PHILOMENA

It's Anthony's 50th birthday, a fact that Jane discovers when she finds her mother Philomena crying over an old photograph.  Anthony is the son that she had out of wedlock as a teenager in Ireland and who was forcibly taken by Nuns and given away for adoption. It's a tale that she has kept to herself for all these years but she can longer hold back on wanting to know what ever became of him.

A chance meeting leads Jane to Martin Sixsmith a former BBC journalist who just had to resign as a Government Spin Doctor over a scandal and was now at a loose end.  As an ex Foreign Correspondent used to loftier matters he initially resisted the approach to investigate Philomena's story as he considered human interest pieces beneath him.  But he did reluctantly take on the project even though he initially had a great deal of difficulty adapting to Philomena and her world. She was still a devout Catholic, and a retired nurse with very simple tastes, plainly spoken and completely unworldly.  And he was ex Oxbridge & Harvard, having spent years as the BBC's Correspondent in Moscow & Washington and was urbane, sophisticated and very sarcastic. 

They started by taking a trip together back to the Convent in Ireland where the baby had been born. Philomena still believed that the Nuns would help her in her search even though all those years ago they had been prepared to let her die as a penance for her sins when it was a difficult breach birth.  However they drew a blank as the Nuns claimed that all the papers relating to all the babies born there had been burned in a fire long ago. But later at the local pub where they were lodging Martin learned that the Nuns had burned all the evidence because they had actually been selling all the babies off to wealthy families in the USA.

Now that he senses that there is a real story to tell, he gets a contract with a Magazine that will finance the next part of their search which will mean them both of flying to Washington D.C. to investigate any leads they can get from Adoption Agencies on Immigration Officials to find Anthony. Finding the son who was given away turned out to easier than even the intrepid journalist believed. However not only was it not the outcome that either of them had wished for, but it was what they also discovered about themselves as a result that had a profound effect on them both.

Director Stephen Frears ('The Queen', 'High Fidelity') is so back on form with this wonderful new movie after his last three missfires.  Based on a true story written by Martin Sixsmith .... and with a script co-written by Steve Coogan, who plays Martin in the movie .... it's a harrowing heartbreaking tale that fills one with so many emotions.  In fairness it starts out slowly, but once Philomena hits her stride and you begin to realise that this is far from a predicable birth-mother and child reunion story, that you start to choke up ... and get angry too.

Dame Judi Dench reunited with Mr Frears (Mrs Henderson Presents) is flawless as Philomena, who she reveals has this wonderful sense of wicked humor. and on certain matters is a lot more worldly than we ever expected. Her rigid belief in her faith regardless of all the evil she uncovers is both remarkable and totally convincing, albeit hard to approve off.  Despite all that she went through, she asks for very little ....'I'd just like to know what he thought of me, I have thought about him every day'. And she does at least get that. It is a breath-taking performance.

Steve Coogan plays Sixsmith rather drolly as a total non-believer and in the investigation itself is the 'bad cop' to her 'good cop' role. He and Philomena hold different views on almost everything, but as the search moves closer to its conclusion they develop a close bond together and a deep respect for each other.

This movie will probably end up on my Year's Best Movie List ... although before that the Academy will be definitely giving it some nominations. I think it best to go into this movie knowing no more of the plot than what I have revealed here. Although I should perhaps share that you will more than one pack of kleenex handy, and also if you had a low opinion of the morals of Catholic Nuns before this, you will discover that they are even more despicable evil than that. Urgh!

Such a treat .......

★★★★★★★★★★

HERB & DOROTHY 50 X 50

Herb & Dorothy Vogel were seemingly a very ordinary New York couple.  He was a Postal Inspector, and she was a Librarian and they married in 1962, the year after they met and they lived frugally surrounded by cats in a tiny one bed apartment in Manhattan. What makes them extraordinary is since they met they began collecting art, focusing on the newly emerging genre of conceptual works because they not only developed a passion for them, but also because they were affordable.

They had a very simple philosophy, they lived off Dorothy's salary, and spent all of Herb's on art .... and only bought what they could afford and would fit into their apartment. Over the years the collection grew to be over 5000 pieces from artists that went on to be major stars like Sol LeWitt, Richard Tuttle, Carl Andre, Roy Lichtenstein, Cindy Sherman etc etc etc and others that never quite made the big time. They developed close personal relationships with many of the artists, several who still wax lyrically on the significance of the Vogels support at the very early stages of their career.

