PAVEE LACKEEN (THE TRAVELLER GIRL)

Ireland, 2005, 89 minutes, Colour.
Winnie Maughan, Rose Maughan, Rosie Maughan.
Directed by Perry Ogden.

Pavee Lackeen (The Traveller Girl) is a small-budget film made in and around Dublin. It was directed by photographer and cinematographer Perry Ogden. The film focuses on a family who live in a trailer in a rather dismal area outside Dublin. They live in a trailer, a mother with ten children. The mother is illiterate and depends on her children as well as friends. There are some sympathetic social workers as well as some hard-headed and hard-hearted social workers.

The film is a glimpse into the Travellers’ way of life, their being on the road, the difficulties in settling – and, especially, the prejudice of ordinary citizens against these gypsies whom they do not understand and of whom they disapprove.

1.An Irish drama? The Travellers in Ireland? The locations on the periphery of Dublin? The Irish meaning? Universal application?

2.The film’s style, the documentary and photography contributions to the atmosphere? The dramas – and improvisation? A particular docudrama style? The use of the locations, the framing of the characters and the scenes? The trailer world, the periphery of Dublin, industrial, swamps, due for development? The contrast with schools, the shops? The musical score?

3.The title and the focus on Winnie? The Travellers?

4.The Travellers and their background in Ireland, public attitudes towards them, on the move, the trailers? Their lack of education? Jobs? Settling or not? Prejudice against them? The work of the agencies?

5.The portrait of the Maughan family, the mother, her ten children, the husband gone, her having to cope? Unable to read? The range of children, in prison, not wanting to go to school, the glue-sniffing …?

6.The agencies, the development of the area, the letters for the Maughan family to move, issues of money and their inability to move, calling the police, the transfer up the street so that they would not have to pay? Orders?

7.The portrait of the mother, her character, having to cope, inability to cope, her friends and discussions, the explanation she gave of what had to happen? The social worker – and the worker who was a Traveller in the past? Help?

8.Winnie, not wanting to go to school, wandering around, carrying the water, looking at the shops, getting the gift from the friend, the shoplifting?

9.The glimpses of the young children, the lack of control, the glue-sniffing, the poverty of their lives?

10.The social workers, the sympathetic social worker and her help? The ordinary workers, getting the family to move?

11.A film of observation, of a group in society, of a way of life, a different way of life? Illuminating as regards the life of Travellers?

EAGLE EYE

US, 2008, 118 minutes, Colour.
Shia La Beouf, Michelle Monaghan, Rosario Dawson, Michael Chiklis, Anthony Mackie, Ethan Embry, Billy Bob Thornton, Cameron Boyce.
Directed by D.J. Caruso.

Decades ago, there was a frightening science fiction film called Colossus, the Forbin Project. Someone had the imagination to create a computer that controlled everything and everyone. It was also the period of HAL, the malevolent computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Well, we have got used to those ideas and are so aware that the amount of surveillance we experience from too many authorities that very little seems private any more.

How do you make a contemporary film about these themes? The way director D.J. Caruso answers this question is Eagle Eye, a non-stop (or very few stops) action thriller that does not give audiences much time at all to work out the details of the plot and whether there is a logic to what is happening on the screen. And, having decided that this was the answer, he makes it a chases, explosions and conspiracies galore whambanger.

Shia Laboeuf has had busy and breathless screen time in recent years with Disturbia, Transformers and Indiana Jones (and more Transformers to come). Here he is a college dropout who suddenly finds money in his bank account, armaments delivered to his apartment, his perfectionist twin brother dead and a mysterious woman's voice on his mobile ordering him to escape the FBI. And that's only the beginning. Michelle Monaghan as a single mother seems to be having a quieter life, seeing her little son off to music camp. Then she gets mobile and mobilisation orders and the flight is on, with agents Billy Boy Thornton and Rosario Dawson in pursuit. (Chase action and car crashes galore.)

We have been prepared for something strange in the film's prologue where US government authorities make a decision to obliterate what might be a funeral group in Afghanistan which contains a top terrorist. Wrong – and the consequences for attacks on the US are dire.

With nods to Hitchcock (after all Caruso and Laboeuf made the updated version of Rear Window, Disturbia) in North by Northwest pursuits and The Man Who Knew Too Much concert finales, the film takes us deeper and deeper into secret agencies and computer control that would make both Colossus and HAL envious.

After we experience all that adrenalin, the ending lets the audience walk out of the cinema calmly with a sweetly twee final moment.

1.High-powered entertainment? Conspiracy theories? Farfetched? The US, technology, surveillance? Terrorism and loyalty?

2.The qualities of the film as an action thriller: the use of surveillance, phones, public signs, chases, crashes, the background at the airport? The technology for Eagle Eye itself?

3.The Hitchcock touches, North by Northwest, the climax in The Man Who Knew Too Much?

4.The introduction to the United States: the surveillance equipment, gliders, cameras? The terrorists in Afghanistan, the vehicles, the information, in Washington? The people at the funeral? The secretary of defence and his wanting to abort the mission? The Pentagon and its hawkish attitudes? The fifty-one percent chance of success? The president’s decision? The bombing, the destroying of the funeral and the people? The consequences? Terrorism rising in the United States?

