Directed by Margot Nash.

Vacant Possession received very limited release, but it is a quietly effective Australian film, written and directed by Margot Nash and movingly acted by Pamela Rabe.

The setting is Botany Bay. A woman returns from overseas after being ousted by her alcoholic father (John Stanton) as a teenager. Her mother has died and she feels the need to go back to her roots and be reconciled with her family.
The Botany Bay setting introduces aboriginal characters and themes. One commentator says that Margot Nash has taken us into the Australian psyche, especially the female psyche, and
probes both routine and profound experiences.

1. A small-budget Australian feature? A successful specialised film? First feature?

2. The title, the focus on the family house and its ownership, the empty house, the decision for selling, potential buyers? The Aborigines and their interest in the house? The house and the title of the film as a symbol of its themes?

3. The Botany Bay settings, Kurnell? The background of Captain Cook and his landing? The bay and its botany? The mangroves? 20th century industry? The Sydney skyline in the distance? The houses and those who lived there, Aborigines, white settlers, European migrants? The appropriate setting for such exploration of themes?

4. The colour photography, the style of presenting the present, the flashbacks? Colours and filters? The filming of Botany Bay, of the city of Sydney, of the suburb and its industry, the bush? The homes? The style for Tessa's dreams? The storm sequence? The range and tone of the musical score, classic, modern, evocative of periods? Songs?

5. The film's focus on Tessa - seeing her away from home, the phone call, concern about her mother, Kate? Her return - and the motif of planes taking off and landing from Mascot, near Botany Bay? Her mother's death and its effect? Her returning home in mid-life after being so long away? The style of Pamela Rabe's performance and the quality of her screen presence?

6. The relationship between the two sisters? Love/hate? Kate meeting Tessa at the airport, the awkwardness of their conversation, discussion about her return and absence, their mother's death? Kate and her relationship with Harry, his gambling? Their relationship with their mother? Calling in to their father's house and Tessa's anger? Going to Kate's home, trying to settle in, awkward, the discussions about the will and her wanting to find the new will? The discussions about Kate's need for money and Tessa's hoping to have something to start with? The two sisters in their memories, the dominance of their father, his irascible moods and their fears, Kate protecting Tessa? Their mother and her support?

7. Tessa's tension at Kate's, the jetlag, her anger, the discussions about the will? Her going back to the family house? Its symbolic name: Irene (peace)? The memories of the house and its changes over the decades? Her staying in the house, setting herself up, cleaning the fridge - and the consequent noises? Fears of intruders and her putting planks against the windows? Getting a plank to defend herself, being prepared? Her sleeping and her sleeplessness? The symbolism of her dreams, water, swimming? The symbol of the unconscious?

8. Meeting Aunt Beryl? Millie and her intrusion, searching for the cat (and his name Captain Cook because he came uninvited and wouldn't go away)? The arrival of her Aboriginal friend, his coming into the house thinking the family was still there, her apprehension, her realisation, friendly, asking him about Mitch, hearing the story of Mitch's life after her leaving Australia, Mitch's alcoholism, prison and death? Her being able to go to Auntie Beryl? Going to the room, lying down? The Aboriginal family at the pictures, their return home and their talking about buying the house, Tessa pretending not to hear? Her being at home at Auntie Beryl's house?

9. The impact of the flashback, Tessa as a young girl, her love for her father, his birthday present and her inadvertent comment about the colour of the settee and his rage? Her not knowing how to appreciate him? Her growing up, going out, her friendship with Mitch, the sexual liaison, her father's violent reaction, the attack on Mitch, the court case, prison, her leaving home? The sequence of her farewell to her mother, leaving in the night? The long life away from Australia, her becoming a professional gambler - and the symbolism of her being a wanderer around the world? The later scene of her playing cards during the storm with Millie and Frank?

10. The portrait of Tessa's mother, her Tivoli background, glamour, the photos and the memories? Going through the photos with Kate and their reminiscences? The house, her papers? The discovery of the will in the ice in the ice chest? Their mother with Frank, the harshness of her experience, her love for her husband, the separation, her death? Her appearing in Tessa's visions, a symbol of love and reconciliation? The intermingling of sequences of Tessa as adult, Tessa as child - with her mother?

