OUR CHILDREN

The opening scenes of this movie pulls you up sharp. On the screen there is a distraught young woman lying in a hospital bed hooked up to an oxygen machine and desperately pleading to the visitor we cannot see. She simply keeps begging 'Bury them in Morocco.  Tell their father, bury them in Morocco.' And then it cuts away to an airport and we can just see four small coffins being loaded onto a plane.  It stuns you into total silence.

And immediately afterwards we see the same woman, obviously much younger, laughing and frolicking with her lover. This is the start of the story that we already know the ending off.  Murielle is having an affair with Mounir her handsome Moroccan boyfriend who is so besotted with her, that he pops the question soon after they meet. He shares the house ......on the coast of France ... with Andre a much older successful Doctor who is something of a father figure to him.

As much as Murielle tries, Andre seems completely disinterested in her, but he agrees that she should move in once the young couple are married.  His wedding gift to them is a honeymoon trip which they insist they will only accept if he accompanies them, to which he acquiesces somewhat easily.

For years Andre has been looking after Mounir and his family ..... he even married his sister so that she could get French Residency ...and so the young man is anxious to please his benefactor.  So too does Murielle at first, and she succeeds when she gives birth to her first baby which Andre adores.  She follows with a second one, and then a third which makes their living arrangements rather a tight fit. Murielle is not happy and neither are the men, by now also working together, who are also constantly snapping at each other.

A very unhappy Murielle finds herself pregnant for the fourth time and this dispels any misbelieving we may have had about the opening scene, as we now know who were in those coffins.  Watching this ex school-teacher and rational young woman come so unhinged is tough to witness, and even though you know where this is heading, you are still not prepared for the ghastly impact of the final scenes.

The whole cataclysmic story is beautifully executed and watching how this perverse relationship between the two men should be ultimately responsible for this unspeakable tragedy is chilling.  I'm shuddering at the thought of it  just reliving it all again by reading my notes now!

Directed and co-written by Belgian filmmaker Joachim Lafosse whose somewhat brief but controversial resume includes 'Private Lessons' in 2008 about paedophilia which I absolutely loathed. This one however as tough as it is to view, should be seen, as it is a remarkable piece of work.  The two men were played by Tahar Rahim and veteran Nils Arestrup who played a different 'father and son' dynamic in 'A Prophet' ..... they are equally as brilliant in both.  It is however the performance of Émilie Dequenne as Murielle that has you gasping for breath at times .... it quite rightly won her a Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival.

How anything so bitterly sad as this could be so watchable may be hard to comprehend, but trust me it's totally worth the risk.  And instead of just Kleenex besides you that I recommend for tough movies, I would suggest a large glass of whisky too. Neat.

In US theaters now.

★★★★★★★★★★

ENOUGH SAID

When Eva meets Albert at a cocktail party in L.A. they both bemoan the fact that there are no attractive single people there. They joke about it together and the moment passes, and when Eva gets home later she's more excited that she was introduced to Marianne a rather glamorous Poet who wants to become one of her massage clients. However word gets back to Eva that Albert asked for her number to fix up a date, a prospect that she is not too excited about as he is more than a little overweight.

The date  to her amazement is a big success as they quickly establish an easy rapport, and most importantly, make each other laugh.  There is however no sexual chemistry, well at least on Eva's part, but a second date follows and once she gets over her lack of immediate physical attraction to Albert, she realises that this very sensitive man is a great catch, and that she would be a fool not to give the budding romance a go.

Both are middle-aged and divorced with a teenage daughter a piece who are both about to leave home to go to College. Albert and Eva are both smart, quick-witted and funny, a little relationship weary but pleasantly surprised that they are so enjoying all the joys of courting at this stage of their lives.

Meanwhile chic Marianne (Catherine Keener) in her spotless elegant house has become not just a client but also asks to become Eva's friend. With all her patronizing airs and graces its easy to see why she has no other friends, and a lot of her conversation is devoted to dishing her ex husband of whom she still retains a great deal of anger about. Eva on the other hand shares about her new beau and their blossoming relationship and even though the women compare notes, neither of them are aware that Albert the boyfriend is also the ex-husband that Marianne bitterly hates.