By 1992 when their tiny rent-controlled apartment was overwhelmed with all of their art (much of it unframed and piled high under their bed) they donated it all to National Gallery of Art in Washington. But even they were incapable of handling such an enormous bequest and when it was obvious that the vast bulk of it would end up in storage, Ruth Fine the Curator came up with an ingenious plan. She and the Vogels would carefully select 50 pieces that would be donated to one chosen museum in each of the 50 States.  This would mean that the work would remain in public ownership and be seen by people all over the country that may otherwise not be exposed to such cutting edge pieces.

This second documentary by Megumi Saski on the Vogels (she also made 'Herb & Dorothy' in 2008) follows the whole process as the work is selected, delivered and hung at the various museums.  There is such sheer delight on all of the Curators faces as they describe how much this unprecedented donation means to their institution and community. It is matched by the Vogel's own relief and happiness that their collection will not only live on but will now be enjoyed by so many people.

Both Vogels are frail as they trail around the country (in fact Herb wheelchair bound, died in 2012) but their resolute spirit is un-diminished as is their commitment to the art and the artists. Herb had initially been reluctant to 'break the collection up' as some of the artists were too, but seeing the crowds flock to look at the art-in-situ convinced all the doubters that this very democratic method of dispersal was really the perfect way to proceed.

The Vogel's lifetime devotion of collecting this art is unparalleled as is their generosity.  Not because this utterly charming selfless couple gave away a Collection worth $25 million, but because their real legacy is their infectious enthusiasm for something they loved so much that they wanted to share it with us all.... and they have.

Unmissable.

You can view the entire 50 X 50 Collection online http://vogel5050.org/

★★★★★★★★★

HAVA NAGILA : THE MOVIE

Who would a guess that such an inane and somewhat annoying song such as Hava Nagila would have such a wealth of history, and more face lifts than Joan Rivers? Well filmmaker Roberta Grossman, and in her amusing and fascinating documentary she traces how this staple of Barmitzvahs and Weddings went from Ukraine to YouTube over the course of a few generations.

Over a century ago it started life out as a simple nigron : a musical Jewish prayer without words, in a Ukrainian Synagogue.  Two competing families now claim that it was their grandfather who later added words to make it become this happy song that seems to connect tradition with community, and is like a defiant rebuttal to oppression.

Goldman unearths a some staggering archival footage of the impressive amount of some of the many times that the song has popped up in popular culture over the decades. Sometimes in movies like 'Wedding Day Crashers', 'Private Benjamin,' 'Thoroughly Modern Millie, 'Wedding Crashers', 'Daddy Day Care' 'The Jazz Singer' etc. Often as soundtracks for Olympic Skating Competitions.  But it was the staggering array of major recording stars .... very few of them Jewish ..... who made this song their very own.

The two most notable ones being Connie Francis , who needed another hit in 1959 after her smash 'Connie Francis Sings Italian Favorites' (in the charts 91 weeks) so her Jewish Manager suggest 'Jewish Favorites'.  And Harry Belafonte recorded it a couple of times, and is still the one American singer who is still most associated with it today.

Chubby Checker made his version a Twist, Josephine Baker recorded her take in Havana, Glen Campbell gave his a country twang, Lena Horne turned into a civil rights anthem, Frank Slay made it a rock' n roll instrumental hit, Celia Cruz samba-ed to her record, Bruce Springsteen's rocked to it, Elvis Presley shook his hips to it, Allen Sherman made his a parody, anti-folk singer Regina Spektor gave hers a contemporary edge. The best/worse was Bob Dylan who totally murdered it and took every trace of joy out of his version.

Goldman has a great deal fun in her search for interviewing countless learned Jews to try and and find why this of all songs should be so universally popular. In a Delicatessen very tongue in cheek  the question is posed ... what is more Jewish, Hava Nagila or gefilte fish?   No-one can answer.

A great deal of fun : although I don't think I ever need/want to hear the song again at least for a very long time.

