CAMP NOWWHERE

US, 1994, 96 minutes, Colour.
Christopher Lloyd, Jonathan Jackson, John Putch, Peter Scolari, Romy Windsor, Joshua G. Maywether, Andrew Keegan, M. Emmett Walsh, Ray Baker, Kate Mulgrew,
Directed by Jonathan Prince.

Camp Nowhere is a family film from the middle of the 1990s. It draws on the popularity of children going on summer camps.

Jonathan Jackson plays Mud, small but strong minded, allegedly bullied but actually doing assignments for Zach, bigger and taller, not a student but good at fixing machines. He and two girls are close friends – and all going to summer school according to their ambitious parents. Mud’s parents want him to go to computer school. Zach’s father is very military. One of the girls has to train in acting while the other has to consider her diet. The parents are concerned – but a touch caricatured.

They encounter an eccentric man, Christopher Lloyd doing all kinds of comic turns, and persuade him with threat of exposure as a conman not paying his debts, to be the front man for their own camp. He impersonates the different interests for the parents benefit and gets their consent.

Meanwhile, other friends hear about it as do quite a number of the boys and girls at school and all want to join. They go to a rather rundown place under the flight path from a military installation, interviewing veteran Burgess Meredith.

They set up camp as young adolescents would, exercising freedom, eating all the wrong kinds of foods, involved in all kinds of activity and play. The have to write a letter home each month to prove they are at camp.

Meanwhile, Mud has to go to the doctor, and poses as Lloyd’s son. Lloyd is immediately attracted to the doctor, Wendy Mackenna. Eventually, she will find out the truth.

In the meantime, the parents decide that they want to visit’s even though Parents’ Day is forbidden. This requires an enormous amount of logistics, seemingly impossible, for each of the four main children present to persuade their parents, with the help of all the other children, that they are at their particular camp. Zach’s father is trapped in a foxhole four hours. Mud pretends that he has access to American government sites. One of the girls is the star of the production of Annie. The other has slimmed down.

In the meantime, there have been some tangles with the local police. And the creditor, M. Emmett Walsh joins him in searching for Lloyd.

The parents enjoy the success of their children and don’t press charges. Mud is persuaded to spend some time out in the woods so that his parents would be so glad to get him back that they won’t press charges either. Mud pays off the creditor and Lloyd and the doctor go off happily together.

Enjoyable for children and their rebel spirit. Some criticism of obsessive parents and imposing parents, but all happy in the end.

DADDY DAY CARE

US, 2003, 92 minutes, Colour.
Eddie Murphy, Jeff Garlin, Steve Zahn, Regina King, Angelica Hoston, Kevin Nealon, Jonathan Katz, Lacey Chabert.
Directed by Steve Carr.

Eddie Murphy makes this perhaps somewhat implausible story very entertaining. While he had excelled in smart talking police in the Beverley Hills Cop series and the 48 Hours, was also popular as The Nutty Professor and Dr Dolittle. Here he combines with the director of Dr Dolittle, Steve Carr, who also made a number of family films including Are We There Yet?, Paul Blart, The Middle Years, the Worst Years of My Life.

Eddie Murphy and Jeff Garlin work well together, executives at an advertising company, interested to promote the breakfast food full of vegetables – they fail. They also lose their job. Regina King plays Eddie Murphy’s wife, a trained lawyer who now goes out to work while Eddie Murphy has lost his job. Sitting in the park, the two men are advised to think about daycare.

Angelica Huston, a bit like a prison warden, runs an advanced daycare centre which the couple visit, uniforms, discipline, classes, advanced language learning… When Charlie and Phil set up, they don’t have too many ideas, but are happy to let the children play, even though they create some mayhem and mess. The mothers entrust their children and the enterprise is successful, Phil’s son learning toilet training, Charlie’s son finding friends.

Steve Zahn, in his zany phase, plays someone from work who visits the centre and is able to charm, entertain and control the children. He is employed, a job that he likes – and is even given a romantic plot with one of the mothers.

The main drama comes from Angelica Huston and her making official complaints, sabotaging with charges about inadequate provisions, quoting the regulations for care centres.

Naturally enough, all works out well at the end, even though the two men are momentarily enticed back to work but do not wish to advertise a breakfast food that is absolutely full of sugar.

The last scene is Angelica Huston as a traffic policewoman, fighting off a bee, signalling widely and causing all kinds of traffic mayhem.

1. An entertainment for the family? The response of children? The response of parents? Educators, day carers?


2. Middle America, the town, advertising offices, homes, daycare schools, parks, rundown buildings? The musical score?

3. The title, the care for infants? Qualifications, enthusiasm, regulations?

4. Charlie and Phil, Charlie and his wife, lawyer, going to work? Love for his son? His being absent from home? Phil and his son Max? At the office, advertising, breakfast foods, the carrot and the broccoli, the vegetable cereal? The children not liking it? The song and the commercial? Marvin and his stepping in, bouncing around? The rejection? The restructuring of the department? Health foods out, Charlie and Phil out?

5. Charlie having to stay at home, his wife going out to work? Charlie with his son, the rocket game? Charlie and Phil in the park, the advice of the friend, the need for daycare?

6. The Institute with Mrs Harridan, her giving the tour to Charlie and his wife, uniforms, classes, advanced studies, discipline, her personal manner, Jennifer as her assistant?

