THE LAST DAYS OF DISCO

US, 1998, 113 minutes, Colour.
Chloe Sevigny, Kate Beckinsale, Chris Eigeman, Mackenzie Aston, Matt Keeslar, Robert Sean Leonard, Jennifer Beals, Matt Ross, Tara Subkoff, Burr Steers, David Thornton, George Plimpton.
Directed by Whit Stillman.

A different mood piece. Walt Stillman has shown with his elegant, sometimes eloquent, glimpses of a generation that aspires to social standing and success (in his Metropolitan and Barcelona), that he is a chronicler of the affectations and alienations of thirtysomethings. The same here with a setting of New York in the early 80s as the disco fad was dying and the proliferation of drugs was giving it a bad name. Yet, for those caught up in it, the Reaganite yuppies, it is remembered (and re-created here) with great affection. Which may limit its appeal to those who were not part of it and who may, in fact, find the culture quite pretentious and empty.

The lead performances, especially British Kate Beckinsale as the perfect embodiment of the self-absorbed and destructive character and Chloe Sevigny as the would-be yuppy whose innate sincerity cannot ultimately survive in this disco world, give the film added strength. Re-assessing an era.

1. Memories of the 1980s from the 1990s? The title?

2. The director, his style, society and characters, literate, music, the score?

3. Life at the club, the clientele, society, the disco music, dancing? The owner, manager, the workers there? The raid on the club?

4. The story of Alice and Charlotte, their characters, friendship from the past, this studies together? Readers at the publishing house? There after-hours life, going to the disco, their relationships, ups and downs?

5. Alice, her personality, more quiet? The interest in Jimmy? Des? Jimmy and his clients, refused entry to the club? The character of Tom, work, confidences? Holly, her personality, living with Alice and Charlotte? The relationships between Alice, Charlotte and Jimmy? Tom and his night with Alice, talking about his girlfriend, returning to her? Des and his interest in Alice?

6. The book, the Dalai Lama’s brother, Charlotte rejecting it, Alice supporting it? The revelation about the author? The quality of the book?

7. Alice, Charlotte saying Alice had gonorrhoea, the effects? Des and his continued pursuit? Alice and Tom, the gonorrhoea, his telling the truth, his giving her herpes?

8. The character of Josh, DA, interest in the book pitch, pursuing Alice?

9. Charlotte, the miscarriage, hospital, the clash with Alice?

10. The raid on the club, Des on the run, Josh and the offer of help from the law? The clientele, the sales of records going down?

11. The merger of the company, the consequences for the employees, their jobs? Alice and her promotion?

12. The buildup to the lunch, the discussion about big personalities and normal personalities, issues of relationship and monogamous relationships, the different perspectives between Alice and Charlotte?

13. On the subway, Josh and Alice discussing their future, the music beginning, everybody beginning to dance, “Love Train”?

WIT

US, 2001, 99 minutes, Colour.
Emma Thompson, Eileen Atkins, Harold Pinter, Christopher Lloyd, Audra Mc Donald, Jonathan M. Woodward.
Directed by Mike Nichols,

Wit is a fine film but one that is not an easy film to watch, especially if we have experienced a severe illness and hospital for ourselves or for someone who is close to us. It won an Ecumenical Prize at the Berlin Film Festival as well as two American Catholic awards, The Christopher Award and The Humanitas Prize.

It is a profound film, based on Margaret Edsons's play which both delights in and has respect for words, for grammar and for articulating words. As directed by Mike Nichols, it is a close-up of an English poetry professor with incurable ovarian cancer who has agreed to undergo the strongest chemotherapy available as a resource for research rather than for any real hope of remission or cure. As played by Emma Thompson, Vivian Bearing bares her soul to the audience and we share intimately the process of dying by a brave and tough woman. Professor Bearing has taught Metaphysical poetry. The screenplay uses several of John Donne's Holy Sonnets, especially 'Death be not Proud', as a philosophical and religious grounding for the experience of death.

The metaphysical poets, while noted for their love poetry (though this is not mentioned in the film), are concerned about mortality, about immortality, about sin, God's mercy, forgiveness and God forgetting our transgressions. For them, the barrier ('which is not insuperable') between mortality and immortality is a paradox. They explore it as a puzzle but do not 'solve' it.

Wit is a portrait of a life in death.

It is beautifully written: 'Both published and perished!', Vivian says. Other polished phrases will be quoted in this article. It is psychologically sound and insightful.

Wit is a portrait of a teacher, of a woman who looks at life objectively. Vivian's childhood, especially with her father, is glimpsed in a flashback. Her working life is shown in some flashbacks, interviews with her tutor and in her own lectures. But the film is mainly about her experience of dying.

The screenplay speaks a great deal about knowledge, about knowing and knowing more (rather less on understanding). Vivian Bearing has been an academic, a senior scholar, a researcher who lectured (and, perhaps, sometimes taught). She values truth, 'uncompromising scholarly standards making a significant contribution to knowledge'. Words she uses about herself include disciplined, uncompromising, steadfast and 'resolute in the extreme'. In the eight months of her chemotherapy she keeps asking questions, wanting to know what is going on.