5.Eagle Eye as a machine programmed for information, control, watching people, creating scenarios, destroying the government?

6.Jerry and his work, playing cards, winning money, paying the rent, the background of his travels, his brother’s funeral, his grief, the twin, his father’s sternness, dropping out of university? The armaments arriving in his room? The message on the phone? The FBI raid, the interrogations by Thomas Morgan? His trying to make a phone call, the crash of the crane, his escape, further orders, on and off the train, getting in the car with Rachel, the drive, the crashes, Morgan and Perez in pursuit, the arguments?

7.Rachel, her love for Sam, his music, at the station, his father’s turning up but forgetting his birthdays? Going for the drink with the girls, the phone call, the orders, in the lights across the street, the photos of Sam in McDonald’s? Getting into the car? Jerry getting in, their clashes? Her having to drive? Eluding the traffic, going through lights, the computer controlling everything?

8.Thomas Morgan and his assistant, his investigations, interrogating Jerry, the continued pursuit, the collaboration with Perez? Her background? Travelling to Indianapolis, involved in the chases? In the airport chase, in the baggage section?

9.The drive to Indianapolis, stopping and the clash between the two, Jerry and his feelings about his brother? The possibility of his brother being a spy? In the city, commanded to do the holdup, the guns, getting the case? Morgan and his later seeing the reflections in the van and pursuing Jerry and Rachel? Going to the airport, getting the tickets, getting through security and the screen changing? Morgan’s pursuit, in the luggage area, the diversion of the packages? Inside the plane, injecting themselves and hiding in the container?

10.The pursuit in the tunnel, the aircraft? Morgan and his sacrificing himself to save Jerry?

11.Washington, Jerry and his getting into the Capitol, the guard, the uniform? His going in to Eagle Eye, it wanting the imprint to supplement his brother’s? Rachel and whether she should shoot him or not, her not being able to do so? Rachel and her changing, going with the messenger, his fears, her going to the concert?

12.Perez, her background, investigations, working with Morgan, the pursuit and the wrecks, going to Washington, with the secretary of defence, going into the computer, the programmer and the discussions and explanation about Eagle Eye? Her voice? Programmed to destroy the government? Ethan and his warnings? The reaction of the computer? The minute man and his destroying it, emptying the fluid, closing it down?

13.The president and his cabinet as targets, their being too bellicose and working on the fifty-one percent success rate? The secretary of defence and his life being spared, his being chosen by the computer to be the next president?

14.The crystal, the sonic reactor, the singing of the national anthem, Rachel and her stopping it, Jerry and his shooting? His being wounded?

15.Sam, the children in the band, their leader, diverted to the Capitol? Their playing?

16.Jerry and his recovery, his decoration, his being present with his father? Going to visit Rachel – the twee ending for such an action-packed show?

LIONHEART (AWOL: ABSENT WITHOUT LEAVE; THE WRONG BET)

US, 1990, 105 minutes, Colour.
Jean Claude Van Damme, Harrison Page, Deborah Rennard, Lisa Pelikan, Brian Thompson.
Directed by Sheldon Lettich.

Jean Claude Van Damme made an impact from the mid-1980s. Lionheart was one of his earlier films. It was a collaboration with writer-director Sheldon Lettich with whom he made a number of films later.

Van Damme portrays a French Foreign Legionnaire who gets news of his brother’s brutal death. His brother had been involved in the drug trade in Los Angeles. He left a widow, played by Lisa Pelikan, and a son. As he goes absent without leave, he encounters a fight master in Paris, played by Harrison Page, who introduces him to the affluent world of illegal street fighting. The woman in charge, a femme fatale, is played by Deborah Rennard (popular in the 1980s for more than a hundred episodes of Dallas as J.R. Ewing’s secretary – and married to the director Paul Haggis, Crash, In the Valley of Elah, Million Dollar Baby).

The film has the human element as the legionnaire tracks down his sister-in-law and his nephew and tries to make it up to them with money from the fights. However, they are in danger and he protects them. He also does a number of bouts in Los Angeles culminating in a brutal fight which he ultimately wins (using kick-boxing techniques which he might have used at the beginning to save himself a great deal of pain).

The film is standard Van Damme material – a touch of humanity and sentiment along with a continued series of brutal fights.

1.The popularity of Jean Claude Van Damme? From the 1980s through the 1990s? Into the 21st century? His continuing popularity? His attempts at drama during the 1990s? Fans wanting him to stay with the action?

2.The Los Angeles backgrounds, the drug world and its brutality? The French Foreign Legion in Djibouti? The Paris sequences and the fights?

3.The succession of fights? The choreography of the fights? Their violence, brutality? Van Damme’s skills?

4.Lyon as a character, personality, his being in the Foreign Legion, AWOL, the confrontation with the authorities? Getting to France, on the boat, working, the confrontation with the master? In Paris, the fights, getting the money? Teaming up with Joshua? Meeting Cynthia and Russell? The arranged fights? The money? His wanting to go to Los Angeles, to meet with Helene? Her rejection of him? Her anger that he did not come to his brother’s help? His dying brother’s calling out for him?