★★★★★★★

PAPADOPOULUS AND SONS

Harry Papadopoulus is about to gamble the multi-million food empire that he created from scratch to finance a vast housing/shopping complex in London that will net him billions. Trouble is his timing, as a day after the deal is done, there is a big run on the Stock Exchange and his Bank get cold feet and ask for immediate repayment of all the hefty loans they had advanced.

Harry is full of charm and optimism but short on cash so the Banks declare him bankrupt and seize everything. This includes the large MacMansion that is home to him and his three spoilt children and their very droll housekeeper. Harry's accountants are convinced that they can find a wealthy White Knight to help him buy his Company back, but in the meanwhile he must find somewhere to live and some sort of income.

The possible answer to both of his problems is the derelict Fish and Shop that he still owns with Spiros his rather irresponsible older brother.  However rather than agree to sell the property that they had both long forgotten they even owned, Spiros convinces a very reluctant and skeptical Harry to re-open it and run it like a family business just as they did when they first left school.

Of course they do open it, and his stuck up kids find out that discovering their Dad's poor roots isn't so bad after all. Teenage clothes obsessed Katie gets to date the boy from the local Turkish Kebab Story; plant-enthusiast James gets to escape Law School and get really green fingers; and young nerdy Theo can now use his computer to help run the Chippie.

Meanwhile Sophie the pretty American woman who works for Harry's slimy opportunistic Accountant  sees both the errors of her ways (i.e. being a professional vulture) and also Harry's exceeding good looks, so she switches her well-paid job to taste Harry's batter.

It is a wildly silly story with a very predictable plot and some very glaring inconsistencies (like the Housekeeper still being around even though the family of 5 were squeezed into a small apartment above the Shop). And even though there was hardly ever a customer in sight ..... the shop was meant to a runaway success and a potential goldmine!  

Despite all this, I have to say this wee very British move was a very likable piece of fluff and really quite entertaining.  Credit I think mainly to a great tun by TV/Stage Actor Stephen Dillane ('Game of Thrones') in one of his all too rare movie appearances, and the rather fabulous Selena Cadell .. a stalwart actor, well known and beloved by Brit audiences who had all the best lines as the all-seeing all-knowing Housekeeper.

I often complain that whenever I need a break from my usual very intense viewing schedule and choose some light relief, I am inevitably annoyed/bored.  Not this time : this will not win Awards, or even stay in my memory too long, but it made me smile for a good 90 mins ... which cannot be too bad. 

Available now on DVD/VOD.

★★★★★★★

AUGUST : OSAGE COUNTY

Violet Weston is one acid-tongue angry old lady who misses nothing that goes on in her family and she insures that none of her nearest and dearest escape her unbridled wrath.  Well, her husband Beverley and alcoholic and rather melancholic poet does, but his method is quite extreme as he disappears out of the blue, and then the police locate his body after he has taken his own life.

His funeral is the reason that the entire dysfunctional family have turned up in this large rambling house set in the plains of Oklahoma in the fierce summer heat. Violet has cancer and uses a hideous black wig to hide the results of the chemo treatment, but it is also her cover to indulge in her drug addiction.  In fact there is a rarely a moment in this drama when she isn't popping both pills and cigarettes in her mouth, even at meal times.

Violet has three daughters. Barbara the eldest, and by far the angriest, who is accompanied by Bill her husband who she has just separated from after catching him with a younger woman, and by their very moody teenage daughter Jean.  Ivy, the middle child, is the one that never moved away but is finally planning too once she tells the family that she is in love with her cousin 'Little' Charles.  And the youngest and the empty headed one Karen shows up with a sleazy older man who she claims is her fiance.

During the funeral dinner all hell lets loose as Violet mercilessly lays into them be-littling each and every one of them. Full of histrionics and angry shouting Violet shows no ounce of mercy as she callously exposes nearly every single dirty little family secret that she has been bitterly harboring all these years.  When she finally goes to far, Barbara physically hits back and after tussling with her mother, tells her that she will not put up this anymore or her drug addiction which she blames is the cause of all her aggression and hatred.  

So by way of retribution the three siblings start to thoroughly search the house to confiscate all the drugs that Violet has secreted away. Turns out that she has been bamboozling a whole series of different doctors who unknown to each other have between them been prescribing her literally anything she wanted.