Most observers would agree that Vivian Bearing is quite introvered. An only child, single, devoted to her profession rather than to people or another person, she is at home with her own inner life of knowledge and research. Her students have meant very little to her personally - to the student who wants a deadline extension claiming his grandmother has died, she looks up at him and says, 'Do as you will but the paper is due when it is due'. During her treatment she has to go into isolation which she does not find a burden although she begins to reflect on the nature of time as it seems to stand still, a weight, passing slowly yet so scarce.

Vivian Bearing loves knowledge and has a great respect for words. Her illness is insidious, which means treacherous; it is pernicious; she mulls over 'ratiocination', 'coruscation'. However, she ironically has to lapse into American quickspeak in hospital, 'How are you today?', 'Fine.' 'That's great.'

Her approach to poetry is illustrated by her remark that her mentor, Evelyn Ashwood (Eileen Atkins), advised her to start with a text, not a feeling. She asks students to identify devices and processes that Donne used. She lectures on construction of quatrains and scanning. She later remarks that she had liked poems 'in the abstract'. In fact, she had preferred research to humanity. Her course is described as bootcamp where the brain had to be in knots.

The screenplay builds up the comparison with expert Dr Kelikian (Christopher Lloyd) and his young assistant who had taken her course, Jason Posner (Jonathan M. Woodward), both completely dedicated to research and knowledge. Jason explains to Vivian with rapt enthusiasm how he is fascinated by the unstoppable way cancer cells replicate themselves. She herself appreciates 'thorough explanations'.

In facing the reality of her illness and acknowledging how humiliating the poking and prodding of her body by doctors and students, the interminable questionnaires and tests, the agony of a colonoscopy, how degrading it felt to experience a pelvic examination by a former student, Vivian Bearing moves towards some kind of inner peace. Ultimately, in the narrow but realistic confines of the ward, she learns to live more in the present and with more empathy for other people.

She asks Jason about his treatment of people. He breezily and unthinkingly tells her that he did the required course on bedside manner but that it was 'a colossal waste of time for a researcher'. She now realises that what she desperately wants is kindness: 'the senior scholar ruthlessly denied her simpering students the touch of human kindness she now seeks'. When she can't sleep, she confesses that she just keeps thinking but that she is in a quandary, with doubts, no long sure or in control as she always has been.

It is the ward nurse, Suzie (Audra Mc Donald), who is the healer rather than the research experts. Suzie is an African American. She is alert and considerate on the ward but not so well educated. When Vivian (who remembers as a little girl asking her father (Harold Pinter) what soporific meant and remembering this as the moment when she knew she was going to be an academic) asks Suzie whether the medication is soporific, Suzie says she doesn't know 'but it sure makes you sleepy'. The women laugh together at the funny situation.

Vivian knows death is close, at 4.00am on a sleepless night, Suzie explains the emergency options for Vivian when her heart stops. Suzie brings Vivian a popsicle. Vivian gives Suzie half of it. Suzie, who often addresses Vivian as 'sweetheart', reminisces about how as a little girl, she and her friends chased the popsicle van and sat on the kerbs eating them. She deprecatingly remarks, 'That's profound'. Vivian replies, 'It seems nice'.

At the end, Vivian tells the audience, 'We are discussing life and death, not in the abstract, but my life, my death. There would be nothing worse than a scholarly analysis with erudition. Now is the time for simplicity, time for, dare I say it, kindness... I thought that being extremely smart would take care of it, but now I am found out.'

Evelyn visits Vivian at the very end, quietly takes off her shoes and lies beside her, offering to read. She says she will not read Donne but reads the children's story, The Runaway Bunny (including the publishing and copyright details). Gently, she reads the simple story of the Bunny who finds that his true home is at home. 'A little allegory of the soul: wherever you hide, God will find you'. Both Suzie and Evelyn show us the more personal way of being that Vivian, in dying, has discovered.

Evelyn had told Vivian that in the last line of 'Death be not Proud', there should only be a comma, a simple pause between this life and the next, life separated from eternal life by a pause, overcoming the seemingly insuperable barrier between life and death and eternal life...

And death shall be no more, comma, death thou shalt die.

LOVE & FRIENDSHIP

Ireland, 2016, 91 minutes, Colour.
Kate Beckinsale, Morfydd Clark, Xavier Samuel, James Fleet, Jemma Redgrave, Tom Bennett, Jen Murray, Chloe Sevigny, Stephen Fry, Emma Greenwell, Justin Edwards, Kelly Campbell.
Directed by Whit Stillman.

Probably, the best thing to say is: attention all Jane Austen lovers. We all know the six classic novels, have our own favourite, and have probably seen many of the cinema and television versions over the decades. We have become at home in the Regency period, in London and in provincial towns in the countryside. We are familiar with the costumes and decor. And we know that there will be various intrigues in terms of relationships, marriage planning, issues of both pride and prejudice.