7. Charlie proposing the idea to Phil? Advertising, the mothers coming, wary of two men doing this job, trying it out?

8. The range of children, boys and girls, the boy in the costume suit, the little girl with glasses and her intelligence, Max and the problem of toilet training, Charlie’s son and his feeling on the outer, not having friends?

9. The range of activities, inventiveness, some mayhem, tiredness and sleeping, painting, drawing, football, Marvin and his arrival, his charm with the children, getting them involved, the puppet show…?

10. Mrs Harridan and her upset, children leaving? Her reporting Charlie and Phil, the complaint, the numbers and adult supervision? The visitor, harried, inspecting, the list of changes, Charlie and Phil working all night, ready? Marvin’s arrival, his being hired, fulfilling all the obligations? Keeping the children occupied?

11. The idea of expanding, finding The Final Frontier, Marvin and his love for Star Trek, the possibility of raising money, the fair, Mrs Harridan infiltrating, sabotaging and destruction?

12. The boss, his child at Daddy Day Care – and his paying them, but calling them losers? The offer of the job, the return, the decisions, the son’s disappointment? The new breakfast cereal, full of sugar, Charlie and his coming to his senses, resigning, persuading Phil?

13. More complaints from Mrs Harridan? Charlie is going to the school, the confrontation, bluntly talking to her, her plans and expansion?

14. Phil’s son and successful toilet training, Charlie’s son and his making friends, bonding with his father – even after asking for him instead of his mother?

15. Mrs Harridan losing her centre, traffic, signalling, the bee, mayhem with the traffic?

16. The success, the expansion, listening to children, responding to their needs, affirming them?

TULLY

US, 2018, 97 minutes, Colour.
Charlize Theron, Mackenzie Davis, Mark Duplass, Ron Livingston, Elaine Tan.
Directed by Jason Reitman.

A film with which female audiences will identify, especially mothers, and, even more especially, mothers coping with young children. Tully is also a film with which a male audience might not immediately identify (a bit like some of the husbands in this film) – but Tully is definitely a film they ought to watch.

Diablo Cody, and to play with her name, has a devilish kind of ability to combine the serious and the comic (Juno, Young Adult), she has written a screenplay that is close to the bone in its seriousness but also provokes the audience to smile, even laugh, despite themselves. The film is directed by Jason Reitman who also directed Charlize Theron in Young Adult.

And, despite the title, which refers to the engaging of a night nanny who is hired for the family night shift, and her name is Tully, played quite exuberantly and charmingly by Mackenzie Davis. The centre of the film is Marlo. And Charlize Theron, who can definitely be glamorous in films and has been over the last 20 years, also excels at roles which are not glamorous at all. She won an Oscar in 2003 for her portrayal of the serial killer, definitely not glamorous, Aileen Wournos, Monster.

At the opening of the film, she is very pregnant, hassled by all the care of the house, by her two young children, a daughter aged nine and a younger boy who is described throughout the film as “quirky�, overstimulated by external sources, sometimes an exasperating and burdensome child whom, each night, Marlo gently brushes. This is being recommended by a therapist to calm her son down. Her husband, Drew, Ron Livingston amiable but a man who could be far more attentive than he realises, is supportive, but…

Rather exasperating for Marlo in her condition is her affluent brother, Craig (Mark Duplass) and his wife who is prone to making blandly wearing comments that do nothing for Marlo’s patience. However, Craig does give the gift of money to hire a night nanny.

There is an exhausting collage (for the audience, let alone Marlo) of the three weeks after the birth of the daughter, Mia. There is the demanding routine of crying in the night, waking up, going to the baby, breastfeeding, putting the baby down, going back to bed, and the possibility of the routine happening all over again. Eventually, Marlo gives the night nanny a ring.

Tully, the nanny, is all that a nanny might be. Despite Marlo’s hesitations, Tully is wonderful with the baby, watches happily as Marlo breastfeeds, tidies up the house, becomes more of a friend and a confidante with some wise advice.

Sometimes there is a mixture of reality and fantasy, Marlo’s dreams with her son banging the back of the driver’s seat in the car, scenes of a mermaid and an underwater rescue from a waterlogged car, the fact that Marlo’s maiden name was Tully, sexual encouragement for Drew.

Perhaps Tully is too good to be true. But her message, the hopeful message of the film, is that a strong inner self should emerge to confront the difficulties of day by day, and that husbands become much more aware of the reality of their wives’ experiences and support and for them. No quarrel with that.

1. The title? The neighbour Tully? For the carer? Marlo’s maiden name? Indications of connections? Two aspects of the self?

2. A film of women’s issues? Relationships, marriage, fatherhood and men’s issues?

3. Family issues, love, children, pregnancy, birth, the aftermath?

4. The portrait of Marlo? Charlize Theron and her screen presence, her age, not being glamorous, being real? The beginning, her pregnancy, looking large, her moods, lounging around? Her brother and his wife, wealthy, the wife and her comments, the meal? Comparisons? Drew, the marriage, Marla’s love for him? His personality? With the children, the job and the trips? Their life together?

5. Home, school, hospitals? New York, the highways, the clubs, Marlo’s neighbourhood? The river?

6. Marlo, her being tired, brushing Jonah and the explanation for the therapy, his hyperactivity, comments that he was quirky? At school, his outbursts, the principal, the interviews, Jonah having to go, yet her being courteous, Marlo’s brother financing the school? The quiet assistant? Marlo and the relationship with her daughter? Concerned about her changing? Jonah being asked to leave the school, the difficulties and diplomacy for the principal, Marlo’s apology – and a cupcake?