After this performance at dinner it seems unlikely that this family will ever get any peace from any resolution they can concoct even if they succeed in getting Violet 'clean'.  For some of them it is obviously going to get worse before it can even get better .... but it turns out that the only one who knew that was Violet, as she proved she had known all their dirty secrets all the time like she had claimed.

Adapted by Tracey Letts from her award-winning play this is one of those extraordinary wonderful dramas that include such perfect big showdown pieces that allow actors to give mesmerizing larger-than-life powerful performances.  Meryl Streep is so completely electrifying as Violet as she plays her to the hilt in a role that frankly only she could have played. Completely hypnotic to watch, and if it doesnt get her another Oscar, I'll eat my hat.

It's not just Ms Streep who shines, because one of the impressive things of this ensemble piece there are several other meaty roles which were filled by striking array of a 'A' list actors.  Barbara was played by Julia Roberts .... and it was great to see her back in a 'heavier' part again, and her siblings were played by Juliette Lewis and Julianne Nicholson. Also in the cast were Ewan McGregor, Dermot Mulroney, Sam Shepherd, Chris Cooper, Abigail Breslin, Margo Martindale and even the Brit Benedict Cumberbatch who never seems off our screens these days.

Despite all its darkness and its obsession with misery, their are some wonderful flashes of comedy too which occasionally lighten the tone considerably. Heads up to not just director John Wells for this stunning production, but also to cinematographer Adriano Goldman for the moody visuals that made the whole house in particular look so realistically inviting.

For me, movies dont get a lot better than this, and it proves that once in while the Hollywood system can still produce something that gives you that real buzz that is usually now only found in edgy indie films.

★★★★★★★★★★

BIG SUR

Jack Kerouac wrote his second autobiographical novel Big Sur when he was was trying to escape from all the unwelcome attention that he got after he published his big smash novel 'On The Road' a few years earlier (Walter Salles made that into a movie last year). This time its Michael Polish who has undertaken the difficult task of bring Kerouac's words to the big screen in what is a visual treat but a wee bit of cinematic mess.

Kerouac has borrowed the isolated rough cabin in the woods in Big Sur from fellow writer Lawrence Ferlinghetti so that he can get away from it all.  At first he revels in the solitude as its a stunningly beautiful location, but very soon he finds the isolation unbearably boring so he hotfoots it back to San Francisco and his arty crowd with their unlimited supply of booze.

After another really pernicious bender he persuades most of his beatnik crowd to come back with him to the cabin so they can continue both their partying and all their literary indulgences.  The gang includes Michael McLure, Lew Welch, Phil Whalen and Neal Cassady and his wife Carolyn.  Kerouac claims 'I'm really happy for the first time in three years'.

That doesnt however stop him soon going back into the City again where Cassady introduces him to his lover Billie with whom he immediate embarks on a passionate affair.  This soon starts to suffer when he starts binge drinking again.  To try and escape from all the temptations he persuades Billie to spend some time in the cabin with him. They also take her young son with them, and Lew and his girlfriend too. But by now Kerouac has succumbed to the ravages of alcoholism, suffering mental and emotional delusions, and as he is barely able to get out of the cabin, his relationship with Billie totally disintegrates. 

A lot of the scenes are accompanied by a narration by Kerouac from the novel which adds layers of rather intense prose but not much in the way of aiding what little plot there is.  What comes so alive on the written page seems to lose both its clarity and energy when its translated on to the screen.

Great cast though .... particularly Jean-Marc Barr who as Kerouac was moody personified.

I am however undecided who, if anyone, I would recommend this too : I guess if you have an unshakable passion for this period in American literature then this may be a must see, but personally this season at least I would rather see 'Kill Your Darlings' which is essential a pre-quel to this time and deals with the arrival of Ginsberg on the scene.  It is a much more accessible movie as well.

★★★★★

LE WEEKEND

University lecturer Nick is taking his school-teacher wife Meg on a weekend trip to Paris to celebrate their 30th Wedding Anniversary.  They live in a suburb of Birmingham in the Midlands of the UK which is a place of little joy.  Nick is hoping this trip will kick-start their neglected sex-life into action again, whereas unbeknown to him, Meg is thinking hard about wanting to re-start her life alone. 

