DEATH OF A NATION: THE TIMOR CONSPIRACY

Australia, 1994, 75 minutes, Black-and-white/Colour.
John Pilger.
Directed by David Munro.

A topical documentary film on national violence and the suffering of ordinary people in East Timor. Sadly moving.

John Pilger has a reputation for being incisive and hard-hitting in in his explorations of social injustice around the world. He has made a range of films from an exposé of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia to the history of Australian aborigines. Here his questioning of political interviewees is politely quiet, but definitely incisive.

In a short running time, we are offered a screen debate about the invasion/annexation of East Timor by Indonesia. It is enhanced by the visuals of the land itself, people talking about their tragic suffering, images of the Dili massacre. We are also treated to euphemistic political talk by Australian, British, Indonesian figures and by Henry Kissinger. There is also some callous talk by number of politicians including a former British Minister of Defence.

Obviously the film is partisan, but it is almost 18 years since the invasion and more and more information has become available to assess the truth of claims. One of the benefits from the often-intrusive media is that they capture pictures, make them available quickly and serve as pressuring politicians to be more forthcoming and, perhaps, honest.

East Timor achieved independence in 1999.

THE PANAMA DECEPTION

US, 1992, 91 minutes, Colour.
Narrator: Elizabeth Montgomery.
Directed by Barbara Trent.

Oscar-winner for Best Documentary from 1992, well worth seeing.

Barbara Trent and associates have collected archive material and have conducted extensive interviews to give a political background to the invasion of Panama in December 1989. It is a disillusioning picture of American manipulation, the machinations of the CIA (and the involvement of President George Bush) and the brutality experienced by the population of Panama.

We are shown the history of Panama and American involvement with the canal, subsequent local unrest, the changes of government in the 1970s and 1980s and the role of General Noriega.

As a result of the invasion, US forces are to remain in the country after 1999 – a treaty signed by Jimmy Carter in the 1970s negotiated their withdrawal. Was the invasion staged to maintain this sphere of influence and was Noriega set up as one of the succession of demonised figures for American fear?

The film was made within only two years of the events, but it is a striking critique and, agree or disagree with its interpretation, is worth seeing as a powerful documentary.

CRUMB

US, 1994, 190 minutes, Colour.
Robert Crumb.
Directed by Terry Zwigoff.

This is a portrait, which becomes less and less flattering as it goes on, artist-cartoonist, Robert Crumb, (“Keep on trucking”, Fritz the Cat), made by a close friend and associate, Terry Zwigoff (Ghost World, Bad Ctre). It was nominated for many awards, and won them for best documentary, including the National Board of Review and at Sundance, 1995.

It is a documentary that is more intriguing and fascinating than a feature film.

Crumb is a figure of the 1960s and 1970s, embracing the freedoms and contributing to them (though with frequently misogynistic art and behaviour). His former wife and other women friends appear, often quite critically, while Robert Hughes sees him as a significant 20th-century artist.
But, throughout the film, we also see Crumb with his mother, who is living with his mentally ill brother (who is, perhaps, the most memorable character), and another disturbed brother. His sisters declined to be interviewed.

Not always a pleasant experience but one which way raises all kinds of themes and issues of American society, a potent documentary.

BLUES BROTHERS 2000

US, 1998, 123 minutes, Colour
Dan Aykroyd, John Goodman, Joe Morton, J. Evan Bonifant, B.B.King, Kathleen Freeman, Frank Oz, Nia Peoples, Aretha Franklin, James Brown, the Ridgeway Sisters, Wilson Pickett, Steve Lawrence, Eric Clapton, Bo Diddley, Isaac Hayes, Dr John, Steve Winwood.
Directed by John Landis.

In 1980, the Blues Brothers was an enormous box of success, especially with the screen presence of John Belushi and Dan Ackroyd and their shenanigans, but, especially, the musical score and the range of jazz and other genres of music performed. A sequel would have been more quickly forthcoming except that John Belushi died of a drug overdose.

18 years later, director John Landis from the original and Dan Aykroyd came up with the story and it is quite an exuberant sequel which was also popular, but didn’t have the classic status of the original

In fact, the narrative is very slight. Elwood Blues, Aykroyd, has been seen a prison sentence for larceny and gets out, Frank Oz as the prison warden who has the task of letting Elwood know that his brother Jake has died. Elwood is picked up from prison by an exotic cancer and taken to a club – plenty of pole dancing and singing for those that way inclined – and Elwood having the ambition to re-assemble the band. The proprietor of the club is unwilling but has to pay protection money to Eastern European thugs with their standover tactics. There is a car chase, quite elaborate, Elwood fights and humiliates the thugs who are then bent on getting revenge.