When Eva discovers the fact she shares the news with her best friend Sarah (Toni Collette) but not with either Albert or Marianne.  As time passes some of the complaints that are levelled against Albert by his ex-wife start to niggle away at Eva who starts to question her judgement about the way that she perceives her boyfriend. It causes friction between the two lovers but not quite as much as when the inevitable thing happens and they all discover not only the existence of the triangle but the fact that Eva had kept it from them both for some weeks.

This rather wonderful bitter-sweet romantic comedy is such a joy on so many levels.  Primarily because its a mature love story about two such likeable and engaging characters.  The fact that the brilliantly funny Julia Louis-Dreyfus pitches Eva so perfectly that we tend to still want to root for here even though she has behaved badly by manipulating Albert and at the same time totally neglected her patient daughter.  And the inspired casting of James Gandolfini, who always plays mobsters, heavies or a military bigwig, to be this super-sweet easy-going gentle giant of a man who is the more romantic of the two by far. It's a wonderful role in this penultimate film of his to remember a great  acting talent who will be sorely missed.

And finally this movie has restored my faith in writer/director Nicole Holofcener who is back on the form that I so admired in 'Lovely and Amazing' in 2001 and has been absent from all her near misses since.

There is one glorious scene when after a particularly enjoyable date Eva claims that she is so tired of being funny all the time. I so disagreed.  Miss Louis-Dreyfus shines particularly bright when she is making both her beau and us laugh.  I couldnt get enough.

Currently in US cinemas

★★★★★★★★★

LA CAMIONETA : THE JOURNEY OF ONE AMERICAN SCHOOL BUS

About four times a year in rural Pennsylvania discarded school buses are auctioned off to bidders most of whom are from Central America.  They have been decommissioned after 8 - 12 years of ferrying kids to school, but are still in good road-worthy condition.  In this delightful documentary from Student Academy Award Nominated filmmaker Mark Kendall, we follow one such bus as it migrates south to its new home in Guatemala.

On the move for 16 hours a day the driver is relaxed as he drives through the US ('nothing bad will happen here if you behave yourself') but once he crosses the border to Mexico he recounts with genuine intrepidation the risks he must now face. Other drivers have been robbed, held up at gun point, and badly beaten up, and there is always the constant expectations of bribery demands from the Police and other authorities.  Once he crosses over the next border to Guatemala, the journey is relatively plain sailing.

In Quetzal City the dealer sells the bus on to a local man who has scraped together the deposit as he sees it as an opportunity to escape the poverty of his village where it is no longer feasible to raise his family any more. He commissions a designer to turn the yellow bus into a brightly colored exotic vehicle that will become a 'camioneta' which will transport poor working people between cities for a very small fare.

There's an enormous sense of pride from the new owner and his family and friends as he has the transformed bus blessed by a Priest before it starts its first run. However they are all  more than aware that the cost of his wanting a better life can possibly result in him losing it.   The gangsters that used to be satisfied with just 'shaking down' the myriad of new bus owners, have now become even greedier and murderous villains.  In 2010 over 130 drivers were killed, and one bus was actually bombed for allegedly refusing the Extortionists demands.

Despite these very real risks, Kendall's tale is surprisingly upbeat and focuses on this whole new generation of Guatemalans who are so determined to improve their lot with something that was very plain and ordinary that Americans were so quick to toss aside, and now is a piece of stunning folk art and their means to a better life.

In theaters now, and coming soon to Netflix

★★★★★★★★

LETTERS TO JACKIE : REMEMBERING PRESIDENT KENNEDY

To mark the 50th Anniversary of the assassination of President Kennedy  Oscar winning Director Bill Couturié ('Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt') has produced this tribute to the late President using some of the myriad of letters of condolences his widow received in the months after his death.  They had a lot to choose from .... some 800,000 in total .... a fact in itself that was an apt reminder of the days when people sat down and with due thought and consideration really corresponded with each other rather than just dash off a few careless sentences by email.

The letters were melded with some wonderful archival footage of some of the major events of Kennedy's three years presidency such as the Bay of Pigs Invasion, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the building of the Berlin Wall, the Space Race, the Civil Rights Movement, and early stages of the Vietnam War.  Couturié gathered an impressive coterie of stars to read the letters ...they included Jessica Chastain, Betty White, Frances McDormand, Allison Janney, Anne Hathaway, Octavia Spencer, Michelle Williams and Chris Cooper  .... which gave life to the voices of the countless strangers.