7. The birth, Drew being present? Her brother and his wife? The gift of the payment for the night nurse? The impact of the collage of the nights of the first three weeks, crying in the night, getting out, breastfeeding, back to bed, unable to sleep, tired? Drew, basic support, but going to bed and playing the computer games? Taking Marlo for granted? Audience response to him into this tension?

8. The brother, the gift of the money, the nature of the helper, Marlo’s resistance, becoming more desperate, the phone call?

9. Tully arriving, her age, personality, the night regime, napping during the day, studies? Waking Marlo to feed the baby, then caring for it, her charm with the baby? Her looking intensely at Marlo? Tidying the house, making the cupcakes? The bond between the two women, their talk, Tully and her wisdom, good advice, sharing, the issue of sexual provocation of Drew and the reaction? Marlo and independence? The outing to the city, leaving Drew alone, the clubs, the wild times, Tully giving the information that she had to leave, Marlo being upset, cycling to her old neighbourhood, the memories of the past? Driving, trying to keep awake, the crash? And the imagery of the mermaid to the rescue?

10. Marlo in hospital, the doctor’s advice, the diagnosis of her being tired, Drew and his explanation, about Tully? His having to learn, to support his wife? Marlo bonding with her daughter? Not having to brush Jonah but happy to be with him and he with her? The possibilities for the future?

11. The blend of the realistic, the imaginative, the mermaid in the dreams, Marlo and her nightmares with Jonah’s behaviour, in the backseat of the car, kicking? Tully’s presence and the encouragement of Marlo’s inner life and soul to emerge? The past, her being put down, her expectations of life?

12. A humane and concerned film? Women’s responses? Men’s responses? Hope?

MY FRIEND DAHMER

US, 2017, 107 minutes, Colour.
Ross Lynch, Anne Heche, Dallas Roberts, Alex Wolff, Vincent Kartheiser.
Directed by Michael Mayer.

Many of the audience will have some awareness of Jeffrey Dahmer, a notorious American serial killer who, in 1991, as the end of the film indicates, confessed to the murder of 17 men. There have been documentaries and some feature films about Dahmer himself and his serial killing. The danger always is the possibility of prurient curiosity from the audience being met by some sensationalism. While there is curiosity for the audience for this film, it is not sensationalist but, of course, given the foundation in fact, it is very disturbing.

The screenplay is based on a book by one of Jeffrey Dahmer school friends, Derf Backderf.

The setting is a town in Ohio, in Middle America, 1978. Dahmer is in high school, a loner. The opening sequence immediately sets a tone, Dahmer sitting by himself in the school bus, kids in the background playing 20 questions, suggesting issues of mysterious identity. Dahmer also looks out the window at a doctor who is jogging along the street, going to the back of the bus to watch him, the driver demanding that he sit down. Plenty of suggestions for audience reflection already.

So, this is a portrait of Dahmer over several months, culminating in his graduation from high school.

Once the audience sees the family, it is not difficult to realise that there could be quite some psychological problems which need attention. The mother (Anne Heche, not immediately recognisable) has mental problems, erratic behaviour, hectic and screaming one minute, loving the next. The father is much more quiet, reclusive in his laboratory, trying to cope and finding it more and more difficult, and an eventual divorce. There is a younger brother, David, presented ordinarily enough.

Dahmer has slightly stooped shoulders, walks in a kind of shuffle, mainly avoids people although he plays tennis and plays an instrument in the band. He avoids the school bullies. However, in some strange behaviour in the library, feigning and mercilessly mocking palsy and epileptic seizures, he is taken up by a group of the boys who think this is very funny and clever, continually urge him to repeat the performances, in the school corridors and, as a culmination to their fun, to behave in a berserk palsy fashion in the local Mall.

This does give some affirmation to Jeffrey, coming out of himself a little more, his father urging him to lift weights to improve his physique and helping to make friends. But Jeffrey is seen to have his own laboratory, a hut in the woods where he experiments with roadkill, saying that he is interested in bones and structure. His father, however, smashes his equipment and dismantles the hut.

The prom is coming up and Jeffrey invites, awkwardly and hesitantly, a young girl to go with him, though, at the dance, he is even more awkward and goes home.

He graduates, his mother and David going off to the grandparents because his father will be at the ceremony – and is present and gives him the gift of a car.

The film ends with sinister suggestions. Backderf, the author of the memoir, gives Jeffrey a lift in his car, noticing blood on his hands (the audience having seen Jeffrey with a knife and a dog). Jeffrey is menacing to his friend but resist the impulse. Finally, he offers lift to a shirtless hitchhiker on the road after deliberating as to what he should do – fade to black and information that the hitchhiker was never seen again and the further information about Dahmer’s confession.

The screenplay offers suggestions, cues, possibilities for the explanation of Dahmer’s psyche, impulses, killings.

1. Audience expectations? Audience knowledge of Jeffrey Dahmer? Reading back into this portrait him as an adolescent the subsequent history? The screenplay with suggestions, cues, explanations?

2. Ohio, 1978, the town, homes, the hut in the woods, the woods, the streets and roads, the school, the Malls, the school dance? The musical songs and score?

3. The author of the book, his life experience with Jeffrey Dahmer? Writing the book? Memories and interpretation?

4. The introduction, Jeffrey on the bus, the loner, the 20 questions and questions of identity, looking at the doctor running, going to the back of the bus, told to sit down? His home, his relationship with his mother, her hectic behaviour? His father, his work? The younger brother, David? Life at home, the tensions, the mother shouting and screaming? His refuge in the hut, the roadkill and his dissolving it in acid? The boys, asking questions, the bags and the smell? Going to the hut, his experiments? His interest in bones?