There are some amusing sequences with Elwood trying to meet the various band members from the past, having discussions, getting involved – and the special confrontation with Aretha Franklin who does not want her husband to rejoin the band.

Sister Marie Stigmata, Kathleen Freeman, now the mother Superior, is not above getting the switch out and slapping Elwood on the shoulders, disciplining him, but also getting him to look after a wayward orphan, Buster, a sprightly performance by J. Evan Bonifant, singer and dancer, keeping pace with Elwood and Mac, played exuberantly, with a touch of the slow by John Goodman.

There are two thrusts in the plot, the group learning that there is to be a music performance competition New Orleans and going on the road to get the prize; and discovering that the thugs are after them. This leads to some action sequences with the band always getting the better of the thugs, even the boss joining his thugs to get his revenge.

The concert is presided over by a rather exotic Voodoo queen who is charmed by the band, listens to the audition, and allows them to join the competition. The competition is full of jazz and musical characters and they finish all jamming together.

Dan Aykroyd is at home in his role, John Goodman entering into the spirit of things, and the boy entering into the songs and dances, the black suit and dark glasses routines. Quite a number of music celebrities have dramatic or singing roles,B.B. King selling used cars, James Brown as a singer – who has a featured song after the final credits.

In fact, the film is really a framework for a record album. And every so often ensemble songs offer quite a variety of music, musicians, singers – while the film is not a classic, its soundtrack is.

AN

Japan, 2015, 113 minutes, Colour.
Kirin Kiki, Masatoshi Nagase, Kyara, Uchida.
Directed by Naomi Kawase.

A Japanese story in the tradition of such film directors as Ozu and his portraits of ordinary people in their ordinary lives. it was through three seasons, Spring with the cherry blossoms, Summer with the greenery, Autumn leaves falling.

The setting is a shop which makes pancakes, buying in ingredients, An and beans, in bulk, and making pancakes continually, the proprietor, Sentaro, being something of a perfectionist and discarding his failures, picked up by young school girl who is in need.

One day, a well-dressed and fine-mannered old lady,Tokue, comes to visit the shop, hesitant at first, observing, and then asking for a job, pleading, bargaining about wages, and finally bringing a container with her own bean paste which the proprietor puts aside, then decides to taste it – and finds that it is wonderful. He welcomes the old lady and they begin to make the bean paste, she bringing a recipe very different from his own, and they patiently spend time, slowly, boiling the beans, straining the water, cleansing them, and making the paste.

When some of the customers, especially a group of schoolgirls who are constant patrons of the shop, taste the new pancakes and the bean paste, word gets around and there are more customers than they can deal with, even the schoolgirl joining in the work.

This part of the film has a great deal of joy. but, sadness is to come, especially when customers discover that Tokue has been a victim of leprosy. The proprietor is sad, the schoolgirl blames herself for telling her mother about the leprosy.

But the sadness is quite gentle, the proprietor and the schoolgirl going to visit the old lady in her residence, finding her resigned, looked after by a friend. It is only now that the past story of the proprietor and his hard times is heard – especially when the owner of the shop turns up, and he is indebted to her, and she wants to employ a friend and to renovate.

There is also the sadness and death – but the film is one of fulfilling one’s life, no matter what the obstacles, always living in hope and dying in peace.

A pleasing film of delicate sensitivity.

1. A pleasing film? Style? Or people, the humane presentation, joy and sadness?

2. The work of the director, her status in Japanese cinema?

3. The city, the streets, the shop, home? An authentic feel? Musical score?

4. Visuals of the seasons, spring and the cherry blossom (and the blossoms falling, sense of death)? Summer, greenery? Autumn and the falling leaves?

5. The title, food film, making the pancakes, buying in bulk, bean paste and making it?

6. The focus on Sentaro, his age, his work, the details of making the pancakes, meticulous? The schoolgirls, the customers, the schoolgirls sitting, enjoying the pancakes? His diligence? Wakama and her visits?

7. Tokue, dress, manner, aged 76, observing, asking for a job, his refusal, talking, leaving bean paste and his tasting it? His buying in bulk, the decision to make the bean paste, buying the beans, the recipe, the boiling, the straining, washing, slow progress, tasting, the success?