Many of us may not be familiar with the juvenile novella, Lady Susan, which Jane Austen did not complete. It is an epistolary novel. But, it has been adapted for the screen, given the title of Love & Friendship, by American filmmaker, who has not made many films but is interested in portraits of society, aspects of elegance, and in both literature and in images, Whit Stillman, Metropolitan, Barcelona, Last Days of Disco.

So, here we are in Jane Austen land, travelling from country house to country house, following Lady Susan as she seeks refuge and some security, having recently been widowed. She does have a daughter, about whom she cares very little, who is away at boarding school.

She takes refuge at the home of the Vernons, Mrs Vernon being the sister of her husband. She arrives with her made, Mrs Cross, whom she treats as both and companion and, in a sign of things to come, says that both she and Mrs Cross would think it unbecoming were she to be paid for her work. At the house, Churchill, Susan encounters Reginald DeCourcy? who is attracted to her and she, with an eye to the future and self-interest, is attracted to him, walking, talking, sharing confidences, so that he moves to defend her against the rumours that have been circulating about her and her behaviour.

We, the audience, do not need such persuasion because we watch Lady Susan go into action, eventually deciding that a pleasantly daft landowner, Mr Martin, is the ideal husband for her daughter who leaves her school and comes to Churchill, where she is welcomed and is also welcomed by Reginald’s parents, the DeCourcys?.

One of the great satisfactions in watching this film and listening to the dialogue and its delivery is the delight in fine English language, an extensive vocabulary, beautifully modulated sentences and a great deal of wit.

This is due in large matter to the excellent cast. Kate Beckinsale has had a mixed career but here she is at her best, beautiful, exquisitely dressed, charming manner and articulation but completely amoral, self-obsessed, with an eye to financial security. Xavier Samuel perfectly embodies the young country gentleman, Reginald, earnest but more than a touch ingenuous. There is a very strong supporting cast of character actors, including Tom Bennett lighting up the screen as the gawky Mr Martin and a cameo from Stephen Fry. Chloe Sevigny, who worked with Kate Beckinsale in Stillman’s Last Days of Disco, is Lady Susan’s over-accommodating American friend.

There is never what might be called action in a Jane Austen story though there is a great deal of psychological and emotional action as characters meet, fall in love, fall out of love, exploit one another – with some finding happiness.

To all these extents, Love & Friendship is an unanticipated pleasure.

1. Audience interest in Jane Austen’s work? The range of novels, versions, television versions? The centuries-long appeal?

2. Jane Austen writing Lady Susan, not well-known, written when young, unfinished? An epistolary novel?

3. Whit Stillman and his adaptation, his succession of films, the emphasis on culture, literate?

4. Locations in Ireland, the country houses, the countryside? The London sequences? The early 19th century, the Regency period, costumes and decor, furnishings? Meals, dances? Creation of an atmosphere? The classic musical score and the chorale background?

5. The impact of the screenplay, literate, language, vocabulary, elegance and wit?

6. The title, the range of love and friendship? Marriage, fidelity, infidelity, children, family, seduction and security?

7. Themes of truth, lies, deception? Self-knowledge? Self-interest?

8. The device of introducing the places with name captions, the characters and the introductions and explanations – with touches of irony? The families, the estates?

9. Kate Beckinsale as Lady Susan, the focus of the film? Age, beauty, appearance, elegant dresses, elegance of manner, her way of speaking, her life, marriage, becoming a widow? Her history with her husband, his death? Her being dependent, lack of money? Sending Frederica to school, neglecting her? The affair with Mainwaring? Her going to different houses, welcome and unwelcome? Her capacity for manipulation?

10. Alicia Johnson, the friendship, American, Connecticut? Her husband and his bean godfather to Mrs Mainwaring? Friendship? Alicia at her agreeing with everything Lady Susan said, complicit in her behaviour, covering for her – and her husband threatening to send her back to Connecticut?

11. Susan arriving at Churchill, Mrs Cross attending, unpacking, subservient, no payment? Are leaving? Have been welcome to Churchill, James liking her, the sister wary of her? The household, the servants? The presence of Reginald?

12. Reginald, in himself, age, experience, demeanour? The rumours about Susan, walking with her, talking, liking her, his need to defend her against rumours? The possibilities of a relationship? The effect on Reginald? His parents warning him against her? Frederica arriving?

13. The De Courcys, at home, age, experience, pleasant characters, caution against Susan?

14. Susan, taking things for granted, rationalising her situation, talk, excuses? Her emphasis on income and financial support? The encounter with the man and suggesting he be whipped – only saying this because she knew him? The encounter with Mr Martin, her plan for Frederica? The clashes with Mr Johnson?

15. Frederica, her age, at school, the bad reports, her leaving, the mother’s neglect? Coming to Churchill? Her music, the family welcoming her? Susan, the manipulation about Mr Martin, warning her not to tell aunt or to tell Reginald? Her doing so? Her mother taking her to London? The De Courcys and the support of her – and the father thinking her a nightingale?

16. Mr Martin, a silly-ass, the comic touches, a nice person, but daft, church and hill, Churchill? The discussion about peas? Farm technology? The reaction of all to him? Frederica not wanting to marry him?