5. His background, his age, relationships, his father spending time at work, in the lab, providing the acid? His reaction to Jeffrey in the hut, the loner, smashing the equipment, destroying the hut? Expectations of his son, not to be like himself, buying the weights, Jeffrey actually using them and building himself up? His parents’ clashes, the screaming fights, the divorce, the issue of custody of the children? The issue of Jeffrey’s graduation, the mother taking David? His father present? His father giving him the car, pride in him? His mother and her mental institution background, loud, bad cooking, the meals, her moods, lying down and sulking, the divorce, missing the graduation? Jeffrey’s relationship with his brother?

6. At school, the atmosphere, the 80s, teenagers in their manner? The bullying? The boy offering Jeffries Neil Sedaka tickets and his not defending him? Jeffrey, fear, his reactions to people? Their not noticing him?

7. The laboratory, the class, the boy sketching, sitting next to Jeffrey? His sketches, their friendship? In the library? Jeffrey and his physical moaning in the library – and the encounter between his mother and the decorator with cerebral palsy? Jeffrey merciless in his mocking the man with the policy? The criticism of the librarian? His friends, Defberk, Neil, their forming their club, invitation to Jeffrey, his becoming something of their mascot, their encouraging him in his palsy and epileptic fits? The range of performances? In the school corridors? Their having fun? The effect on Jeffrey, the friendship and bonds, their being together, some affirmation in his life?

8. Background of sexuality, his looking at the men, the masturbation sequence, the boys talking about sexual activities, the interview with the doctor, his health, his being examined?

9. His playing tennis, his playing in the band? Neal and his idea to photo all the clubs and have Jeffrey in every photo? The librarian and her anger?

10. Collecting the money, daring him to perform on the Mall, the enormous carry on and people’s reactions?

11. Animals, roadkill, the dog and Jeffrey with the knife, not killing it? But later seen with blood on his hands, his saying it was paint?

12. The prom, the invitation, the girl and her reaction, the dance, his awkwardness, Neil making his apology, his eating and going home?

13. His mother and brother leaving, his graduation ceremony, the presence of his father, the gift of the car? Walking, Backderf giving him a lift, the blood, going into the house for the beer, wanting to leave, uneasy, Jeffrey with the bat?

14. The car, Jeffrey driving, the hitchhiker, shirtless, Jeffrey’s interest, going back?

15. The information about the disappearance of the hitchhiker and in 1991 Jeffrey Dahmer confessing to the murder of 17 men?

16. The value of this kind of film, touches of prurient curiosity about the life and motives of a serial killer? But some understanding of life and motivations and background?

SIX BY SONDHEIM

US, 2013, 86 minutes, Colour.
Directed by James Lapine, Autumn de Wilde, Todd Haynes.

This is a very interesting entertaining documentary by Home Box Office. It is an introduction to any audience wanting to know about Sondheim. Those who are well aware of him, of his career, of his music and lyrics, of stage and screen performances, will know this material already.

On his personal life, the film fills in quite a dramatic background, about his family, and his non-– relating with his mother, of the family friendship with lyricist Oscar Hammerstein (Showboat with Jerome Kern, and all the Rogers and Hammerstein musicals), and Hammerstein being a mentor to Sondheim.

There is information about his early career, moving into such musicals in the 1950s as Gypsy and his collaboration with Leonard Bernstein for West Side Story.

The film then moves backwards and forwards in time in his career, and draws on very wide range of interviews with him over the decades. We hear his observations on his life, on his work, on different productions. Because the interviews range over the decades, we see and hear him as young, middle-aged, up to the age of 80 when this film was made.

We also hear a number of people paying tribute to him.

The title of the film indicates that it focuses on six of his songs.
1. "Something's Coming" (West Side Story),
2. "Opening Doors" (Merrily We Roll Along),
3. "Send in the Clowns" (A Little Night Music),
4. "I'm Still Here" (Follies),
5. "Being Alive" (Company) and
6. "Sunday" (Sunday in the Park With George).

James Lapine, who directed the whole film, directed the part on "Opening Doors" which features Darren Criss, Jeremy Jordan, America Ferrera; Todd Haynes directed the film on "I'm Still Here" which has Jarvis Cocker; and Autumn De Wilde directed McDonald? and Will Swenson in "Send in the Clowns."[

This enjoyable film can be seen as an entertaining introduction to one of the significant composers of the American musical and of production on Broadway.

LIFE OF THE PARTY

US, 2018, 105 minutes, Colour.
Melissa Mc Carthy, Maya Rudolph, Gillian Jacobs, Debby Ryan, Adria Arjona, Julie Bowen, Stephen Root, Luke Benward, Molly Gordon, Jacki Weaver, Falcone, Christina Aguilera.
Directed by Ben Falcone.

Probably, it all depends on how an audience takes to the comedy of Melissa Mc Carthy. She achieved some success on television but then moved to the movies with even greater success. She is a somewhat larger-than-life personality, even louder than life! She has combined with a number of actors, like Sandra Bullock in Heat, often providing a kind of Laurel and Hardy partnership with comic touches.

She sometimes acts with her husband, Ben Falcone, who has cowritten the screenplay with his wife, directs and has a nice cameo as a sympathetic Uber driver.