8. The crowds, the appreciation? The news that Tokue was a leper? Her reputation, stopping working, her taking time off?

9. Wakama, work, school, her mother against schooling, needing money? Her running away, telling her mother about Tokue and the leprosy? Blaming herself for the rumour? Telling Sentaro?

10. The owner of the shop, with the young man in tow, wanting to work there, the decision to renovate?

11. The leper story, fingers and noses, the results, people’s fears – and the changing laws in 1996?

12. Tokue, in the home, Sentaro and Wakama visiting, the old friend, Tokue looking older, her teeth being fixed? Sharing tea? The friend and the hospitality?

13. Sentaro, the fight in the bar, going to jail, his debt to the owner, and the job?

14. Tokue, the message, her death? The sadness? Yet the spirit of joy? The future of the pancake shop?

APAN/THE APE

Sweden, 2009, 81 minutes, Colour.
Olle Sarri.
Directed by Jesper Ganslandt.

The Ape is a brief Swedish film, that draws its audience in (although those not on the wavelength may be bored and mystified).

The focus is on a man who awakes in his home, sees a bloodstained body, washes his arms and hands, seems mystified – and then goes out and passes what seems to be an entirely normal day. He goes to work, conducts a driving lesson though he loses his temper, shops, sees his mother, plays tennis, has a shower, sees friends, finally going home and having to take his wounded son to the hospital.

This is a picture of mental disintegration, a dichotomy between actions and normal life – with police glimpsed at the end when the wounded son whispers to his father that he has dreamed that everyone else is an animal except his father who is just himself. Irony of the violent man being apelike.

1. The dramatic impact of the film? Audiences introduced to a mysterious man? Following his day, unusual behaviour, the gradual revelation about him?

2. Swedish film, city locations, the house, the streets, shops, workplace, driving lesson, tennis game, showers, hospital, police? The musical score?

3. The title, the young son and his dreams about everyone being an animal except his father who is himself? Yet his fathers animal instincts and behaviour?

4. The opening, the man alone, the dead body and the blood? His looking, bewildered? Going out? The body? Listening only through headphones? Going to work, the driving lesson, his chat with the learner, his anger at her mistake, apology, getting out? His mother and the art? At the shop and the toy? Playing tennis, the shower, wanting the shampoo, the reaction of the man giving it? Conversations in passing on the street? The friend whom he hadn’t seen for some time? Going home, discovering his son, the blood, taking him to the hospital, his concern, the reassurance that the boy was all right, reassuring his son, the conversation about everyone in the dream being animals?

5. The reality of what he had done, slow, looking, not remembering, washing of the blood, the mental block, the dysfunctional behaviour, normal behaviour after such an event, some gradual realisations?

HOW TO BE

UK, 2008, 85 minutes, Colour.
Robert Pattinson, Rebecca Pidgeon, Paul Jones, Jeremy Hardy, Michael Irving, Mike Pearce, Johnny White, Alisa Arnah.
Directed by Oliver Irving.

How to Be is a film by young people for young people.
It is a star vehicle for Robert Pattinson before he became a star, after his two Harry Potter films and before his worldwide success in the Twilight series. Despite portraying a young man with depression, he is a strong presence in this film, shabby in his dress and look, his style> He comes from a wealthy background, adopted by the wealthy business parents who have given him very little attention, let alone love.

This is Art’s story, sharing a flat with his friend, Ronnie, who tends to lecture him, and friends with Nicky who drifts in and out of his life in a rather carefree manner. His girlfriend breaks up with him.

After reading a book to say that the fault is not ours, he contacts the author, a Canadian self-help Guru and invites him to London – the Guru himself is an eccentric character, needing some therapy for himself and his memories of his family and growing up. What follows are a number of episodes where the Guru tries to help Art to get in touch with himself, what he likes, including a visit to a house where he grew up, and what he wants out of life.

Art is in the process of composing songs, playing them in clubs – and the final sign of some success is his composition about himself and his life which he plays to a more appreciative audience than usual, an audience which is listening.

1. The title, expectations? The existential questions, at suburban level, for young adults with depression, self-help books?

2. Robert Pattinson as the lead, after Harry Potter, before Twilight?

3. The London setting, homes, flats, supermarkets, clubs and gigs…? The musical score, the range of songs?

4. Robert Pattinson as Art? His age, appearance, inherent clothes? Depression? Adopted? His comments about his parents, bringing him up, their distance from him, their being busy, not showing interest in him? His reliance on his friends, Ronnie and his lecturing, Nicky and his offhand attitudes, comments, music? His reliance on them, their discussions?