There were eloquent notes from articulate well-educated people, heart-felt pleas from schoolkids, grateful letters from African-Americans and even advice from a young polo victim on how the First Lady should get through her grief.  There was concerted anger at how the act of one solitary madman could rob the world of such a great statesman, and there was unfettered sympathy for Mrs Kennedy at being made a widow and a single mother of two very young children in the prime of her life.

Highly emotional, an extremely moving homage to the one Leader that every American feels impassioned about and deeply connected too.  Its a very touching tribute that when the final credits roll you realise that it has stirred a memory or two of your own of how he affected all our lives.

P.S. With months of his death a divided Congress, urged by President Johnson, honored his memory by joining together to pass the Civil Rights Act which is a centerpiece of Kennedy's legacy.  

The movie has had a limited Theatrical release but will air on TLC in November in the US.

★★★★★★★★

THE IRAN JOB

As a professional basketball player for hire St Croix native Kevin Shepherd was recruited to play for teams in Argentina, Venezuela, Israel and Puerto Rico before he landed his most unusual gig in 2008. He was employed by A.S. Shiraz a fledgling team who were desperate to make the Iranian Playoffs and they saw Shepherd as the key ingredient to make this happen. In fact although the terms of his employment are never discussed, it is clear that if the Team don't make the grade then Shepherd  will be terminated.

Under Iranian rules each Team is allowed to employ just two foreign players and Shepherd is joined by an enormous Serbian called Z who becomes his roommate. They are the only experienced members of A. S. Shiraz as all the other young Iranian players are woefully inadequate.  At first it seems that this 6' African American, who is an instant hit with adoring fans, will not however be able to shape these youngsters into a winning side. They lose badly and often in the beginning and it appears likely that Shepherd will soon be packing his bags and high tailing it home to his anxious girlfriend.  And then like in any fairy tale, their luck turns, they win matches and have a real chance of reaching their goal.

Sheppard is an affable charmer of a man who the locals instantly like.  Not particularly intelligent, he is careful to steer from making any comment on the political unrest and is always aware that to most of the population as an American he is very much an unwanted alien. We see him play matchmaker for one of his team mates, and on another occasion witness him lose his temper and kicking a trash can which is caught by the TV cameras and earns him a reprimand. But aside from that director Till Schauder insures that we learn little about what actually makes this man tick.

The most interesting participants in this documentary are three Iranian women who Shepherd encounters through his physical therapy, and as far as it is possible, befriends. The most fascinating aspect is that although they conform to the excessive rules that cover all aspects of women's behaviour in Iranian society, they are not in the least depressed or dejected by the state of affairs. It's through their story .... which sadly is never totally satisfactorily developed .... that we learn most about how the country is dealing with the turbulence of the times.

At the end, despite what Shepherd personally may have felt (and never really articulated) we learn that he went back to Iran the next year to play for another season.  For him though the story finishes back in the Virgin Islands with him marrying his girlfriend and becoming a father.  And in one rare moment of reflection, he says that as an African American he knows what standing up for his rights is all about ... and he knows it can lead to something. Lets hope for those three girls at least, he is right.

An interesting documentary but the perfect tension building on the basketball courts during the games is never matched with any thing significant during the non-playing hours,  which is such a pity.

★★★★★★

Available on Amazon VOD  

JEWTOPIA

Once upon a time there was a play that ran Off Broadway for 3 and a half years. Most of the play's humor involved jokes about Jewish stereotypes with occasional humor about body parts and bodily functions, and it made numerous references to the Jewish online dating website, JDate. The play's two authors  Bryan Fogel and Sam Wolfson were on to a good thing as they got to star in it too. Then they had the bright idea of turning it into a movie for which they penned the screenplay, and Bryan Fogel directed a stellar cast of some very talented and well-known actors. But somewhere along the way something got seriously lost in translation, or simply what people considered amusing on stage was not so funny on the silver screen.

The movie is Jewtopia and it is without question one of the crassest and appalling unfunny movies that I have ever had to squirm my way through. It's not just insulting to Jews, but to any Gentile with an ounce of intelligence and taste.