5.Los Angeles, the drug dealers, the pursuit by the Foreign Legion? Cynthia and the arrangements, the fights, her wealthy clients? Her attitude towards Lyon, jealousy, watching him with his nephew?

6.The set-up for the fight with Atilla, Joshua and his betting? Cynthia wanting Lyon to lose? The fight, Joshua’s advice, the information about the betting? His standing on his feet, the kick-boxing, winning? Cynthia and her being called back into the house to pay her debts?

7.The happy ending? Joshua and his previously giving the money to Helene? The reconciliation, Lyon as part of the family?

8.The blend of Van Damme action with a sentiment story?

LA ZONA

Mexico, 2007, 97 minutes, Colour.
Daniel Tovar, Maribel Verdu, Alan Chavez, Daniel Gimenez Cacho.
Directed by Rodrigo Pla.

La Zona works very well as a thriller but it also works well as an allegory of exclusive societies who live in fear, barricading themselves behind walls and wire and take the law into their own hands, lynch-law like, when they feel threatened or attacked.

The Zone is a wealthy enclave in the suburbs of a Mexican city, surrounded by slums and poverty. During a storm, some thieves from outside are able to climb into the Zone when a billboard collapses on part of the wall. The result is not only robbery but murder. One of the thieves, a 16 year old who supports his mother, hides out in the basement of one of the houses. In the meantime, the Zone authorities meet and take matters out of the hands of the police, concealing the truth of what happens so that officialdom will keep away and not disturb their priviliges.

A rich boy discovers the poor boy and a bond grows between them.

It would be nice to be able to say that all works out well but we know that this is not possible with this vindictive
community who display a most alarming blood-lust. The film is also pessimistic about integrity, even with principled police officers.

Drama is powerful. Performances are persuasive. Though we look at the situation through the eyes of a privileged boy, the point of view of the impoverished boy is also strong. The resolution is dramatically satisfying and gives hope for some decency. When the film ends at 97 minutes, we feel that it could have gone on longer and we would have been interested to see further developments in several of the characters. That is a compliment.

1.The impact of the film as drama? Thriller? Social comment? Particular to Mexico? Universal application?

2.The city locations? The affluence of the Zone, the houses and streets? The contrast with the poverty and houses and streets outside the Zone? The walls and the wire? The musical score?

3.The title, the implications of the Zone for those within it? The enclave of the rich? Keeping out the poor? Self-administration? Wanting the police away? A world of privilege, wanting to preserve privilege? Cover-ups and taking the law into their own hands to preserve privilege?

4.The initial production of the Zone, audience response to the affluence, the calm? To the wall and the wire? To the people outside?

5.The young people in the bus, the young man and woman? The thieves? The guards? The storm, the billboard, its falling on the wall, the group able to climb over? Into the Zone, into the house, the attempted robbery, Mercedes and her trying to stop the robbers? Miguel and his hitting her? The later revelation of what happened? The thief and his choking Mercedes to death? Taking the jewels? The pursuit, the thieves being shot? The doctor and his nervousness, shooting one of the guards?

6.Daylight, the family, mother and her concern, Alejandro and his birthday? With his father? Daniel and the other men and their concern about what had happened? Alejandro in the car, his father forgetting his birthday? The later gift? Daniel going to school, his friends and their talk, wealthy, the status of the school? Their concern about what happened in the Zone?

7.Alejandro, at home, discovering Miguel in the basement? His reaction, Miguel’s fear? His not hurting him? Giving him some warmth, bringing him food? The bond between the two? The way this continued throughout the film?

8.Daniel and the adults, their dealings with the police? The commandante and his integrity? His being pressurised and backing down? Allowing the Zone authorities to pursue their case?

9.The cover-up, the statement that the guard had committed suicide and was not murdered? The discussions with his widow? Promising her money? Her concern, her later knowledge of the truth, her relief that her husband had not killed himself?

10.The various personalities amongst the authorities? Their harshness, the law, their presumption of guilt? The woman in the group and her viciousness? Their meetings, discussions? The man opting out after protesting against their fascism? The doctor, his having killed the guard, his upset? Their silencing him? The later admission of the truth, his fears, his reassurance of the widow?

11.Miguel, his background, his mother’s concern? The authorities and their reaction to her? His getting out of the house, running, being pursued, his being beaten to death by lynch law? The vindictive and vicious killing?

12.Alejandro, his reaction? His parents? His driving to the cemetery, taking Miguel’s body, its being buried? His phone calls to let the mother know what had happened? The importance of the message of the film in the character of Alejandro, his response, a sense of decency?

13.The overall impact of the film, a portrait of a community, a corrupt and privileged society? The portrait of the decent young man and his attempts to do the right thing? An allegory for all such communities?

MAN ON THE MOON

US, 1999, 118 minutes, Colour.
Jim Carrey, Danny DeVito?, Paul Giammati, Courtney Love.
As themselves: David Letterman, Judd Hirsch, Marilu Henner, Carol Kane, Christopher Lloyd, Jeff Conaway, Lorne Michaels.
Directed by Milos Forman.