In a way, in Life of the Party, as Deanna, she is on her own. She does have Maya Rudolph as Christine, a bluntly-spoken best friend, Molly Gordon has her daughter at college, and is supported by a range of her daughter’s friends. Stephen Root turns up as her father in several sequences and, yes, that is Jacki Weaver as her mother.

This is a film of changing moods. It is also a women’s film in the sense that yes, there are some men in the cast, one particularly obnoxious (Deanna’s husband), one agreeable and charming (in love with or, infatuated, with Deanna) and a couple of husbands more or less in the background. The invitation is for women of all ages to identify with these characters, the comedy, and sadness and its consequences, the precipitation of a midlife crisis so unexpectedly.

While seeing her daughter off for the year at college, full of exuberant joy, she is bluntly told her husband that he wants to divorce her. Cataclysm in an instant. Her parents are sympathetic but her mother keeps insisting that she should make her a sandwich! She vents her feelings with hard played racquetball with her friend Christin. And then she decides to enrol in college to complete the degree in archaeology that she abandoned, on the advice of her husband, over 20 years earlier.

Then the film turns into one of those frat party comedies, raucous parties, obnoxious young girls who feel superior to everyone else, the strange group of her daughter’s friends and her getting on so well with them. Her daughter comes to terms with her mother being at college, the same college, but changes her make up, her hairstyle, her clothes. And then Deanna goes extrovert off the page, drinking, dancing, a one night stand with the nice young man, then trying to break it to him that they should break off but, in the library, not succeeding.

But there are some bitter moments, comic for the audience but not for the participants when they go before an official to discuss questions of division of property – with the rule that they must address the arbitrator rather than their opposites at the table, and the poor woman officiating experiencing all the barbs and angers.

It doesn’t seem to be in character at one stage when Deanna gets up to make her presentation for her course and becomes awkward, tongue-tied, sweaty, desperately in need of a glass of water, collapsing on the floor. She seemed to be too extrovertedly hardy for this to happen to her!

There is still one more let-go mayhem scene, smashing chaos let loose at her ex-husband’s wedding reception, to go before the end. No, not quite, the girls decide to raise money for Deanna’s course completion, which her parents are prepared to pay for, but the idea is to have a party to end all parties. Bad luck, that is the night when Christina Aguilera is performing with everybody going to the concert. Brainwave, advertise that Christina will turn up to the party. Will she? Won’t she? We all know that she will – but there is an amusing reason why she does come.

Graduations, happy together, power to the women!


1. Melissa Mc Carthy film? Story, cowriting? Writing with her husband, the director?

2. The title, a film about an extrovert, the background of her life, marriage, pregnancy, giving up studies, raising her daughter? Ordinary situation?

3. The college, To cater, the town, homes, the sorority buildings, lecture rooms, shared rooms, parties, atmosphere? Musical score and songs?

4. The opening, the daughter going to college, pride, love, in the car, Dan and his blunt treatment of his daughter, the information, the other upset, getting out of the car? Her life suddenly changed?

5. Visiting her parents, her mother urging her to have sandwiches? Going to see Christine, the fears racquetball competition, upset, listening to the husband sitting back and talking?

6. The divorce, Dan and his marrying Marcy, her being a real estate agent, trying to settle the property divisions, the woman presiding, everybody talking to her and that the others? Christina present and doing the law thing for Deanna?

7. Deanna enrolling, continuing archaeology, her daughter’s initial reaction? Meeting the friends, the different personalities, her bringing snacks, always being friendly? Her room, the quiet and eccentric roommate?

8. The classes, pushing in, knowing the lecturer, studying the archaeology? The nasty girls behind her? Are getting good marks, the farce of her trying to present, the desk, drop her papers, sweating, cold water, fainting?

9. The range of girlfriends, the girl in a coma, the one asking permission to talk, the bond with the owner’s daughter?

10. Taking piano out to the party, her daughter transforming her maker, his style, clothes? After Deanna going back into the past and buying the sweatshirt and souvenirs of college? Going to the party, the drinks, her daughter’s boyfriend, meeting John? The attraction? Dancing, getting high? The night with him? Wanting the break, his coming to the library, the sex and the bookshelves?

11. The restaurant, with Christine and her husband, the other guests? Marcy and then coming in? The ironic shock the John was Marcy’s son?

12. The plans for the wedding, the group eating chocolates, but getting high on the bark with the marijuana? Going to the reception, the offending notices about the marriage, smashing everything, the mayhem, Dan confronting her, cutting off all the money?

13. The decision, to leave, being persuaded to stay to study?

14. The idea for the party, raising the money, promising Christina and Valero, the crowds coming, getting the money? Her parents offering to pay?

15. Her successful presentation, the acclaim? Her graduation, with her daughter?

16. Power to women!

THE MUMMY: TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPEROR

US, 2008, 112 minutes, Colour.
Brendan Fraser, Jet Li, Maria Bello, John Hannah, Michelle Yeoh, Luke Ford, Isabella Leong, Anthony Wong Chau- Sang, Russell Wong, Liam Cunningham, David Calder.
Directed by Rob Cohen.

Brendan Fraser swept on to the screen in 1999 as Ric O’ Connell, archaeology expert and adventurer, whose talent also lay in combating evil Egyptian Mummies who rose from the dead and threatened, well, everyone. This was Indiana Jones territory (and there hadn’t been one of those films for more than ten years) but Ric and co were more than adequate, if lower-budget, substitutes. Rachel Weisz turned out to be a vigorous adventurer as well, though John Hannah as her dippy brother, was along for the ride and getting himself into danger. It worked so well that a sequel was desirable and inevitable, The Mummy Returns as did Fraser, Weisz and Hannah. And audiences were delighted.