The story is of two young men who are best friends, Adam is Jewish and doesn't want to marry his pushy fiance as he cannot bare the idea of having the same life as his parents.  Christian on the other hand as his name infers is not of the faith, but he wants to pretend that he is so he can marry a demanding J.A.P. so that he will never have to make another decision for himself again. It would have been so much easier if they simply had swapped parents & identities and had done with it, but no, Christian persuades his pal to 'jew-ify' him so that he can end up being bossed around for life.

There are very few stereotypes that Fogel didn't manage to squeeze in and offend in this farce, and I felt for the cast who struggled to do the best they could .... they included Rita Wilson, Wendie Mallick, Jamie Lynn-Siegler, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Tom Arnold and Jon Lovitz.  They at least got paid, whereas I got nothing for my trouble except sheer embarrassment and more than a little annoyance.

No Stars.

POPULAIRE

Newbie French writer/director Régis Roinsard plays homage to the great Hollywood 1950's romantic comedies with this delightful sugary fluffy movie.  A perfect period piece that says that not only can fairy tales come true (eventually) but they look and sound so much better in fabulous retro sets, stunning costumes, and a rip roaring sentimentalised score.

It's 1958 in Paris where it seems it is every working girls dream is to get a very modern job i.e. become a Secretary.  Even in a boring Insurance Company Office, mind you it helps that Louis the Boss is a handsome young (ish) blade.  Rose, (who is meant to be the ugly duckling of the piece, but is played by beautiful Deborah Francis) has left her tiny village to make it in the big city.  There are a lot of young gals after the position and Rose's chances of getting hired look very slim.  As pretty as she is however, its not her looks that attract Louis's attention, but the fact that she shows she is a wiz on the keyboard. The highly competitive Louis, who was an athlete before the War, strikes a deal with an eager Rose that if she enters a National Typing Championship then the job is hers.

Louis takes on the task of training Rose quite earnestly and is aided and abetted by his best friend Bob, an American (with an atrocious French accent) who landed in Normandy with the US Forces and never left. He ended up marrying Marie, who it turns out was Louis's ex girlfriend who gave up waiting for him to propose.  It is Marie who is the first one to realise that Louis's new 'hobby' will take on a seriousness that he may never notice unless she gives him a few nudges.

Rose wins a few of the local competitions and its clear to everyone .....except Louis of course .... that the only reason she puts up with the hard slog of hours of training, is because she is in love with him. It's not until she wins the National Championship and qualifies for a chance at becoming the World Champion that she is so annoyed with Louis's indifference that she ditches him and signs up with Japy, the manufacturers of the new pink 'populaire' typewriter.

Who would ever thought that watching a whole hall

full of girls competing in a typing competition could be so much fun, but director evidently Roinsard had really wanted to make a sports movie so he has photographed and edited it so aggressively that it is very entertaining. Even though he may never have initially wanted to make a romantic comedy, he has done a first class job, and its a real tribute to the likes of Vincente Minelli   and the other masters of the genre way back then.

Louis is played by the sublime actor Roman Duris ... and why he is probably not an obvious choice for such a matinee idol role, he is the perfect one as he brings a edgy quality to the part, and he is also so wonderfully droll. I have already given a nod to Deborah Francis who as Rose is a wonderful foil to the self-centred Louis, and then there is Marie his ex, who was played by the delightful Bérénice Bejo (Oscar nominated for 'The Artist').

It's all very definitely lightweight and a tad mushy, but it is also a sheer joy.  If you like your romance with a distinctly old-fashioned feel to it, and naturally with a happy ending, then you'll really love this one. It's in Theaters now.

★★★★★★★★

THE YEAR DOLLY PARTON WAS MY MUM

How could I possibly miss dipping into a DVD with a title like this.  All my serious criteria for movie watching just had to be set aside, even though I knew this had all the possibility of being a piece of silly fluff, but once I knew that it had been blessed by the mighty Dolly herself, I couldn't resist.

The year is 1976 and Elizabeth is an average 11 year old girl who is fixated with talking with her best friend about breasts, and anxiously waiting to get her first period.  Oh yes, and listening to Dolly Parton records non-stop.  She lives in a Canadian suburb with an obsessively correct and uptight middle class mother who thinks she is a cut above the rest of the neighborhood .... and a father who simply goes along with that just to keep the peace.