Man on the Moon, for those who do not know the comedian Andy Kaufman whose life this is, will be a strange experience. He was a love him or hate him personality. Those who loved him appreciated his role in over a hundred episodes of the television series Taxi (the stars of which reassemble here for some sequences to recreate the making of Taxi). Others liked his strange style of comedy – performance art as it is now called. Those who hated him, did not understand his performance art, his focus on himself, his playing with the heads of his audience – as well as his inter-gender wrestling. This is all in the film.

The film opens with Jim Carrey as Kaufman and the final credits – and then the introduction to Kaufman’s early life in Long Island, his acting for his sister (actually played by one of Kaufman’s granddaughters). The film then makes the transition to his work in clubs, his improvisations with comedy and singing (and silence). He became involved in transcendental meditation. Agent George Shapiro (played by Danny DeVito? who also appeared in Taxi) fosters his career and enables him to appear in Taxi. However, Kaufman is more interested in his performance art and offending people, especially by his character Tony Clifton. He was aided and abetted in all this by his good friend Bob Zmuda (who also appears in this film). Zmuda is played very well by Paul Giammati. Courtney Love portrays Kaufman’s girlfriend.

Much is made of the wrestling sequences and Jeff Lawler as the champion – who, it was later revealed, joined in rigging some of the stunts with Kaufman. There is a re-creation of a quarrel on the David Letterman Show.

Kaufman developed cancer and was dead by the age of thirty-five. Many thought this was a hoax as well – but, his memory lived on with Taxi as well as this film study and tribute. Several groups wrote songs about him, including REM who wrote ‘Man on the Moon’.

The film was directed by Czech director Milos Forman who made idiosyncratic Czech films during the 1960s but then moved to the west and directed some very archetypal American films including One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Hair, Ragtime, The People vs Larry Flynt. Forman won Oscars as best director for Cuckoo’s Nest as well as Amadeus. He also did period dramas like Belmont and Goya’s Ghosts. Jim Carrey won a Golden Globe for this performance (soon after he won a Golden Globe for his breakthrough dramatic appearance in The Truman Show).

1.A showbiz story, the 20th century, stand-up comedy, tough comedy, performance art, concerts, television?

2.Audience knowledge of Andy Kaufman, Taxi? If no knowledge, what was the impact of this film for Kaufman as a person, a comedian, his style of comedy?

3.The title, the song, the tributes to Kaufman?

4.The introduction, Kaufman and his look at the audience, his speaking, his autobiography, the final credits, his playing the record? The joke? His reappearing at the end credits? Establishing his persona and relationship with the audience? Playing with them?

5.The 1970s and 80s? America, ordinary, New York State, his home, family background? The contrast with Los Angeles and Hollywood? University campuses? The south and the wrestling world? TV offices and studios? An authentic feel?

6.Andy as a boy, his father wanting him outdoors, telling him he had to have an audience, his parents and his later career, watching him on television, present at his performances, the wrestling? Their puzzle about him? Their grief at his illness?

7.The adult Kaufman? The song of the animals in the club, his manager letting him go? Improvisation, his use of his Lithuanian voice, the Elvis impersonation? Shapiro watching? The audience, their reaction? Meeting Shapiro and revealing his real self?

8.Andy Kaufman’s life, his friendship with Bob Zmuda, his writer, his co-participant in practical jokes? The style of his humour, getting at the audience, the touch of cruelty, entertaining Bob and himself rather than an audience? His reaction towards sitcoms? Acting? His impersonation with Tony Clifton? The contract for Taxi, the conditions, meditation (and the advice of the Maharishi to use silence and the way that he used it for comedy)? Tony Clifton appearing in Taxi, the agreement of the bosses?

9.Tony Clifton, his appearance, performance, his being off-key, loud and offensive, people in the restaurant? Shapiro watching? The revelation about Bob Zmuda, their discussions at the restaurant? Bob and his friendship, writing, supporting Andy? Shapiro wanting Andy to relax? Bob taking him to the brothel, the prostitutes and the revelation that he went there frequently?

10.Taxi, the cast, his introduction, his work? His popularity and style? Tony Clifton and the exasperation of the cast, the bosses? His being voted off Taxi? The funeral and the cast turning up?

11.The variety of gigs, going to the university, their wanting his Taxi character, his resentment, reading The Great Gatsby in an English voice, the reaction, the walkout?

12.The wrestling, inter-gender, anti-women, Lyn and her challenge, the fight, the attraction? Her participating in the set-up? His using Lyn? The challenge to Lawler, the attack, the fights, the injuries? The television commentators, the crowds? The Letterman Show and the interaction, the revelation that there was a set-up?

13.Lyn, with Andy, living with him, the truth about his illness, her support?

14.The visit to the doctor, the treatment, the response of friends, family, people thinking it was a hoax, going to the Philippines for treatment, his death?

15.The funeral, his film, the song and asking people to join in, everybody present? The recapitulation of his life?

16.The postscript and the Tony Clifton jokes – and Bob Zmuda paying tribute?