17. Susan going to London, Reginald and his visit, her manipulating the time, the visit of Mainwaring, the letter to Alicia, Mrs Mainwaring reading it? Reginald and his disillusion? The Mainwarings, their separating?

18. Mrs Mainwaring, her wailing, her husband and his sinister behaviour, Mr Johnson?

19. Susan, the irony of her marrying Mr Martin, getting security, Mainwaring living in the house, Mr Martin announcing the day after the marriage his delight that Susan was pregnant?

20. Frederica and Reginald, the courting, the wedding scene, happiness – and Susan in the background?

21. A comedy of manners, aristocracy and class, traditions?

JASON BOURNE

US, 2016, 120 minutes, Colour.
Matt Damon, Tommy Lee Jones, Alicia Vikander, Julia Styles, Vincent Cassell, Riz Ahmed, Bill Camp, Scott Shepherd,
Directed by Paul Greengrass.


One of the great reading pleasures for many of us in the 1980s was going through the exciting conspiracy novels of Robert Ludlum, one after the other. And then there were the film versions during the 1980s and into the 1990s, including seeing Richard Chamberlain in the first version of The Bourne Identity.

When Paul Greengrass directed the first Bourne film with Matt Damon, it was like welcoming a familiar character with the added pleasure of the two sequels. It has taken more than a few years for Jason Bourne to return.

On the whole, this is a very entertaining action thriller (with a reservation to be mentioned later). Jason is having moments of memory recovery even though he is wandering around Europe involved in cage fighting – Matt Damon having beefed up considerably for this role. After fighting in Albania, he goes to Athens where he is contacted by an agent from the past, Nikki (Julia Stiles) who has been doing some computer investigation into his past, into his identity, and has some documents on a USB.

In the meantime, the head of the CIA and his associate, Tommy Lee Jones and Alicia Vikander) are on Bourne’s trail, making contact with one of their assassin agents, Asset (Vincent Cassell) which leads to a rendezvous in Athens in the very middle of a large political protest and chase, motorbike and car through the congested city.

With the USB, Jason then begins a series of international journeys, all the while under most elaborate surveillance at CIA headquarters, cameras everywhere, the ability to keep a check on Bourne, satellite coverage as well. This leads him to Berlin and, armed with more information, to London.

The head of the CIA has also been in collusion with one of those young computer geniuses, this time played by Riz Ahmed, publicly proclaiming that his inventions make full acknowledgement of the need for privacy – but, we know, that the deal with the CIA means exactly the opposite. And when the head is played by Tommy Lee Jones, doing very well what he’s been doing for the last 40 years but this time looking more than his age, we know that there’s going to be a confrontation.

But it is Heather Lee, with Alicia Vikander, present in so many films these days and winning an Oscar for The Danish Girl, who has a conflict of sympathy and ambition, conflict between loyalty to the CIA head and to Bourne.

Since the head of the CIA and the computer expert are going to a convention in Las Vegas, that’s where Jason Bourne goes, that’s where Asset (who has tried to kill him in London) goes, all converging for a shootout.

Basically, the culmination of the film is the confrontation that has been expected all the time. This is where the reservation comes in. There has been a steady pace, the characters continually on the move, quick-paced editing to keep the audience involved. It is when the pace more than picks up for one of the most elaborate car chases you could see, cars smashing into one another all over the place in Las Vegas, the streets, the carparks, everywhere – it is almost as if somebody challenged Paul Greengrass, “I bet you can’t smash so many cars in the one film” and he said, “you’re on”. While it might be a piece de resistance in itself, seems very much and out of place, given the plot and pacing of this Jason Bourne adventure.

Instead of a happy ending, there is a nice piece of ambiguity care of Jason Bourne, now recognised as David Webb in reality, that sets us up for a sequel.

1. The popularity of Robert Ludlum’s novels? The Cold War, the American hero, special services, identity, the CIA, patriotism? Deadly espionage killer? Defending the US?

2. The past films, reputation and success? Matt Damon as Jason Bourne?

3. 20th-century espionage, 21st century? International scope? Albania, Greece, Iceland, London, Birmingham, Washington DC, Langley? The international field? The score and the mood and intensity?

4. The pace, the narrative, editing? The techniques of surveillance, authorities in control, the attention to detail, instant information? Individuals and their eluding surveillance? Using their wits? Backup agents, assassins? The action? The fights? The crowds, the bike and car chase, the final car chase and smashes?

5. The background, the Albanian border, Jason and the tough fights? The background of Touchstone? Jason Bourne as David Webb? His father’s idea? The meeting in Beirut, David being under surveillance, to be chosen as an agent? Talking with his father, his father’s regrets, his father’s death? The assassin killing him? His role being covered? Jason and his remembering the past?

6. Nicole, in Icland, communications, the gun and destruction of the centre? The documents? going to Greece, tracking down Jason, the note, involved in the Greek protests? The meetings, the chase on the bike, her death, giving Jason the USB stick? The assassin in pursuit?

7. Dewey, as director of the CIA, his responsibilities? His age, personality? His political contact and communication? The range of staff, his assistant, the surveillance, the groups of agents? Heather, her request to be in charge? His allowing it? Her role in control, directions?