One day when a school assignment  requires Elizabeth to find out the blood types of her parents and herself, she discovers that they are not related at all.  As her schoolmates politely put it ...'so you're a bastard then!' She is understandably hurt and confused at the revelation and is determined to find her birth mother. She decides on the slightest of pretexts that it must be Dolly Parton (they both write poems at age 11, and Elizabeth has a birthmark in the shape of a butterfly which is something Dolly loves ... butterflies, that is, not birthmarks).

Dolly is appearing in a Concert one night across the US border in Minneapolis so Elizabeth gets dressed in her finest (trashy) clothes, slaps make up on,  and goes to 're-unite with Dolly' so she sets off on her kiddy bike even though she turns out to have no real sense of direction.   Marion her mother returns home and panics when she realises that Elizabeth had been upset enough to run away from home and hotfoots after her by car even though she cannot drive.

It's a very sacharine coming-of-age story .... and as much as Elizabeth has to start to deal with becoming a young woman, it's equally about Marion also having to revaluate who she is and her place in this evolving new world. It's a lovely period piece not just because of the way that parents and children interacted back then .....but also those fabulous bad hairstyles and some atrocious wallpaper.

The redeeming feature ... aside two very charming

performances by the two leading ladies .... is the whole thing is set to Dolly Parton music.  And there is the fervent expectation that Miss P will suddenly appear and make us all happy.  But you will have to go to Netflix/Amazon yourself to see if dreams really do come true.

★★★★★★★

LOVE IS ALL YOU NEED

In the opening moments of this new Danish movie and we see a Scandinavian middle-aged blonde woman and the coast of Sorrento and Pierce Brosnan, there is this decidedly deja vu feeling, but luckily this is not in fact 'Mamma Mia 2'. And thankfully Mr Brosnan is not called on to sing again. It is however an over-sentimentalized romantic-comedy which although directed by Suzanne Bier (Oscar Winner for 'In A Better World') and is peppered with some tart wee moments, has an annoyingly predictable Hollywood-type happy ending.

Ida is cancer and chemo free and is just about to throw herself into enjoying life again when she discovers her big lump of a husband Lief in flagranti with much younger Tilde from the Accounts Department at his firm.  He storms out and so Ida is left to fly to Italy on her own to attend their only daughter's wedding.

Astrid is marrying Patrick after a whirlwind three month romance, and they are going to have the ceremony in a delightful villa overlooking Naples Bay. The villa needs some urgent TLC as its been rather neglected by the owner Phillip, Patrick's father a successful businessman, who has never been back there since his wife died some years ago.  Although Phillip too lives in Copenhagen .... he is actually British (I guess getting Mr Brosnan to learn danish was too tall an order).

A distraught Ida has an unfortunate first encounter with a very angry Phillip and they don't hit it off at all.  But then they do .... but that's later, and it is very obvious from the 'i hate you' type conversation that they labour through initially that they are going to end up in bed.

Guests gather for the wedding and they are an odd bunch.  Phillip's sister-in-law who has acted as Patrick's mother de facto and who has always had the hots for her late sister's husband; Lief turns up with an uninvited Tilde in her tight fitting ensemble; and then there is the local hired help who are far too intimate with the hosts. And then both father and son change course .... and normally I avoid any spoilers in my reviews but these are so obvious from the start..... Patrick blames the fact that he was only trying to please his Dad by getting married and really he wants to hitch up with the handyman.  Dad meanwhile overnight suddenly stops being perpetually angry and is ready for love.  With Ida naturally (lest you think that he too was after the hired help).

The only redeeming feature about this muddled lightweight movie (other than the location) is the stunningly sensitive performance by Trine Dyrholm as Ida .... she is dignified and poised even with all the traumas that are heaped on her (and it's a far different role than the evil Queen she played in last year's hit 'A Royal Affair). The fact that there is such a lack of any believable 'chemistry' between her and a miscast Mr Brosnan as Phillip is certainly not her fault at all, but it does put a big damper on the whole story.