11. Frank and his story, the experience of the war, after the war, his harshness, drinking? His scientific background and his work? Appearing in Tessa's imagination as a frightening figure? Her hatred of her father? Not wanting to be at his home? His being in hospital? His coming to visit, being different and older, wondering what she would look like? Talking with Millie, the meal? His emotional outburst and trying to understand the past, not wanting to blame himself for the tragedy? The discussions with Millie, helping her with her homework? Frank as a haunting figure for Tessa?

12. The aftermath of the storm, the discussions with Kate, the possibilities of reconciliation with her and with Frank?

13. The realism and the symbolism of the storm? Its power, hiding in the cellar, the house standing, collapsing? Their fears? Millie and her being injured? Their being rescued, Frank and his care for Millie and the ambulance? The storm and its aftermath as a purging for reconciliation?

14. The film's understanding of Aborigines, their heritage, their sense of place, in the modern day world, their perceptions of white people, rights?

15. The film's understanding of Australian families, love, tensions, failures, hurt, hate, reconciliation?

16. An Australian exploration of themes of love, acceptance and reconciliation?

FRAMED

US, 2002, 90 minutes, Colour.
Rob Lowe, Sam Neill, Alysha Coppola, Peter Mac Neill, Dorian Harewood.
Directed by Daniel Petrie Jr.

Framed is a cat-and-mouse police drama. Rob Lowe is an earnest young officer. He had previously been accused of taking a bribe but was freed. He is earnest in trying to prove himself. During a holiday, he sights a gangster who is on the wanted list and pursues him. He is supported by the police, supported by his wife (at first, who then begins an affair with an officer sent to protect them in the witness protection scheme). However, there is betrayal in the police force. The criminal himself is a bon vivant with style. He is also playing the young policeman for his own purposes – in order to protect himself from a criminal banker.

As the film progresses, the bonds between the two men are strengthened. The policeman is tempted in all kinds of ways – but does not give in. Eventually, while the criminal gets away, he then does a good turn in order to support the policeman for all his sincerity (as well as being the occasion for helping him).

Sam Neill is particularly suave and assured as the criminal. Rob Lowe gives a good performance as the policeman.

1.The popularity of this kind of telemovie? Crime drama? Police drama? Dramatic interaction between the central characters?

2.The settings, holiday locations, police precincts? The apartment of the millionaire? The affluent atmosphere? The streets of the city? Musical score?

3.The title, its ironies? The police framing Mike? Eddie Myers framing Mike? The atmosphere of double-dealing?

4.Rob Lowe as Mike Santini: age, experience, the police force, the former accusation, his partner being guilty? On holidays, relationship with his wife and sons? His seeing the yacht, seeing Eddie Myers? Getting in touch with authorities? The support of his wife? Meeting Myers, being with him, all the interrogations being recorded? At his apartment? Myers and his trying to educate him in clothes, food etc? His dressing him up? The discussions about lifestyle? Mike and his family, the months, the witness protection? Finding his wife having an affair? Confrontation of the officer? The tension between the two? His being used by Myers? The issue of the banker and his arrest, in court, Myers as witness? Myers and his own schemes, selective taping of Mike, offering him the bribes? Pulling the gun on him, the escape? The police inquiry, Mike and his being justified? Myers’ return, the issue of the millions of dollars, the diamonds? Mike’s future – a man of integrity?

5.Eddie Myers, Sam Neill’s screen presence and style, affluent, food and clothes? His value to the police? Witness against the banker? The banker being returned and Eddie’s testimony? His selection of Mike, reading his report, trying to play him? The honest cop, not willing to take a bribe? The interactions throughout the film, official interrogations, the discussions? The bonds between the two? Eddie’s escape, his return with the diamonds, his observing what happened to Mike? His manipulating Mike’s freedom?

6.Lucy, relationship with her husband, supporting him in his work, with the children, the affair? Their future?

7.The police, the support for Mike, the suspicions? The double-dealings? George Adams and his support? Captain MacNamara?

8.The vindication of honesty? The interest in the psychological interactions of the two central characters?