17.A particularly American film, particular style of comedy – its appeal or not?

HART’S WAR

US, 2002, 125 minutes, Colour.
Colin Farrell, Bruce Willis, Terrence Howard, Cole Hauser, Marcel Iures, Linus Roche, Vicellous Shannon, Rory Cochrane, Adrian Grenier, Michael Weston.
Directed by Gregory Hoblett.

Hart’s War is, in some ways, a throwback to the prisoner-of-war films so popular in the 1950s. It focuses on a group of men, their interactions, the digging of a tunnel. However, there is a big difference with this film insofar as it focuses on American racist themes.

Colin Farrell plays an officer who is captured in the Ardennes at the end of 1944 and transferred to a prisoner-of-war camp where Bruce Willis is in charge of the prisoners. Marcel Iures, the prominent Romanian actor, is the camp commandant. Two black aviators are downed and imprisoned, and are segregated by most of the men. The film highlights the racist attitudes of so many Americans of the period. They are played by Terrence Howard and Vicellous Shannon.

Cole Hauser plays a contact between the Germans and the American troops and is murdered. One of the black aviators is framed for the murder, a trial is demanded and granted by the commandant. Colin Farrell as Thomas Hart is to be the defence counsel.

The film is interesting in the presentation of the court, the defence made by a man who was a law student before enlisting but not a lawyer. There various twists in revealing what actually happened. There are also themes of honour, duty and personal integrity.

Colin Farrell was in the early years of his international fame. Bruce Willis gives a solid performance as the severe American commander.

The film was directed by Gregory Hoblett who had won a number of awards for directing Hill Street Blues and other television series. He made quite an impact with his first feature film, Primal Fear, also a murder mystery with a court case and twists. Other of his films include Fallen, Fracture, Frequency.

1.The tradition of the war film, the prisoners of war, the difference with the racism theme, the court case? The sixty years hindsight perspective?

2.Europe in 1944-45, the winter, the Battle of the Bulge, American forces, the German victories and then retreat? The situation for the end of the war?

3.The prisoner-of-war camp, the huts, the grounds, the exteriors, the tunnel? The musical score?

4.The title, the focus on Hart, Colin Farrell as Thomas Hart, young, his job, the assignment and the loss of direction, the German attack, the group lost, the wounded and dead? His being taken, interrogated, sent to the camp?

5.Hart in the camp, McNamara? and his orders, the hut, Bedford and the others, Bedford and the boots and asking for the watch? Ross and his friendliness?

6.Colonel McNamara? as officer, his relationship with his men, interactions with the commandant, his personality? His experience of the war? The contrast with Colonel Visser, the issue of the Geneva Convention not applying, the setting up of the court, the relationship with the guards, bartering with the prisoners?

7.Bedford and his bartering, his personality, racist, exploitative, arranging for the death of Archer? His racism? Framing of Lincoln Scott for the murder of Bedford? Bedford and the information to the commandant, getting the radio etc?

8.The digging of the tunnel, the hard work, Hart not knowing, McNamara? and his orders, concealing where the men went out of the huts?

9.Scott and the accusation, Scott in himself, the Tuskagee airmen, their experience of prejudice, working doubly hard to graduate, crashing in Europe, on the outer with the men? The hut, the theatre? Archer’s death? Bedford’s death? Scott being framed, his anger? His words about racism and experience?

10.McNamara and the trial, the commandant agreeing? Hart, the issue of the murder scene, the photos, evidence, testimony? McNamara? and his pressure? The commandant and the interview, giving him the law book? Hart utilising it, especially against McNamara?

11.The case, Hart and his Yale background, his mistakes, McNamara? as hostile, McNamara’s? reaction? Scott and the charges, the prosecutor and his questions, the nature of the defence, the photos, the black on the face of the murdered man, the prosecutor suggesting it was ashes from the kitchen? The arguments? Racism?

12.The interrogation of the guards, the interrogation of the commandant and his reaction? The deals?

13.Hart and his following the soldier at night, discovering the tunnel? The discussions with Scott, the photo of his son, the issue of honour? Hart going back into the trial, covering the time for the escape, confessing that he was guilty?

14.The escape, the commandant and his checking, the execution planned for Hart, the explosion of the factory, McNamara’s? return, his sense of honour, dying in the place of Scott?

15.The end of the war, freedom, the aftermath?

16.The strong theme of bigotry, lynch law in the prisoner-of-war camp compared with such states as Alabama? The relevance of the theme today?

FLY ME TO THE MOON 3D

Belgium, 2008, 84 minutes, Colour.
Voices of: Christopher Lloyd, Tim Currie, Robert Patrick, Kelly Ripa, Trevor Gagnon, Philip Bolden, Nicolette Sheridan, Ed Begley Jr, David Gore, Adrienne Barbeau. Buzz Aldrin as himself.
Directed by Ben Stassen.

It's not just fly to the moon but 'flies to the moon'. How often have we said that we would like to be a fly on the wall to be present at some event. This animated film takes the saying to its logical space age conclusion. On Apollo 11 there were some stowaway flies who shared in the voyage and one who walked on the moon with Buzz Aldrin (though Aldrin himself appears at the end to reassure us that there really were no 'contaminants' on the moon mission).