This movie only ended up on my watchlist because of Miss Bier whose resume includes some very impressive movies that really resonated with me. Besides her Oscar Win, she has also helmed 'After The Wedding', 'Brothers' and 'Open Hearts' but on the minus side her foray into making a Hollywood resulted in 'Things That We Lost In The Fire' a real mish-mash of a drama that that never caught alight. I much prefer Miss Bier's output when it is gritty and realistic, and hope now that she has dabbled in some (trite) light relief she will get back to something more meaty again. 

P.S. Her next movie 'Serena' now in post production could be just that  AND it has the benefit of having Jennifer Lawrence & Bradley Cooper in the cast.

★★★★★

Available on Amazon & Itunes VOD 

RED OBSESSION

Even if you have never had a yearning to quaff a glass or two of Bordeaux wine you will after seeing this new documentary about one of them oldest and most famous of libations, although you will probably be sampling the table wine variety and not the prestigious vintages that this movie focuses on.  It takes two Australian filmmakers Warwick Ross and David Roach to pay homage to this remarkable city/region in France where they produce over 700 million bottles of wine from vines that the Romans originally planted.  It's made by more than 8500 producers or châteaux, but Ross and Roach concentrate on the five leading Houses who were classified as the finest back in Napoleon Bonaparte's time.

With sweeping aeriel shots over the stunning vast acres of vineyards and the majestic Chateaus and a narration by (another Australian) Russell Crowe (spoken with such gravitas as if he was reciting The Bard), this paean to the landed gentry is quite a revelation.  Most of the methods of production are the time honored ones that have not been changed for centuries, but even the most experienced and finest winemakers cannot control all of nature's elements that will determine how good the grape harvest is, and how palatable that vintage will be each year.

Every decade or so there is an exceptional vintage which is declared so by the world's leading critics after the annual Primer (there is a tradition for EVERY aspect of wine making).  One such year was 2010 which was declared the finest vintage for possibly a decade resulting in prices which had already soared in the recent past, now skyrocketing. AsBordeaux's major market, the USA, collapsed because of the astronomical prices, the winemakers looked further afield for a whole new untapped raft of consumers i.e. China.

With new found wealth (they now have more dollar Billionaires than the US) and a desperation for everything deemed a luxury, the Chinese became the largest consumers of the wine.  Not that they actually drank much of it, for these new 'connoisseiurs' were Collectors who seek both prestige and profit from their sizable investments. In the second part of this movie devoted to this new Chinese obsession, one tycoon professed if there was a particular fine wine he wanted at an Auction, he simply kept his paddle up in the air until it got it regardless of the price. And a wealthy female collector claimed she was so bored with the fact the wine she wanted at auction was creeping up in price slowly, she just bellowed out 1.5 million and it was hers ( I do hope she meant Yuan.....).

And then the very next year, the vintage was declared a total dud, and the Chinese fled empty handed in droves, and prices fell again. The result is that we are now faced with Chateau owners and CEO's whining on camera that they may never be able to recover from this 'disaster', naturally choosing to completely ignore the fact that their outrageous price hikes only 12 months earlier had produced obscene profits for them all.

The upside of this delightful and informative movie is that it gives us a greater understanding and appreciation of fine winemaking  .... the downside is realising that this beautiful nectar of the Gods has now become a mere status symbol and an investment unit rather than something we can imbue and marvel at.  I loved the brief clip of Filmmaker and Winemaker Francis Ford Coppola as he related his profound experience of drinking a glass of Chateau Margaux that was bottled four years after the French Revolution. He had an enormous orgasmic smile on his face as he spoke.

★★★★★★★★ 

In theaters now , and also available on Amazon VOD

BROOKLYN CASTLE

Over seventy five percent of the pupils in I.S. 318 are from families that are below the federal poverty level. This public Intermediate School in an un-gentrified part of Williamsberg, NY is struggling with untold budget cuts when this documentary starts being filmed soon after the 2008 recession.  Yet what we see right from the opening sequences is such unfettered joy from happy kids who are so proud to be part of this well-run high-achieving School that defies the normal perception of a tough area neighborhood school.

What defines I.S. 318's success (asides from is above average academic achievements) is its vast remarkable after-school activities, the undoubted star of which is its Chess Club.  Its won countless awards to date but over the two year period that this documentary was filmed, their victories peak even higher.