8. Jason going to Berlin, the taxi, the pursuit, going to the house of the controller, the decoding of the USB stick, Heather deleting it by phone? The phone message and warning him?

9. Going to London, the information, going to see the supervisor, Smith? Bourne finding him, following him, the rendezvous? Heather and the tracking? Following him? Smith with the earpiece and the instant contact with Dewey? Asset and his killing the agent squads, his vengeance on Bourne, his imprisonment in Syria and torture, wanting revenge?

10. Deep Dreaming? Aaron and his skills, entrepreneur, the company? The conventions, the applause, his speech about privacy? His discussions with Dewey, selling out, Dewey wanting complete surveillance? The betrayal by his friend?

11. Going to Las Vegas, Heather helping with the passport? His using his wits, getting into the hotel, guns, disguise?

12. Dewey, his assistant, going to the suite in the hotel? The plan for the panel, his presence, Aaron, Heather? His instructions to Asset? Asset getting inside? The shooting, the wounding of Aaron?

13. Jason, entering the hall, shooting at Asset? The people scattering, Jason disarming the elevators? Going to the suite, the confrontation with Dewey, their talk, the threats, Heather shooting him? Her mixed motives?

14. Asset, Jason, the car chase, the mayhem and so much destruction?

15. The buildup to the final fight, the confrontation between Asset and Jason?

16. The aftermath, meeting Heather, inviting him to come in – and the irony of his giving her the tape with her comments about bringing him in ore his destruction?

17. For further drama and sequels…?

SUDDENLY

Canada, 2013, 91 minutes, Colour.
Ray Liotta, Erin Karpluk, Dominic Purcell, Cole Coker, Michael Pare, Gary Chalk, Brendan Fletcher, Haig Sutherland, Darrell Shuttleworth.
Directed by Ewe Boll.

Suddenly is a remake of the 1950 Ford drama, Suddenly, with Frank Sinatra as a killer instilling a as the sheriff who confronts him.

The film has been adapted for the 21st century though some of the issues remain the same – but this time there are memories of the war in Iraq, veterans feeling neglected, disappointment in American not being a great nation… And so a plan to kill the president (who is a Barack Obama lookalike).

Ray Liotta plays a war veteran, feeling guilty over the death of his best friend in friendly fire, still angry, drinking, caring for the widow and her children. He is a deputy in the town of Suddenly.

Dominic Purcell plays the killer, a taciturn man, ruthless, get some compassion for the widow, looking at the flag and the metals of her husband.

While the film does stretch credibility, the events in the United States, especially with guns, give it something of a plausibility. This was highlighted in the campaign of Republican Presidential nominee, Donald Trump and many of his speeches.

1. Interesting drama? A remake of a 1954? Update? Similarity issues, American ethos, the American presidency? The 21st century?

2. The town of Suddenly, isolated, winter, the snow, the Lodge? Streets and shops, the bar, barbershop, police offices, the countryside, the family home? The musical score?

3. The title, the tone, the name of the town, the sudden attempt on the president?

4. The introduction to Todd, his drinking, gambling, angry, fighting, the background of being a soldier, the clashes at cards? The audience suddenly finding he was a police Deputy?

5. The introduction to Pidge, throwing the cracker the car, causing mischief, his dead father in the war, with his mother, defying her, his bond with his grandfather? Truant from school? His stories, a variation on the boy who cried wolf? Overhearing the information about the president? In the house, with his mother?

6. Ellen, strong, the death of her husband, keeping his decoration and flag, the photos? Her reliance on Todd? Her reliance on her father? The old man, with the electricity, the house losing power and the consequences?

7. Todd, in himself, relationship with the police chief, his threats, Todd in denial? The information about the president, getting the town in order? Going to the barber, the confrontation, putting him in jail, possibility of charges? His sending the young deputy to the house for Ellen? Ellen and the message within the message? his going, searching the house, the grounds, his being caught?

8. The assassination of the president? The group of Secret Service men, in the town, the rogue group and the murder? Going to the house, the lookout, the plan? The ideology of Barron, America great again, the experience of Iraq? The anonymous company – but Barron revealed as a loner? The others chosen to work with him? The taking of the hostages in the house? Conklin and his doubts and his being shot? The killer pursuing Pidge, returning to the house, his being electrocuted?

9. Barron, leader, motives, his looking at Ellen’s photos, the flag, the patriotism? Talking with Todd? Todd and his decision with Ellen to play Baron? In fact, Barron playing Todd and Ellen, especially about the story of her husband’s death and Todd’s responsibility, the episode and his wild shooting?

10. The situation with the hostages, in the basement, trying to saw the bar? The old man of his collapse, Conklin unable to revive him? His death?

11. The phone call to Jud, the electrician, inviting him to come? His reaction to Pidge’s stories? Pidge on the road, Jud taking him home, shrewd assessment of the situation, the electricity and causing the death of the agent?