After quite a while, here comes another sequel and just after Indiana Jones has turned up again. I don’t know whether Steven Spielberg would be too pleased, but this third Mummy film seemed much more enjoyable than adventures in the kingdom of the crystal skull.

One of the difficulties for any sequel is that the novelty of the original has worn off. However, this time the action moves away from Egypt and Scorpion Kings to China and Dragon Emperors.

The prologue to this adventure takes us back to a ruthless ruler who wanted to be emperor and stopped at nothing to vanquish foes – and there are plenty of action effects to make this introduction to the film spectacularly exciting. But our emperor, played by Jet Li, wants immortality and summons a benign witch (Michelle Yeoh) to get the elixir of life. When she falls in love with his general, the wrath of the emperor descends and he and his computergraphic thousands of warriors do battle. But, he and his warriors are bewitched and buried and for millennia have just been waiting for someone to pour the elixir into his tomb and - the emperor mummy and the soldiers (bearing a remarkable resemblance to the Chinese terra cotta soldiers) will return. And that’s just the prologue!

It is 1946 and Ric and Evy have retired to England while their now grown-up son, Alex, is not studying but, in fact, is in China, digging up and discovering… guess what and who!

The film is definitely old-time Saturday matinee material, the adventures like those old serials with their cliffhangers at the end of each episode. Needless to say, Ric and Evy (this time Maria Bello instead of Rachel Weisz, a bit disconcerting as brunette instead of blonde) are sent to China, discover Alex and find themselves entangled with the resuscitated emperor (who has the ability to shape shift, including into a monstrous three-headed dragon) and the terra cotta forces. Fortunately, the witch is immortal (as is her charming and martial arts trained daughter), so the O’ Connells have some allies. But they also have some extra enemies in the form of a Chinese general who wants to raise the emperor, serve him and conquer all China (is this an anti-Mao sentiment!).

Intensely serious students of archaeology might have a number of quibbles over plot details and might find it hard to suspend disbelief in all the magic, but the rest of us, in holiday mood, will probably enjoy it for the tongue-in-cheek spectacular adventure that it is.

The popularity of the Mummy films? Heroics, adventures, exotic locations, special effects? History and archaeology?

How effective was this as a sequel? The continuity with the earlier films? Rick and Evy and their being older, parents, retired, bored, their son? Living in England and its style? Rick and his fishing, failing with the fly-fishing, shooting the fish? Evie and the high English life? Their son, thinking he was at school?

1. The prologue, going into the Chinese past, the landscapes, the political clashes, the troops, the palaces, the battles and the slaughter, the search for the elixir of life? The emperor, his attack on his general, on the witch? His death, his tomb?

2. The UK, 1946, the background of China, the excavations, China and its locations, the excavations, the layout of the tomb, the travel over the countryside? The musical score?

3. The special effects, the tomb, the fights within the tomb, Shanghai and the club, the clashes in the tomb, the resuscitation of the emperor, his shape shifting and becoming the dragon? The terracotta soldiers and their transformation? The readiness for battle? The thousands of troops and the battle sequences?

4. The general, in the tomb, his squad, the attack on the archaeologists? Roger Wilson and his change of heart, alliance with the general? Confrontation with Alex?

5. Alex, his age, not at school, in China, the archaeology, with Wilson, the discovery, the fall, his parents?

6. Lin and her guarding the tomb, fighting the archaeologists, becoming their ally, immortal, her relationship with her mother? Her participation in the battles? Her mother’s death?

7. Rick and Evy, their relationship with Alex, concern about him, going to Shanghai, discovering him in the club, the relationship with Jonathan? Their participation in the adventures, the fights, the elixir and bringing the jewel to China?

8. The witch and her story, as a personality, her love for the general, his death, the emperor trying to kill her? Her immortality, reappearance, love for her daughter? Prepared to give up her immortality? Her fight with the emperor, her death?

9. The daughter and her participation in the adventure, falling in love with Alex? Losing her immortality?

10. Rick and Evy and their personalities, in action, in Shanghai, with Jonathan, their help, the rescue, the flights, the fights?

11. Jonathan, his club, his friends, the fights? His participation in the adventures – and his opting out?

12. Mad Dog Maguire, the plane, the travel, the fights?

13. The atmosphere of the old-time serials? The cliff-hangers? The adventures – boys’ and girls’ own adventures?

LE MERAVIGLIE/ THE WONDERS

Italy, 2014, 110 minutes, Colour.
Alba Rorhwacher, Maria Alexandra Lungu, Sam Louwyck, Sabine Timoteo, Luis Huilca, Monica Bellucci.
Directed by Alice Rohrwacher.

Winner of the Grand Prix at Cannes, 2014.

The setting is Tuscany, not the glamorous countryside but the poor farms, relying on sheep and beekeeping, also running the risk of families being run off their settlement. There are comments by characters throughout the film about the strangeness of the Etruscans, their language, dress, presence in Italy.

This is the second film by Alice Rohrmacher who directs her sister, Alba, as the leading character of the mother. However, Maria Alexandra Lungu as the daughter, Gelsomina, gives a powerful performance. Belgian actor Sam Louwyck is the angry father. There is a guest performance by Monica Bellucci as the star of television commercials and host of a competition for the farmers of the area.

The focus of the film is the family, father and mother, four daughters. Life is hard, continual work, tending to the bees, producing the honey, bottling it and selling it.