The film follows a few of the kids as they dedicate most of their spare time developing a passion for the game, and with such camaraderie, willing each other to succeed too . There is Rochelle who is on her way to fulfilling her dream of becoming the first female African-American Grandmaster : Pobo who went from bad street kid to being voted School Student President and the unofficial cheerleader of the Chess club : Alex the champion who wants to become a Lawyer so he for once can help his struggling immigrant family ; and Patrick, one of the few Caucasians in the team who wants to overcome his AHD and become a winning player too.  'These geeks,' the School Principal declares, 'are the star athletes of IS 318.

Their boundless enthusiasm and tireless energy, and that of their teachers and coaches, is completely infectious and very soon each of their wins, and their defeats, seem devastating to you too. When the first major Budget Cut is soon followed by another the kids are equally committed, with their parents and the saint-like teaching staff, to fight back as they could mean the demise of the Club.  In one such instance their concerted campaign gets $100K restored.

The stars of the piece besides the Principal are John Galvin his Deputy who has absorbed the principles of the game into his teaching philosophy, and skinny Elizabeth Vicery the Chess Teacher who devotes every waking moment of her life helping the kids excel at the game she has encouraged them to love.

The pressure is on when the Team departs for various School Championships around the country as in each of the different age groupings they are so use to winning first place.  Watching the game itself on the big screen can be a tad tedious .... so there is little of it  .... but watching the faces of the players is priceless and somewhat nerve racking.

This is an unmissable story about an adorable bunch of kids who were making all the right moves to get the best out of their young lives. But more than that its a look at a group of very committed and determined adults who went far beyond any call of duty to ensure that these hard knock kids got opportunities far beyond their expectations and the norm for inner city schools.  Their struggle isn't easy (be prepared for some tears) but it was/is so well worth it.

If you loved 'Mad Hot Ballroom' the superb Doc from 2005 that following NY elementary school kids learning to dance and win, then you will howl/scream at this one too.

P.S. After the movie was completed IS 318 became the first Intermediate School to win the United States Chess Federation’s National High School Championship.

★★★★★★★★★ 

Available now on DVD and VOD 

LENNON NAKED

Hard to believe that in just a months time John Lennon, the most infamous member of the Beatles, would have been celebrating his 73d birthday.  In the 33 years since he was gunned down outside the Dakota the attention to his colorful life never seems to dim. A couple of years ago there was Sam Taylor-Wood's excellent  movie 'Nowhere Boy' a fictionalised account of Lennon's unusual childhood, and next week sees the release of a hot new documentary 'Good Ol' Freda' which tells the Beatles old secretary/p.a. Freda Kelly's account of life with the Fab Four in their heydays.

I came across this made for Brit TV movie which was a dramatised re-telling of Lennon's early life from his first taste of fame up until his tumultuous and histrionic exit from the UK to which he never returned.  It starts in 1964 when The Beatles had their first No I Hit 'Please Please Me' (and when in fact I first got to see them perform live in my hometown, which sadly is somehow omitted from the film).

Success is fast and furious and Lennon has married his childhood sweetheart Cynthia and they live with their young son Julian in a ridiculously outrageous unsuitable house in a stockbroker belt in the London suburbs simply because they could afford it and so much more.  With each success comes untold wealth and the re-emergence of Lennon's own father who had deserted the family home when John was just 6 years.  His anger with his father is very real but it still doesn't eventual stop him also up and abandoning his own son very shortly.

Lennon's constant search for a sense of something more profound and spiritual in his life results in an aborted trip to a Guru in India, and eventually to the eccentric performance pieces of avant garde artist Yoko Ono.

In Ono, Lennon either sees a kindred spirit or possibly just a suitable avenue to indulge in unsociable behaviour whilst making enormous impossible demands on everyone else in their lives. Robert Jones unbalanced script ensures that we unceasingly see the way that Lennon and Ono acted together as both obnoxious and positively psychotic. He does everything to please this woman for whom he has thoughtlessly abandoned his wife and son, and is about to jettison The Beatles future together too.