12. Freeing Todd, confrontation, gun? Pidge shooting Barron?

13. The president, the Obama lookalike, the mayor, the reception, Barron and the shot, wounding the president?

14. The final reports, saving the day – and the possibilities for Todd, Ellen and Pidge?

CONTROL

US, 2004, 104 minutes, Colour.
Ray Liotta, Willem Dafoe, Michelle Rodriguez, Stephen Rea, Polly Walker, Kathleen Robertson.
Directed by Tim Hunter.

A popular fiction theme is the scientist using various means, physical or psychological, to try to improve the moral standing and conscience of a criminal.

In this version, Ray Liotta plays a man and we see executed at the opening of the film, seemingly little remorse, scenes of his life passing before his eyes. Then, to our surprise, he is revived under the supervision of a doctor played by Willem Dafoe who is conducting experiments with a drug being produced by a company headed by Stephen Rea.

At first, the criminal continues his violent reactions but, with doses over time, he becomes much calmer and is allowed out by himself, in an apartment, getting a job, with the help of Michelle Rodriguez, and is going to visit a man who has been mentally affected by his being shot by the criminal.

There are sub-plots with gangsters pursuing him as well as the brother of the disabled man.

The film builds up to a melodrama, especially concerning the criminal who has been dependent on placebos rather than the drugs and who has improved morally through the psychological help and support of the doctor

The ending is dramatic – and not a happy ending.

1. A crime thriller? Psychological thriller?

2. The title? Medical experiments, tests, drugs, placebos? Psychological influence on the tests?

3. The American cities, prison, crime world, drugs and medication, ordinary workplaces? The musical score?

4. The opening with the execution, Lee Ray and his being laid out, defiant, the hostile witness watching, getting some satisfaction? The insertion of the drugs? Lee Ray and his memories, going back to his childhood, the collage, his life before his eyes, his death?

5. The shock of the recovery, the doctors and their explanation, his violent reaction? Michael, the case, the drugs, the plan? His experiences? The head of the corporation? Issues of drugs, manufacture, promotion, control?

6. Lee Ray, his reaction, the innate violence? Explanations from his past, childhood, the brutality of treatment, the robberies, the guns, his wounding the young man? The trial? His
violence towards Michael?

7. Michael, in himself, doctor, his plan, with Lee Ray? The explanations? Persevering, the interactions, the doses? Michael’s private life, his ex-wife and their meeting discussions? His affair? His assistant? The story of the killing of his son? Going to the conventions, the promotions, his being praised?

8. Lee Ray becoming Joe, being tested, the effect of the drugs, the attempted escape, wounding Michael, the threats?

9. His being ready to go out, his new identity, searching for accommodation, the cash, the surveillance cameras and search? His being able to plead for drugs and doses?

10. No job, meeting Teresa, the offer of the job, the interview with the boss, his skills, at work?

11. His eluding his pursuers, the chase, the train ride, visiting the young man, offering to be his friend? The brother tracking him down, checking him out with the boss? Coming to the house, the confrontation? The young man saying Lee Ray was his friend?

12. The gun, the shooting, the pursuit, escape, blame? The head of the company and his decisions?

13. The warden, information to the Mafia, the pursuit of the government, the shootouts?

14. Lee Ray and Michael in the car, going to the river, his saving Michael?

15. Lee Ray being shot, overhearing the explanation from the company head about the placebo, Michael surprise? The fact of the change in Lee Ray as psychological change and
support? His memories going before him again as he died?

MAGGIE’S PLAN

US, 2015, 97 minutes, Colour.
Greta Gerwig, Ethan Hawke, Julianne Moore, Maya Rudolph, Bill Hader, Travis Fimmell.
Directed by Rebecca Miller.

Rebecca Miller (daughter of playwright Arthur Miller) has made only a few films over almost 20 years, including Personal Velocity, Jack and Rose, The Private Life Pippa Lee, a film every five years or so. Her films are particular explorations of female characters.

This is the case here with Maggie, a 30 something academic, strong-minded and strong-willed, though down on herself that she cannot stay in a relationship more than six months. She is also anxious to have a child and has picked out a past friend, Guy (Travis Fimmel), who loves mathematics but has developed a company making pickles!

By chance, checking on an overpayment at the University, she encounters John (Ethan Hawke) and later a chance meeting in the park. He is an expert ethnographer, is trying to write a novel, and asks Maggie to read chapters which she eagerly does.

John is married to another ethnographer, the Danish Georgette (Julianne Moore) and they have two children. The next plot development is not hard to work out, John leaving his wife and children, marrying Maggie and their having a baby.

That was the first part of Maggie’s plan but it did not go according to plan. Over, over the three years of their friendship and marriage, Maggie comes to realise that John is still dependent in many ways on Georgette, for her professional opinion, phoning her regularly and, of course, the shared upbringing of their children which Maggie also makes a positive contribution to.

This leads to a second stage of Maggie’s plan, coming to her mind after attending a reading by Georgette, liking her and suggesting to her, Georgette fairly willing, that Georgette and John get back together again. They control circumstances to get John to give a paper at a conference in Québec which Georgette is also attending.