This is an amiable blend of fantasy for children and a lesson on the exploration of space. The three young flies are bright company: one is ordinary, one is bespectacled and the other eats a lot and the only way he can enter the link of the moon capsule back to the spacecraft is a windbreaking experience. But, bye and large, that is about the only 'rude' thing in a film that is wholesome for (younger) family audiences.

Quite some attention is given to the moon voyage – and it looks quite impressive in very sharp 3D photography.

There is also a reminder of Cold War espionage and sabotage as well as the rivalry between the Soviet Union and the US in the 1950s and 1960s in a sub-plot where a glamorous fly (does seem a contradiction in terms but seems plausible here!! and she is voiced by Nicolette Sheridan) from Russia comes to help out her old flame, now Grandpa, to stop Igor and other Soviet fly agents from destroying the moon mission. Christopher Lloyd is a cheery, vigorous voice for Grandpa.

An animated film that is lightly amusing and instructive.

1.An entertaining family film? The blend of animation? Space exploration? For what target audience?

2.The animation and its style, the flies and their world? The contrast with Cape Canaveral and the space centre? The shuttle, the moon landing? The blend of the children’s world with the actual world? The 3D and its effect?

3.A film made on the European continent, the American perspective? The memories of the cold war, Soviet-American? rivalry? Espionage, sabotage?

4.The flies’ world, the parallels with the human world? The setting in Florida at Cape Canaveral? The three young flies, the ordinary young fly, the fat always-eating fly, the bespectacled fly? Their being together, the fat fly always eating? The watching of the space shuttle?

5.The background of space technology and exploration in the 1950s? The Sputnik, Russian supremacy, Yuri Gagarin? The American rivalry? The monkeys in space? Kennedy and the ambition for going to the moon? 1969, the development of technology, the Apollo spacecrafts? Preparation for the moon landing?

6.The flight to the moon, the astronauts, life in the shuttle? Loss of gravity? The flies in the container, it breaking? Their arrival on the moon? The decision that Nat should go? His being the initiator? The other two flies watching? The exhilaration of the moon walk for Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong, the famous images, the photo, the flag, the famous words about the giant step? And the giant step for the flies? The fly family watching the television?

7.The Russian background, the Russian spies? Nadia, the past experience with Grandpa? Her decision to come to America, helping out against the sabotage? Igor and his associates? In the space centre, the plans, Grandpa and the fight? Nadia and her saving the day? Nat’s mother and her also intervening?

8.Grandpa’s background, his story about Amelia Earhart? His saving her life? His work in aerodynamics over the years? The importance of the flies and their ability? His hopes to go to the moon, happy that Nat went?

9.The domestic comedy with the flies? Jokes about flies and their eating habits, their role in the world? The achievement with the space shuttle? The flies going to the moon? The tickertape parade at the end? The happy ever after?

THE DAISY CHAIN

UK, 2008, 91 minutes, Colour.
Samantha Morton, Steven Mackintosh, Mhairi Anderson, Eva Birthistle, Flora Montgomery.
Directed by Aisling Walsh.

While the story is set in modern Ireland, the location is a remote village on the Atlantic Coast where every so often and with a number of older characters, we seem to move back into a mysterious and even superstitious past.

The basic plot outline is simple enough and many aspects are familiar. A young couple (Tomas and Martha), who have suffered the loss of a baby to sudden infant death syndrome, pull up stakes from London and return to the town where Tomas grew up and where he will teach in the school. The wife is pregnant again. They settle in a picturesque family cottage with a studio where Martha can paint near the rugged cliffs and beaches. All seems well and perfectly normal until they encounter a mysterious young girl, Daisy, whose parents were killed in a fire and seems to run wild, many people thinking she is autistic.

But, her behaviour is sometimes bizarre and villagers and the audience (who see more of how Daisy behaves than the locals) become suspicious of her. Martha, however, does not and wants to take Daisy in and care for her and love her. Is it a compensation for the death of her daughter? Tomas is of that mind. But, he goes along with what Martha wants. Their crochety and religious neighbour, Sean (David Bradley), tries his hardest to get rid of the girl – which Daisy resents and shows she does.

Daisy goes to school but the children won't play with her and, when three of them do, strange things happen. There are so many odd and destructive occurrences that the villagers see her as a changeling. She compounds this opinion by often dressing as a fairy when she plays and when she goes out. Is she autistic? Is she a changeling? Is she a bad seed? Is she a victim?

Mhairi Anderson who plays Daisy is absolutely convincing, tantalising, eliciting sympathy and then frightening. She is a Scots ten year old who is an impressive screen presence. Samantha Morton is at her best as the caring pregnant mother who becomes almost obsessed with saving and loving Daisy. Steven Mackintosh makes a convincingly loving but confused Tomas.

The director herself seems to have become obsessed with the Irish coast both its tempestuousness as well as its calm and the fields, the cliffs and the beach are beautifully filmed at every time of day - and there are scenic inserts very frequently which make you feel that you are there.