5. The characters of Ronnie and Nicky? Ronnie, the flat, Art staying with him, nitrous inhalations? Drinking? Nicky and his turning up, manner, comments? Their support?

6. Art, Jessica, wanting to have a discussion with her, her breaking up with him, her not understanding him, his pursuit of her, her rejection?

7. Art, his music, composing songs, playing them, works in progress, the few listeners, the encouragement of his friends, his continuing writing, the autobiographical song at the end – and his appreciation of people listening?

8. His parents, his father continually going out and not able to talk? His mother, her style, her career, cold in her manner, discussions with Art, not able to comprehend what he was saying, her being insulted by him? Any future relationship with them? The reaction to the visiting Guru, in the house, the discussions, Art coming into the bed and the personal space, their not comprehending, wanting to get rid of the Guru?

9. Art, reading the book, the title and the fault in not being ours…? His contacting the Guru, Canada, the letter, not being picked up, but staying in the house? The personality of the Guru? His story, flashbacks, treatment by his parents, the reason for his writing the book, his career? Arrival, settling into the house, becoming part of the family, the discussions with Art, getting him to break through, taking Art to the house where he grew up, the mother and the son, Art in the bedroom and on the bed? In bed with his parents? The Guru observing? his meeting Ronnie and Nicky? The overall effect on Art?

10. Art, really trying to understand his life, its meaning, to find something he was happy with, coming out of his depression? The final song and his being appreciated?

DIRTY GRANDPA

US, 2015, 105, Colour.
Robert De Niro, Zac Efron, Zoe Deutch, Aubrey Plaza, Dermot Mulroney, Julianne Hough.
Directed by Dan Mazer.

Dirty Grandpa more than lives up to its title.

The star is Robert De Niro, surprising his audiences with his extraordinarily crude character and his performance with coarse language and behaviour, played for some laughs and some meaning (rather, demeaning), with De Niro’s intensity, but really an exercise in crass characterisation. When his obituary will be written, this may not be a film which gets inclusion.

As the film opens, his wife of 40 years to the was devoted has just died. The family gathers for the funeral, including uptight son, lawyer, Dermot Mulroney, and his grandson, whom he loved as a child (and the credits are full of scenes of grandfather and grandson doing all kinds of activities together), now also an uptight lawyer in his father’s firm. There are also a range of cousins, one of whom has quite dirty motormouth for all and sundry, including the priest who conducted the funeral.

We discover, as does his grandson, that Grandpa was a Green Beret, in Special Ops behind enemy lines in Vietnam and Iraq, something which his son doesn’t know – and who despises him thinking he was a mere mechanic. He asks his grandson to drive him to a golf game in Florida (from Georgia). The grandson, Jason, Zac Efron, is engaged to a controlling fiance, marriage coming up in the following week. She keeps tight tabs and does not want him going.

As might be guessed, especially after a gross sequence with grandpa discovered masturbating, this is going to be quite a road trip. They encounter two girls and their gay friend on the way and meet up with them at Daytona Beach – the scene for many of the Hollywood Spring Break movies, those raucous stories of sex and drugs and idiotic behaviour. While this is not necessarily a spring break for grandpa, rather an Autumn Break at his time of life, it is full of ogling sequences, drugs of all kinds, especially from a rather zany dealer who is in cahoots with the local cops, Tan Pam (Jason Mantzoukas), with grandpa and grandson getting into all kinds of trouble, especially because of the drugs, muscle-bound competitions, clash with a violent black and Hispanic gang, with grandson finishing up in prison. And, of course, everything being photographed on phone cameras – to be reproduced at the pre-nuptial dinner.

We know, of course, that this is the purpose of the trip, that grandpa doesn’t want his grandson to marry the uptight fiancee. And he wants to loosen up the uptight grandson, and proving to be a role model of a dirty old man.

Zac Efron is not exactly persuasive in his lawyer sequence but enters into the spirit of the trip, being very hesitant and tight, gradually mellowing, especially when one of the girls they meet was his partner in photography tutorial at College, reminding him that he intended to travel the world and be a photographer for the Time Magazine instead of being a lawyer. For some reason, Zac Efron discards his clothes, scampers around nude, is mistaken for a paedophile, and is generally made fun of.

And then the truth comes out, the girl is disappointed as she was falling in love with him, grandpa and grandson go back, there are the preparations for the wedding, the fiancee being even more controlling and demanding than usual – and then the exposure. Grandpa is not unhappy, mission accomplished, and meeting up with the sometimes lewd and promiscuous young woman that he was pursuing, she more than willing, during the trip.