When they get off the Eurostar and trek across the city they discover that the Hotel that cheap-skate Nick has booked is a real dump. Meg refuses to stay there and jumps in a cab and brandishing a fistful of Euros implores the driver to take them to a decent hotel. He goes one better and they end up with a Suite in a luxurious Hotel that has stunning views of the Eiffel tower even though this is way over their budget.  Nick hopes this, and a Parisian bistro lunch will improve Meg's demeanor but little hope of that that as she has kept her thoughts and her unhappiness to herself for too long, and just wants to finally confront Nick with it all.  He in turn confesses that he had recently been fired from the University for being politically incorrect and doesn't know what the future holds for him even if she stayed. It's not so much that Meg no longer loves him, but he does irritate the hell out of her and at the same time she is completely frustrated by the rut her life has sunk into.

Later on when they are kissing and making up on the street they are spotted completely by chance by Morgan a very brash American who had been an Undergraduate at Cambridge with Nick when they were very young students. He insists that they join him and his wife at a dinner party they are throwing the next evening ... a reason for Meg to spend more money they don't have on some chic party clothes so they fit in with the other smart guests.

Morgan seems to have it all.  A new wife expecting a child, several best selling books to his name, a chic apartment on Rue De Rivoli, a veritable who's who of publishing as the other guests, and all the confidence and style that comes with it.  He has seemingly exceeded all his ambitions whereas Nick, the more successful of the two at University, has fulfilled none of his promise at all.  And if that is not bad enough, Nick & Meg's only son is a unemployed pothead who expects them to underwrite his life completely .

Of course Morgan has it all, except for happiness. And this one crucial thing that he hasn't got is something that is actually in Nick & Meg's grasp if they could just learn to talk straight to each other and to be able  compromise too.

Its a very small intimate piece that fluctuates between very emotionally penetrating but also having great deal of mischievous droll humor. This marriage has not broken down, but just stalled and although we are never sure if the will is there to get it get back on track, we always know its possible. They .... or Meg does at least ....starts by throwing caution to the wind and for once in their lives, spending large amounts of money that they do not have, but they learn that they can find a way to deal with even this if they stop and think it through.

In this three-hander a great deal rests with the actors to make this come so alive, but fortunately Nick is played by Jim Broadbent who seems to excel at playing bewildered (late) middle-aged men, and the chemistry between him and the wonderful Lindsay Duncan as the under-appreciated Meg is nothing less than electric.  And I cant remember liking a performance by Jeff Goldblum (as Morgan) as much  as I did here for a very long time.

It was written by Hanif Kureishi who first soared onto our radars in 1985 with his Oscar nominated script for the groundbreaking movie about another kind of intimate relationship. This one was between an Asian man and a (white) Brit man in what is still one of my very favorite gay films of all time 'My Beautiful Launderette'.  

A must see for anyone into grown-up films about very real relationships .... and especially if you are an Anglo-phile.

★★★★★★★★

SPINNING PLATES

For his new documentary Joseph Levy chose to profile three wildly different restaurants/eating establishments whose proprietors and chefs had one thing in common : sheer passion that could also be perceived as lunacy too.  At the top end of the scale was Alinea in Chicago that had just been voted as one of the ten best restaurants in the World.  Renowned chef Grant Achtaz is a visionary who is totally obsessed with molecular gastronomy which is about the science of preparing food and pushing the boundaries of experimenting into concocting the most complex of dishes that take hours to prepare and just one bite to finish.  When Levy starts filming Achtaz and his team are awaiting the Michelin Guide's first ever visit to Chicago as they desperately want their coveted Three Stars.

Breitbach's Country Dining is the next place on Levy's list.  Situated in the village of Balltown, Iowa (pop. 70) it's been run by the same family for over 6 generations, and is the oldest restaurant/bar in the State. It is a beloved institution by not just the local community but by its loyal band of customers from all the surrounding States, and Mick and Cindy Brietbach's worries are not about winning  Awards but wondering if they can serve another 2000 lunches this coming Mother's Day.

And to complete the trio, Levy profiles a small Mexican restaurant outside Tucson called La Cocina de Gabby, that Francisco Martinez has opened for his wife Gabby as 'she cooks like angel'.  They have only been open a few months and have practically no working capital and very few customers.