Director Aisling Walsh's films often show a concern about social situations and crises (she made Sinners (The Magdalen Laundry) and Song for a Raggy Boy both about violent and sexual abuse in Irish Catholic institutions).

1.The impact of the drama? Beyond the natural? Irish legends? Superstitions? Fears?

2.The Atlantic setting, the isolation of the town, its beauty, the moods of the coast, the weather and the times of day, the water, the cliffs, the beach, the fields, the houses? The inserts of the seascapes throughout the film?

3.The contrast with the house, the modern school, the modern swimming pool, the hospital? The blend of the old and the new? The atmospheric score?

4.The title, the credits and the drawings, the implications of the daisy and the daisy chain? Daisy herself and the chain of events?

5.The introduction to Tomas and Martha, driving, leaving London, her pregnancy, her delight in the house, her studio? Tomas and his teaching? The story of Chloe, the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome? The doctor and his care? Audiences identifying with Martha and Tomas, a nice couple, their hopes?

6.Life in the village, friends, Tomas’s family, the children, the atmosphere?

7.The introduction to Daisy, her age, a wild child, dirty, on the cliff? Martha and her finding the drowned baby? The grief? Sean as the cantankerous next-door neighbour, his continued attacks on Daisy, wanting her to go away? At the hospital, her wanting to play? The family grief? Her taking the doll, her being allowed to have it, with Martha, looking after the doll, not smothering it, calling it Eddie?

8.Martha and her taking Daisy, her compassion, love? The memories of Chloe? A substitute or not? Tomas accepting this but wary? The visit of the social worker, her wanting to take Daisy, her driving, Daisy playing with the card, the car crash? Daisy letting the card fall?

9.The suggestions about Daisy, the drowned baby, the car accident? The flashbacks to the burning of the house and the death of Daisy’s parents? Daisy surviving? Evidence and suspicions?

10.Tomas and his life, teaching, the children, at home, making the crib, building, redecorating the house? The past friendship with Orla, their discussion, the evening in the pub, his drinking?

11.Martha and her pregnancy, her pace of life, with Daisy, going to the social welfare office, her plea, allowed to take Daisy home?

12.Daisy as an enigma, her calling Martha Mummy, her past, the death of her parents, the death of her little brother? Autistic and the discussion of the definition? Was Daisy autistic? The village and the talk about the changeling? Daisy dressing as a fairy continually and the reaction of people? Going to school, the welcome in the class? Wary of the children? The suspicions and her going home and not going to school? The three children coming to play? On the cliff, her threats? Their having meningitis? The reaction of the parents?

13.Tomas and his reaction, the clashes with Martha? Orla, the kiss – and Orla giving him strong directions as what he should do?

14.The children, the young babies, the encounters with Daisy, the parents?

15.Kat, her visit, giving birth? Daisy in the car, going into the ward, holding the baby, Kat trying to get it back, Tomas rescuing the child?

16.Martha and her love for Daisy but playing with the other children, with the little girl, Daisy deflating the sponge, pushing the girl into the pool, having to save her?

17.Tomas and Martha and their discussions, going to the church, the discussions with the doctor, repapering the wall?

18.Daisy and Sean, Sean’s character, crotchety, making the sign of the cross, fearful of Daisy? Her spitting and the effect on his face? Going out and digging the trench, the fire, putting Daisy in the trench, people searching for her, her being saved, Sean and his being burnt to death?

19.The final decision, Martha in the bath, the blood, the birth of the child, Daisy telling her the truth about what she had done? Martha’s collapse?

20.Martha and her lying on the floor, Tomas finding her, the baby alive and cared for like the doll? Was Martha dead or not? Her face? Daisy and her seeming to be possessed by Martha’s spirit? The final close-up of her face?

TOUCH THE TOP OF THE WORLD

Canada, 2006, 90 minutes, Colour.
Peter Faccinelli, Sarah Manninen, Bruce Campbell.
Directed by Peter Winther.

Touch the Top of the World is the name of the autobiography by Eric Weihenmayer. Eric Weihenmayer was the first blind man to climb Everest.

The film focuses on the climb, the support that he had from his team, the difficulties with the climb, the weather and his experience of being blind. However, the climb was a great achievement.

Inserted into this framework is the standard biography of Eric. It focuses on him at the age of three, then at the age of twelve, with the gradual deterioration of his sight. The film focuses also on his parents, the support of his father, the initial denial of his mother. The film shows a strong character, determined to transcend his limitations of sight. The film is interesting in its explanations of how blind people can have a stronger sense of hearing and feel in order to locate themselves and to identify what is going on around them.

While the film is standard material, conventionally presented, it is a true story of an outstanding achievement.

In 2007, Eric Weihenmayer himself appeared in a documentary, Blind-Sighted?. A group in Tibet contacted him and asked him to accompany a group of blind children on a climb in the Himalayas. The film is actually more powerful than the autobiography of Eric Weihenmayer and shows the man himself, his support team, detailed presentation of the children who went on the climb, their German carers. It is quite a tribute to him.

1.An interesting and inspiring biography?