Director Edmund Coulthard unwisely chose to mix archive footage of the real Beatles with his dramatisation which only proved how so unlike them his miscast actors were.  Poor Christopher Eccelston (one of the Doctor Who's) was too old for the part but at least he fared better in his series of bad wigs than Andrew Scott playing Paul McCartney with a most excruciatingly bad accent.

The title was for the fact that the piece was intended to get the inside scoop on what made this man tick. It failed to do that completely, but Christopher Eccleston did literally bare all quite proudly posing with an equally stripped Yoko, so the title still fits.

Mocked by the Press for some of their zany escapades and harassed by the Police for their drug use, Lennon and Ono flew to a new life in New York hoping to be free (and naked?) at last.  He was killed a mere nine years later.

Unless you are an avid Lennon fan I would miss this one, and rent 'Nowhere Boy' and go see 'Good Ol' Freda' when it opens.  And there is so much more to come ...there is a musical movie in production right now called 'The Mersey Boys'.  We so havent heard the last of Lennon yet.

★★★

BLUE JASMINE

When we first meet Park Avenue Socialite Jasmine French she's flying First Class to San Francisco bedecked in her best Chanel pouring a Stolly martini down her throat and her life story to her bemused seat companion. She prattles on relentlessly with the story of how she first met her wonderful husband Hal and how the Band was playing Blue Moon, and it seems like this is a woman on top of world but we soon out that's far from the case, and she doesn't even know the old lady who's been given the edited highlights of her life story.

Hal was a high-finance high-rolling swindler and crook who had divested most of his friends and thousands of investors in a Madoff size fraud.  The Government has taken him, and everything they could lay their hands on, just leaving a bewildered Jasmine with nothing more than a few Louis Vuitton cases of designer threads. 

She's desperate enough to turn to Ginger her adopted blue-collar sister who has settled for being a grocery store packer and who she has studiously avoided for years. Ginger lives in a small apartment in the Mission district with her two chubby children and is dating a stereotypical New Jersey Italian jock: he is the 'Stanley' to Jasmine's 'Blanche' in this take on 'A Streetcar Named Desire'.  Jasmine despises all the strangers whose kindnesses she now must rely on just to make do.

In the flashbacks to her extravagant life its clear to see how much Jasmine has been humbled as she tries to make a new life in a world for which she is totally unqualified and is almost something of an alien.  Albeit an alcoholic one. When she latches on a potentially wealthy suitor who she imagines could be her ticket out of poverty, her past comes back to haunt her and spoil her chances.

In a tour de force Oscar worthy performance Cate Blanchett as the self-centered wounded bird Jasmine flutters in and out of reality desperately clinging to the parts of her past that she has chosen to keep remembering.  In a part that has a few sharp funny lines (about Flying first class in particular) we are divided between feeling sorry for this narcissistic woman who chose not to recognize that her husband was a crook until she uncovered his personal disloyalty, and being appalled at her condescending disdain of everybody else.

Jasmine is in the center of a tragedy which at times seems to have the possibility of dragging everyone else over the precipice with her, but they lack the compulsive greed that permeates with easy money and unhinged her way before it all disappeared.

This is 80 year-old Woody Allen's latest excellent take on how he views the some of the disheartening aspects of contemporary society.  He so precisely encapsulates how money replaced morality and no-one really objected until we discovered both were lost for the time being ..... and possibly for good. It's a dark depressing tale but there are always signature Allen one liners to  provide us with a few laughs along the way ...... plus he fills the ensemble with a stellar cast that excel even in the most minor of roles.

The cool, calm and so tolerant Ginger is delightful Brit actor Sally Hawkins who was the perfect balance against Jasmine.  Bobby Cannavale plays Ginger's beau Chili and comedian Andrew Dice Clay was her italian ex-husband Augie .... another 'Stanley'.  Alec Baldwin was super slimy as Hal the crook, and Peter Sarsgaard super smooth as Jasmine's potential fiancé.

Allen steers totally clear of passing judgement on Jasmine's plight and lets us draw our own conclusion. Far be it for me to detract from the levity of one of his best movies to date  BUT on a lighter note, I would say that the message is clear.  Take a tip from Jasmine and if you are going to lose everything including your mind, than be sure to be wearing your best Chanel when you are with the other homeless on a park bench : it works so well.


★★★★★★★★★