A competition is advertised in the region and the father is against it while Gelomina treaties, actually enrols the family and their work with the bees. Ultimately, they all go to the competition, is, are interviewed for the television – although his one neighbour wins.

A young German boy who is beginning to have a criminal record is entrusted to their care and becomes involved in the honey production, accompanying the family on various outings and even to the television set for the competition.

An Italian slice of life.

1. The title?? The lives of ordinary people? The name of the competition?

2. Italy, Tuscany, the farms, beekeeping, poverty, the land, the sea, the island, the necropolis, the caves? The interiors of the house? The television show? The musical score?

3. The initial photography, light and dark, headlights, spotlights, the hunters, the interiors and the family asleep, the shots? The father outside, his attack?

4. Mother, four girls, their age, life at home, work and play, the bees, going for a swim, making a noise, the father’s reaction? Quiet, the film set, the costumes, the lines, the commercial? The children’s delight?

5. The father, sternness, with his wife, the children, hard-working, proud? Offering the gift of the camel? Gelsomina talking about the law? The later bringing the camel and the little girl’s delight?

6. The advertisement for the competition, for the farmers, traditional values, the prices?

7. Gelsomina, the focus, her age, pre-puberty, with her friend, the television, watching the boys on the bikes?

8. The mother, cooking, peeling the vegetables, helping with the work?

9. The competition, the father and his argument against it, Gelsomina appealing to her mother, Coco, the attack on the father, telling the truth?

10. Martin, brought by the police, his fears, his age, 14, criminal record, payments to the family? Gelsomina being interviewed, the head of the family? The father and his outburst, his being advised to control himself, the interrogation about the bees, Martin and his capacity for whistling, not wanting to be touched?

11. The production of the honey, the laboratory, the vats, the buckets? The work, the jars and putting the lids and labels on? The spill, the father blaming his daughters? Work on the hives, the smoke, the bees dying of poison, the interrogation of his neighbour about the weedkiller? Farmers sticking together? The hives, the wind, the stones, the tarpaulin, the rain?

12. Gelsomina, looking in the mirror, going for the swim, the family happiness while the father was absent, the walk, the island, the caves? Gelsomina and the bees on her face? At the fair, selling honey, her friend and the dress?

13. The visit of Adrian, talk about Gelsomina, the friendship with the father, flirting with the mother? Their wanting him away?

14. Signing the forms about Martin? Gelsomina in favour?

15. The father away, tension, Gelsomina not dancing, Marinella and her hand being cut, the hospital, awareness of the buckets, the vast spelling of the honey, cleaning it up, the representative of the company, his inspection, tasting the honey, the family watching him?

16. The return, the mother’s exasperation, talking about leaving? Coco and her explanations?

17. Gelsomina, her responsibilities, her to her father, the trip to the island? The gift of the camel?

18. On the island, the Etruscan dress, the filming, the rehearsals, the old ladies singing, the compere and the interviews, the costumes? The father talking to the camera about the honey? Gelsomina and the bees, Martin whistling? The comments of the Etruscans?

19. Coco, her character, working in the house, the attraction towards Gelsomina, wanting to embrace Martin, his running away? Th group and the search, Gelsomina swimming,
touching hands, the shadows of their play, her return, the family lying down outside, place for her?

20. The selling of the sheep, packing? The custodians of the welfare of Martin, Gelsomina’s favourable comments? Reprimanding the father?

21. And then the family gone?

BROTHERS’ NEST

Australia, 2018, 97 minutes, Colour.
Shane Jacobson, Clayton Jacobson, Kym Gyngell, Lynette Curran, Sarah Snook.
Directed by Clayton Jacobson.

Especially with the comedy film, Kenny, and, with other film and television appearances, Shane Jacobson is by now strongly associated with Australian comedy.

But, caution. Not here.

As the film opens, we see Shane Jacobson and his brother Clayton as obvious lookalike brothers, cycling outside the town to a used-car dump and to a house which belonged to their parents. They change into boiler suits, start cleaning the house, Terry (Shane) rather bemused his wary about following the lead of his older brother, Jeffrey (Clayton). Terry is rather laid-back but Jeffrey seems to be rather obsessive, sitting down with his brother early in the morning of their visit to the house with an extraordinarily detailed timetable for their activities for the day.

If this was a first review of Brothers’Nest? that someone were to read, the review should end here except to add that it is sometimes frightening, sometimes very black, some sardonic humour, and a bit of a shock film for the Jacobson brothers to be in.

But, many other reviews will indicate that the brothers have murder in mind and that this preoccupies them for most of the film. We learn their reasons, their deceptions, their alibis, their being upset at their father’s suicide, their love for their mother (Lynette Curran) who is dying of cancer, acknowledging that their mother’s new husband, Rodger (Kym Gyngell) loves their mother but has usurped the place of their father.

So, as the day goes on, the brothers realise that meticulously planned murders need to be more meticulous than they anticipated. So much can go wrong. So much is unforeseen.

When Rodger arrives at the house, there is an effective dramatic sequence when the brothers, especially Jeffrey, vent their angers on Rodger. There are also some tense dramatic sequences when their mother comes into the house and is bewildered by what she finds.

As has been suggested, to get away with murder, careful planning beyond careful is needed. And, who knows what the reactions will be if two people are part of the plan and begin to differ.