2.The production values, the mountainscapes, the home settings? The atmosphere? Musical score?

3.The title, the focus on Everest? Climbers on Everest since the 1950s? Achievement? A blind man with a team climbing Everest? The title?

4.The framework of the climb, Eric as a personality, with the other members of the team, contact with his wife? The background of his climbing mountains on the other continents of the world? His experience? The difficulties, the feelings of the support team, whether to go on or not? The final achievement? The personalities in the support team?

5.The insertion of the biography: Eric at age three, at age twelve? His experience of sight, losing his sight? The effects on him? The support of his father? The effect on his mother? The authorities, the teachers? His persevering with studies? His compensating for his lack of sight with his sense of hearing and sense of location?

6.Eric as a teacher, his first day in class, the preparations for placements, the consequences? Meeting the other teacher? Their becoming friends, climbing together, sense of friendship, achievement? His friend not going on the Everest climb?

7.Ellie, her work in the school, Eric’s attraction, going out, their times together, falling in love? The shared climbing, the shared experiences? The marriage, children? A happy marriage?

8.The inspirational nature of the film? The strength of the film as a true story?

SPRINGTIME IN A SMALL TOWN

China, 2002, 116 minutes, Colour.
Hu Jingfan, Wu Jun, Xin Baiquing, Ye Xiao Keng, Lu Sisi.
Directed by Tian Zhuang Zhuang.

Springtime in a Small Town is set in a Chinese village in the aftermath of World War Two. It has experienced much bombing, is now in ruins. In one of the old houses a husband who imagines he has TB lives with his wife and his wife’s younger sister. The sister is uncertain about what is to happen with her life. There is also an old manservant.

As life goes on in a quiet and leisurely way, a doctor comes from the city to see his friend. There are various discoveries – especially as the visiting doctor finds that the man’s wife is his own childhood sweetheart.

This is a reticent kind of film – suggestions of tension, understatement, various dramatic resolutions.

1. The original film made in the 1940s, considered a classic, then obscured, rediscovered? This film as both remake and tribute to the original?

2. The beauty of the photography, the small town, the interiors of the house and garden, the streets, the countryside? An authentic atmosphere? The re-creation of 1948? The musical score?

3. The polish, elegance and refinement of the film? The delineation of characters, their interactions, relationships? A surface politeness, a depth of feeling, especially with love and betrayal? Attempted suicide?

4. The title, the focus on the town itself and the characters, the Spring season, the garden, the hopes of Summer?

5. The structure of the film: the couple and their servant, the young sister, the friend coming back after ten years' absence? The experience of the war, the Japanese bombings, the town and the house in ruins? The possibilities of rebuilding? The memories of the pre-war period, the youthfulness of the protagonists, the love between Zhichen and Yuwen? The period of arranged marriages and the repercussions for relationships?

6. The portrait of Liyan, his psychosomatic illness, after the war, responsible for the house, the eldest son? The eight years of marriage to Yuwen? His illness, no children? His languorous behaviour, his moodiness? His treatment of Huang? His welcoming Zhichen, the old friendships, studying together? Urging him to stay? The repercussions for himself, brightening with the friendship? The celebration of his sister's sixteenth birthday? The plans for arranging a marriage between herself and Zhichen? The tensions with his wife, the failure of the marriage? The birthday party night and his feeling alienated, the games, the drinking? His going into the garden weeping? The declaration of faith by Yuwen, Zhichen's apology? His decision to kill himself, taking the pills, the decorous death? Their reviving him? His reviving to a new life, to Yuwen's love, Zhichen's friendship? His going into the garden to prune the trees - and a hope for the future?

7. The portrait of Yuwen, seeing her coming from the shopping, alone? The alienation from her husband? Her embroidering? With Huang? The visit of Zhichen, the revelation that they knew each other, were in love, the arranged marriage, his going to be a doctor? Her response to his return, the passion, wanting to leave? The possibility of Liyan's death? Discussions with him about the arranged marriage? The discussions out in the country with Zhichen? The birthday party, the drinking, the challenge? Her going to his room, the almost-relationship? Her hurting her hand on the glass? Grief at her husband's attempted suicide? The reconciliation and hope?

8. Zhichen, the visitor, his medical studies, a doctor, helping Liyan? The attraction towards Yuwen and discovering that she was married? The reminiscences about the past? The night, the tea, the discussions? The planned marriage and his resistance? His drinking at the celebration? His singing, the advance on Yuwen, carrying her, locking her in the room? His apology to Liyan, his wanting to leave? The attempted suicide, his reviving him? His departure to a different future?

9. The young sister, her exuberance, at school, coming home, the pleasure of the visitor, the memories? Her relationship with her sister-in-law, her brother? The birthday celebration, the drinking and the games? Her suspicions? Sadness at her brother's attempted suicide? Her going to the station to farewell Zhichen?

10. The servant, faithful, busy about the minute details, participation in the games, discovering Liyan unconscious?

11. The action with five characters only, generally within the confines of the house, out in the mountains, the exuberance of the picnic and the singing of the 'Blue Danube' song on the river?

12. A film of elegance that explores human passions with dignity?