Maggie has two friends from long since, Tony and Felicia, who are her confidantes and who give her advice – but, Tony unwittingly reveals Maggie’s plan which precipitates a crisis and the need for a resolution, for the relationship between Georgette and John and for Maggie herself to appreciate that she is a controller but that she does have a young child.

There is a moment at the very end of the which raises a question which does seem rather contrived.

In many films, Greta Gerwig has been a very idiosyncratic presence (Frances Ha, Lola Rerun, Mistress America). Here, she incorporates the eccentricities into a much more rounded and pleasing performance. Ethan Hawke is also very good, responding to a dramatic challenge as the often ineffectual John. It is strange to hear Julianne Moore speaking with and Danish inflected English accent.

Not a particularly profound experience, somewhat familiar, but effectively written and directed.

1. The title? Expectations? Romance and relationships? Difficulties? Something more?

2. The American city, life, homes, work, restaurants? Academia? The musical score?

3. The strong cast?

4. The introduction Maggie, the age, experience, relationships, the encounter with John, getting her payment, his conversation, meeting in the park, reading the chapters? The history
of the relationship, two self-images? The story of Georgette? Maggie’s plan, the sperm donation, the donor and relationship with him? A pregnancy, the birth of a daughter? Life, friends?

5. John, his age, in himself, his expertise, ethnography, his writings? His marriage, the tensions? His children? His writing the novel? His relationship with his wife, children, and routine scenes? The attraction to Maggie, the chapters, his writing, the affair, marriage?

6. Maggie and her friends, discussions about pregnancy, the donor, mathematics, the discussions, sperm, the occasions for the sperm? His profession, making pickles? Not being the father?

7. Married life, the effect on Maggie, having the child? The details? The tensions, John, writing, not finishing the novel? A sensitivity to his responses? His continually being on the phone with his ex-wife?

8. Georgette, in itself, European background, expert in ethnography, her work? Family, her being hurt, agreeing to the divorce?

9. Maggie, going to Georgette’s reading, meeting her, the bond, their liking each other?

10. The friends, in themselves, talk, long friendship, offering advice? Sounding boards?

11. The next phase of the plan, the conference, inviting John to go, Georgette colluding, being there?

12. Conference itself, John and his decision to go, discussions with Maggie, meeting the students, affirmation, talk, Georgette present? The discussions, spending the night together, the reactions?

13. The picture of the children, the care from their parents, Maggie and her concern, the daughter and her sophistication, the boy? Maggie continually helping?

14. John, the return from the conference, talk, indecisive?

15. Georgette, discussions with John, the novel, a realistic approach, getting the manuscript, reading it, burning it and returning the ashes to John?

16. There finishing together, love, dependents and support?

17. Maggie and her new life?

PENTHOUSE

US, 1933, 95 minutes, Black and white.
Warner Baxter, Myrna Loy, Charles Butterworth, Mae Clark, Phillips Holmes, Martha Sleeper, Nat Pendleton.
Directed by W. S. Van Dyke.

Penthouse is an interesting drama from MGM in 1933, one of the very many films directed by W. S. Van Dyke. It is a star vehicle for Warner Baxter who had received the second Oscar for Best Actor for In Old Arizona. He plays a lawyer who has won a case, getting a prominent gangster off the charges – the gangster being played by a genial Nat Pendleton, a more knowledgeable character than many he was to play.

There is a society murder, a young man arrested, with the lawyer deciding to defend him even though his own girlfriend had broken with him (wanting him to give up defending criminals) and taken up with the young man.

Investigating, he encounters a glamorous young woman played by Myrna Loy who was beginning to make her mark at MGM and would be teamed with William Powell many times including the Thin Man series. There is some amusing support from Charles Butterworth as butler.

1. A popular film of the 1930s? MGM production values? The city, newspapers, lawyers, clubs? The musical score?

2. The title, indication of wealth? Situation for the murder?

3. The opening with the journalist, writing the story, changing the headlines, the gangster going free? His personality, genial, offering the bodyguards to Jack? His club?

4. Jack, successful lawyer, getting the gangster off, his company and their dismissing him, his relationship with his girlfriend, her wanting to get in to give up working for criminals? The impossibility, his finding this exhilarating? His reaction to the bodyguards? Going to the party, the encounter with the girlfriend, her breaking off with him?

5. The girlfriend, taking up with Tommy, Tommy and his going to see Minnie, her character, free and easy, going to the party, the encounters, her death?

6. Minnie, the wealthy man, sinister, wanting a relationship with her? Her death?

7. Tommy and the arrest, Jack visiting him in prison, the gun, the evidence of the gun seller, his lies, Jack taking on the case, the company objecting?

8. Going to see the gangster, the girlfriends? The meeting with Gertie, attracted to her, their discussions, going to his apartment, are expecting a cross examination? The continued attraction?

9. The investigations, the confrontation, the interviews? The role of the gangster?

10. The light touch with the butler?

11. The solving of the case? Tommy and the engagement? Jack and Gertie – and the happy ending?

NOWHERE TO RUN

US, 1993, 94 minutes, Colour.
Jean- Claude Van Damme, Rosanna Arquette, Kieran Culkin, Ted Levine, Edward Blatchford, Joss Ackland.
Directed by Robert Harmon.