And, just when you think it is ended, there is a baptism sequence, which is not quite what we thought it was going to be.

There used to be a phrase, Low Moral Turn Tone, to describe this type of film – but, as with so many American comedies, after the crass, raucous and crude, comes the moralising.

THAT CERTAIN WOMAN

US, 1937, 93 minutes, Black and white.
Bette Davis, Henry Fonda, Anita Louise, Ian Hunter, Donald Crisp, Hugh O' Connell, Katherine Alexander, Mary Phillips, Minor Watson, Sydney Toler Charles Trowbridge.
Directed by Edmund Goulding.

That Certain Woman is still quite a moving film and Bette Davis vehicle of 1937, after she had won an Oscar for Dangerous and before her second Oscar, the next year, with Henry Fonda for Jezebel.

This is a Bette Davis performance that is worth looking at again, much less strident than many of her roles, less dominating, though strong, and her doing a lot of her performance through her body language and especially communicating through her facial expressions.

She is the widow of one of the victims of the St Valentine’s Day massacre, is working for a respectable married lawyer, Ian Hunter, and living down her past and her connections. The newspaper wants to write about her. She is in love with the wealthy, rather weak character, young man, Fonda, who is dominated by his arrogant father, Donald Crisp. When they marry in secret, the father steps in to annul the marriage and sends his son to Paris where he marries his childhood sweetheart, Anita Louise.

Move on four years, Bette has a young boy, has great regard for her boss, who wants to divorce his wife but is in failing health. Fonda and his wife are involved in a car accident where she is incapacitated and in a wheelchair. Then there is one of those meetings (think of Barbara Stanwyck in Stella Dallas) between Bette and the wife, each willing to be self-sacrificing for the other. Bette makes the supreme sacrifice – but, of all things, she has been left money by her boss and so can go off to Monte Carlo, learning there that the wife has died and that there will be happiness ever after.

The film was written and directed by Edmund Golding who worked with Bette Davis The Old Maid.

1. A Warner Brothers drama of the 1930s? Strong cast, black and white photography, musical score?

2. Bette Davis film, this film in the development of her career, between Oscars? Capitalising on her skills? Her communication in body language, facial language? The character, widow, the St Valentine’s Day massacre, her wanting to disappear, the widow becoming a respectable secretary, the support of Lloyd? Her relationship with Jack? Her hopes? Lloyd and his being nice to her, knowing her background, falling in love with her?

3. Virgil Whitaker, the newspapers, her past?

4. Jack, a Henry Fonda character, wealthy, the touch of weakness, love for Mary, under his father’s thumb? Mary urging him to grow stronger? The proposal, the marriage? The reaction of his father, arriving with the doctor, the police? The confrontation, humiliating Mary, the blunt discussion, wanting to pay her off? Jack and his defence?

5. Mary waiting, Jack not coming? Continuing her work? The continued support from Amy? The news from Paris, Jack marrying Flip? Mary and her pregnancy? The four years passing, her managing, support from Lloyd, love? His relationship with his wife, wanting a divorce? His illness, his loss of reputation, dying? His wife coming to visit Mary, their talk and communication?

6. Jack and Flip, the story of the accident, her being incapacitated? Their love? Flip loving him in the past? Coming home, Mary meeting Jack, the news of their son, seeing his son, his delight? Telling his father? Jack’s father, the meeting with Mary, his severity, wanting custody of the child, condemning Mary as a mother?

7. Flip, her visit to Mary, the discussions about the nature of love, self-sacrifice? Flip willing that Jack should be with Mary? Mary, thinking about the baby, discussions with Amy, wanting the baby to be happy, and Jack and Flip together?

8. Mary, self-sacrifice, the life of Monte Carlo, inheriting the money from Lloyd?

9. News of Flip’s death, Jack seeking her out, their being together – and an emotional happy ending?

ALMOST FAMOUS


US, 2001 122 minutes, Colour.
Billy Cruddup, Frances Mc Dormand, Kate Hudson, Jason Lee, Patrick Fugit, Zooey Deschanel, Michael Angarano, Anna Paquin, Fairuza Balk, Noah Taylor, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jimmy Fallon, Mark Pellington, Rainn Wilson, Peter Frampton.
Directed by Cameron Crowe.