At the beginning of the film, the name of Sarah Snook appears in the opening credits. Just to reassure audiences who may be wondering when she is coming in, it is best to say that she comes in at the end, giving the audience an opportunity to think over what their reactions have been to the events, to the two brothers, to Rodger and the brothers’ mother, and see what has happened through her questioning eyes.

Of its kind, which may not appeal to gentler sensitivities, this story of murder in mind is intriguing and effective.

1. The title, the focus on the brothers, the house has a nest, the family nest?

2. The Jacobson brothers, acting together, the director? The other characters in the film, the nature of the characters, contrasts, bonds?

3. The Victorian countryside, at night, the men riding their bikes, going through the truck and car dump, coming to the house, the early-morning?

4. The background about the house, their mother dying with cancer, the father’s suicide and the reactions, their mother marrying Rodger, his abandoning wife and children in Queensland? His hobbies in the house, the radios? The brothers and their age?

5. The planning, to kill Rodger, wanting to inherit the house, revenge on Rodger? The alibi the going to Sydney, the phone calls to reinforce this? Their bags in the house? Spending all day in the house? The plan for Rodger in the evening, and the buyer coming to purchase the horse?

6. The introduction to each of the characters, Terry not wanting to be called Tes, hesitant, his decision, going into the house to help Jeffrey? Jeffrey as older, wearing glasses, dominating? His pad the timelines, Terry and the criticism? Military precision, watches, the father’s watch? Cleaning house, the preparation for the killing?

7. The plans, meticulous, the fact that meticulous plans can go wrong? The electricity, the lights, the radio?

8. The passing of the day, the two brothers together, reflecting, motivations? Their lives and relationships, the photos and videos on the phones?

9. Rodger’s arrival, his character, his treatment of the brothers when they were young, working with the radios and his neglect? Talking with Rodger, the accusations, his reactions? The physical attacks and brutality? Beating him, the collapse, gagging him and tying his hands, putting him in the bath, getting the radio, extending the cord, putting it into the bath, the electrocution?

10. The irony of their mother and the changed appointment, Are Sitting in the car, blowing the horn? Coming to the house, the lights and the fuses? Calling out for Rodger? Discovering his body? Her grief? Wanting to be with him?

11. Terry, the attempts to unbind Rodger? His mother seeing him, the puzzle, his lies and excuses?

12. Jeffrey, aggressive, with the gun, confronting the mother, the fears arguments, shooting?

13. Terry, his reaction, leaving the house, going to the trucks, Jeffrey coming, arguing, the gun, following, Terry having taken the bullets out? The fight, Jeffrey killed?

14. The buyer for the horse, her arrival, the truck, Terry helping her to load the horse? The discussions, the puzzlement as to what happened? Calling the police? Taking the horses?

15. The impact on the audience, the shock, the grisly aspects of the story?

THE SONG KEEPERS

Australia, 2017, 87 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Naina Sen.

Most Australians would have heard of the Lutheran mission established in the 19th century at Hermannsburg, 1877, south-east of Alice Springs. One of the earliest Christian groups to work with aborigines and, while Christianising them, respecting their rights and fostering local languages, protecting their rights, especially at the time of the Stolen Generation. Albert Namatjira came from Hermannsburg. One of the features of Lutheran worship was the tradition of German hymns.

Over the years, especially in the middle of the 20th century, women’s choirs were established at Hermannsburg and in various settlements, Arrarnta and Pitjantjatjara. And the hymns were translated into the local languages. The choirs had sometimes long lives, sometimes short.

The screenplay of this documentary fills out some of this historical background – enhanced by the use of a number of photos from the period as well as clips from home movies.

Then, enter a larger than life character, Morris Stuart. As the audience is wondering about where he came from, not easily identified at once as indigenous to Australia, he is revealed as coming from Latin America, from Guiana and slave families there. He is a big man with something of James Earl Jones voice and resonance. He is also a man of music. Throughout the film he speaks to camera explaining that he moved to England, met an Australian tourist, Barbara, married her and they came to Australia, moving to the Northern Territory.

He is extroverted, affable, made contact with the women at Hermannsburg and the other towns. He wanted to revive the choirs and, for 20 years or more, has not only achieved that, but has affirmed the women and their love of their stories and land, their songs, as well as their Christian devotion in the Lutheran tradition. But he was more ambitious for the women and their singing.

There is quite a lot of music throughout the film, a number of the hymns. There are there are practice sessions, rehearsals for concerts, performance. Most of the women had been in choirs earlier but responded to Morris and, despite their age and the difficulties of living in the far-flung settlements, they bond together to make the Central Australian Aboriginal Women’s Choir. There are some men, the local activist as well as a young man whose grandfather was in choirs.

And there are a lot of interviews and storytelling spread throughout the film, many of the women having a chance to talk to camera about themselves, their lives, their music. These interviews offer pleasing opportunities for appreciating the women, their lives and their culture.

But at the core of the film is a tour to Germany by the choir. Maurice, assisted by Barbara, gathers the women together for rehearsals, planning a program of songs, contacting Lutheran churches in Germany and, an adventure for the women, the plane trip to Melbourne, Melbourne to Frankfurt and then travelling around Germany. We see the countryside, a touch of the travelogue, through the eyes of the women who have not lived in any towns or country like this.

The Lutheran communities throughout Germany come to the churches, appreciate the singing, respond very well to Morris who conducts with some vigour. The congregations prove genial hosts to the women for this memorable tour.

This is another documentary, like Gurrumul, like Westwind, which offer tributes to indigenous music makers but offers a wider audience both in Australia and overseas, find opportunities to get to know these traditions better.