Nowhere to Run is an action film of the 1990s, most of the ingredients rather familiar, a woman claiming her own home against the plans of a property entrepreneur, she being a widow with two children, the local sheriff attracted to her, a stranger entering life, defending against attack…

The film is interesting because of its cast, especially for those who like Jean Claude Van Damme, who had made an impact in the 1980s with his action films, “the muscles from Brussels”. At this time he was making a number of popular films with some breakthrough to the mainstream with films like this and Hard Target. Later he was to move into straight to DVD action shows. Rosanna Arquette is the mother, a young Kieran Culkin has a good role as his son, Ted Levine is leering villain and Joss Ackland is the entrepreneur.

The film was directed by Robert Harmon who was to go on to write and direct the Tom Selleck series for television, Jesse Stone
.
1. An action film of the 1990s? Familiar ingredients?

2. Jean- Claude Van Damme action film? Fight sequences? Van Damme and his creating a character? Québec background?

3. The open countryside, the bus and the car, the crash, the escape? Sam in the bus, the transfer, the other prisoners, the guards, his being loosed? With Billy? Driving away, Billy being shot? Sam having been in prison because of Billy?

4. Sam, camping out, the house, the salt shaker? Mookie aware of his presence?

5. Clytie, Mookie and Tiffany, the dead father? The children and their needs? Mookie and his telling stories? Going to visit Sam in the tent, Sam returning the salt shaker? The two children with Sam, his washing in the lake?

6. The development background for the valley, Hale, his company, his henchmen? Unscrupulous? His speech to the town gathering, the opposition – leading to the fire, Sam quenching the fire with the tank water, rescuing the farmer? Hale and the locals? Threats, killing cattle? The arrival of Mr Dunston, with Hale, interviewing Lonnie and his taking the money, the two of clubs? Dunston and his encounter with Sam in the store? The confrontation, sense of menace?

7. Lonnie, local, in the pay of Hale? His relationship with Clytie? Jealousy of Sam? Beating him, cuffing in? Later letting him go?

8. Clytie, seeing Sam fighting with the men attacking, wondering who he was, attracted to him, seeing the children good with him? The night together? The aftermath?

9. Hale and Dunston and the documents for Clytie? Pressurising her to sign?

10. The men on the earth-movers, the gasoline, Sam and his beating them?

11. Dunston, discussions with Sam about his bike, the police, bike leaving, the pursuit, shootings, the destruction of the cars? Sam’s return?

12. The confrontation with Dunston, the attempted shooting? Hale losing his control? His arrest?

13. Sam allowing Lonnie to arrest him, going to prison, accepting responsibility – with the memories of Clytie and the family?

THE MERRY WIDOW

US, 1925, 137 minutes, Black and white.
Mae Murray, John Gilbert, Roy D' Arcy, Tully Marshall.
Directed by Eric von Stroheim.

The Merry Widow has been very popular from the beginning of the 20th century.This version is based on the play by Viktor Leon and Leon Stein, and adapted by the director, Eric von Stroheim. Von Stroheim was famous for lavish productions, big budgets, with such films as Greed, Foolish Wives, Blind Husbands, Wedding March. He was also an actor, most significantly as the butler with Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard.

Though the film is silent, one of the advantages of this print is that the music for the operetta, The Merry Widow, by Franz Lehar, is incorporated into the accompaniment.

In 1934, the story was adapted for Jeanette Mac Donald and Maurice Chevalier and 25 years later as a lavish colour production for Lana Turner and Fernando Lamas.

The basic plot concerns an eastern European country with a monarchy – and a date on a program indicates 1923 so that the story is contemporary. In the aftermath of World War I, while the king and queen reign, the kingdom is dependent on a baron and his finances. The Crown Prince is something of a fascist in his behaviour but also a leering womaniser. He is played with some exaggeration by Roy D’ Arcy. However, his cousin, Count Danilo, is played by John Gilbert, very popular at the time in silent films but, unfortunately, unable to make the transition to sound films because of his voice.

He is dashing – but, at the beginning of the 21st century, he also seems a leering and aggressive womaniser who would be charged with sexual harassment. but, it seems that these are the accepted customs of the time.

The subject of attraction is an American showgirl, Sally, played with verve by Mae Murray, including some dance routines and quite a variety of costumes. Travelling in Europe with her troupe, she is approached by the Crown Prince and The Count, resisting both but falling in love with the Count. In getting ready to marry him, she finds she is left at the altar, in the wedding dress, because the Crown Prince has poisoned the mind of the Count.

The financial baron, with walking sticks, is also something of a leering personality but courts Sally and she marries him – only for him to die on the wedding night. With his fortune, she becomes “the Merry Widow” and goes on to tour with performances at Maxime’s in Paris.

Eventually the Count arrives in Paris, Sally is antagonistic towards him, he defends her and is called to a duel by the Crown Prince, not firing his gun and allowing himself to be shot – but, he survives, with Sally relenting for a happy ending.