When we feel like wringing our hands and lamenting how lacking in moral perspective the stances of today's society are - and many of us not infrequently feel like this - we take refuge in a comparison with the past, even in invoking 'the good old days'. But how good were they? Or were they not all that different from modern times?

Almost Famous offers an opportunity to make some comparisons. Most of it is set in 1973, the first year of President Nixon's second term, soon to end in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal. The 60s and the extraordinary, even revolutionary changes in society's psyche are barely over. The film focuses on the emergence of a rock group, its performances across the States, the groupies and the fans, the generation of the cult of the celebrity, especially by the media and the record industry. Celebrity is definitely here to stay and young music groups still proliferate. The worry of the 70s was the aura of sex and drugs associated with the groups. Where do we stand now?

This film will be of major interest to those in their forties, those who were in their high school days in the 70s and who not only remember the music and the groups but who value them because they were such an important part of their own times. What gives the film a forceful atmosphere and authenticity is that it is a fictionalised autobiography of the writer-director, Cameron Crowe (Jerry Maguire). It should be said that Crowe's memories tend to be generous and gentle, with a hope that people grow out of their rebellious stages and settle down to positive and creative life as he has. He doesn't shy away from the drugs issues, the promiscuity and even attempted suicides of disillusioned lovelorn fans. But, he wants to say that, yes, this is how it was and, yes, this is how it is. But positive values are still a goal.

Audiences might think that the autobiography is far-fetched: a fifteen year old who has been writing for a rock and roll magazine, Creem, is offered a job by the new Rolling Stone Magazine (they have no idea how young he is) to go on the road with and interview a new band, Stillwater. His college professor mother is aghast and perennially protective. But, William Miller (Crowe's fictional name) is a born observer, a music anorak, a wide-eyed innocent whose learning the ways of the world is accelerated but who responds to the unreal lifestyle with a wisdom and care beyond his years. Newcomer Patrick Fugit makes William completely credible.

Billy Crudup, one of Hollywood's better and more serious young actors, gives his character, the group's guitarist, a complex blend of double standards with ultimately trying to do the right thing. Jason Lee is good as the lead singer and, if you are wondering who Kate Hudson, (as Penny Lane), reminds you of, she is Goldie Hawn's daughter. Frances Mc Dormand is William's mother. A more positive interpretation of a raucous era.

1. A popular film of the 1990s, looking back at music in the 20th century, performance, tours, fans, reporters?

2. 1973, look, costumes, style? Ordinary people, the groups, the fans? On tour, concerts, staging, audiences, the technical aspects?

3. William’s story? Patrick Fugit in the role, as a little boy, relationship with his mother, his sister and her leaving, in class, small, the other students leaving him? His mother, at college, Professor, radical, her desire for him to be a lawyer? At home?

4. William, his aims, age, writing, going to see Lester Banks, their discussion, the commission? The concert for Black Sabbath, his not being allowed in, his attempts, meeting the Stillwater group, praising them?

5. Russell Hammond, Billy Crudup, as a person, musician, in the group? With William, the party? His meeting Penny Lane? Russell and his attraction, her attraction? At the party? Penny, escorting William, the drive?

6. The characterisations of the members of the group, Jeff, Dick, the band, the female groupies, their interactions, the music, sexuality, the parties?

7. The range of music, of the period, performance?

8. Rolling Stone, the editor, contact with William, the phone calls, the commission? William talking up Stillwater? On the road with them? The attempts to get an interview, Russell and his being wary? Penny and her sympathy? The tensions? With the other members of the band, their suspicions because of his being a journalist?

9. Denis, the management, control, the ousting of Penny, going to New York, Leslie and her relationship with Russell? The poker game, the groupies and their personalities? William and his comments about Penny, upset?

10. The tour, searching for Penny, her suicide attempt? Helping?

11. The drama of the flight, the plane, the storm, people revealing their secrets? The insults, William and his love for Penny? The different attitudes on landing?

12. William, his article, sending it to Rolling Stone, the facts? Russell and his denial, his motives, the effect on William?

13. William’s mother, her concern, the phone calls? Anita, the clash with her mother, and later as the flight stewardess, with William going home?

14. Miami, the tour, Sapphire telling Russell? Penny giving Russell William’s address? The confrontation, reconciliation, verifying of the story, the
publication, the interview with Russell, finally? Penny and her decision to go to Morocco?

15. Cameron Crowe’s autobiography, the details, the feel? The importance of the influence of Lester Banks? The editor of Rolling Stone? Writing, politics? Crowe’s decisions and his success, films?