All three places are totally fascinating for entirely different reasons although they are all share a common desire to succeed very much on their own terms.  And then just as you are hooked enough to really want them to achieve their dreams, disaster happens.  Big time, and to them all.  The film suddenly seems less like a documentary and more of a Lifetime TV melodrama.

Be warned, there are spoilers in this next paragraph just in case you want to stop reading now.

Grant Achtaz is diagnosed with Stage 4 tongue cancer for which the leading specialists in New York give him little to hope for. Brietbach's catches fire one night and burns down to the ground, only for the entire local community to come together and re-build it from scratch.  10 months later another fire turns the new building into a pile of ashes.  And in Tucson the Martinez's get evicted from their house when it is foreclosed.

There are very happy endings for two out of three of them, but by then its hard to move off the edge of your seat as you are stunned in total disbelief and are wreaked with fear in case there are any more disasters waiting around the corner.

This is Levy's first documentary but his previous day job was as Ex Producer of TV's 'Ultimate Recipe Showdown' so he knows how to photograph food really well, so be sure to eat before you see this one otherwise you will have real hunger pangs. But with all the human drama, this fascinating movie is not just for foodaholics, but for anyone who likes a disaster or two served up with their meals.

★★★★★★★★

DALLAS BUYERS CLUB

The very scary fact thing about watching Dallas Buyers Club is always knowing that this is sadly a very true story. Not that we have anything except unfettered admiration for Ron Woodroof and his wild unorthodox schemes, but it is the reminder of the sheer number of countless deaths that could have been avoided if it hadn't been for the complicity of the F.D.A. with the greed of the Pharmaceutical Companies that still rankles even now.

Woodroof was a working-class Texan hedonist living in a Trailer, hanging out at Rodeos and partying very hard indeed.  He was also a serial homophobe. When he collapses one day and is rushed to the ER the Doctors discover he is HIV + and with such a minute T cell count, they tell him that he has no more than 30 days to live.  The year is 1985 and there is very little hope for anyone that gets full blown AIDS.

At first he is in total denial and continues his life of drugs, drink and unprotected sex with hookers until his body starts to give up.  When he finally accepts the truth, he also sharpens his resolve to beat this rap. He drags himself to the library and consumes all the information that is in the public domain at the time, which is very little.  It is however enough to know that there is about to be a trial of AZT a new anti-retroviral drug .... the first if its kind ... and because of the rapid explosion of AIDS, the FDA have agreed to fast-track it without its usual safeguards and checks.

Woodruff pleads with the Doctors at his local hospital to be allowed some of this new wonder drug, but he is rejected on the grounds that he doesn't qualify, so he seeks out an Orderly and bribes him to steal a supply. When this dries up, the Orderly recommends that he tries a Doctor in Mexico who may be able to help.

He checks into Dr. Vass's rundown Clinic over the Border and it is there that he first learns the enormous potential harm that unchecked toxic drugs such as AZT cause.  At the supposition that they may stop the virus expanding,  they also do such harm to the body that they expose them to countless opportunistic diseases. Vass's solution is proteins and vitamins that will actively improve the general health of a person with AIDS making them in better position to be able to deal with the virus.

When Woodruff learns that none of these are available in the USA,  he starts an import business to supply them to other patients back in Dallas. He partners with Rayon a Transvestite with HIV who met in Clinic once as she can introduce him to all the people who would want to get their hands on these new drugs.

At every step of the way, he is aggressively pursued by the FDA as even though none of the drugs/proteins he sells are illegal, they have not been officially approved and the FDA, egged on by the Drug Companies who fund them, want to keep total control of every aspect.  One of the ways to get around the Law is not to actually sell the drugs themselves, but sell memberships to his Club (for $400 a month) and this entitles each member to have whatever drugs they want.

As supplies get tougher to obtain, and new drugs come on the market, Woodruff widens his search worldwide to anyone and everyone who would sell to him.   And the FDA would use every legal loophole and obscure law on the Statute Books to seize all his supplies and issue countless fines. Meanwhile at the local hospital it is getting very obvious that patients on the AZT trial are doing much worse than other AIDS patients, but the Authorities anxious to keep receiving the much need Payments from the Drug Companies are happy to suppress all the official reports that confirm this, and the one Doctor that dares to question her Bosses's ethics is fired.

Woodruff unquestionably started this venture purely to keep himself alive and to make money.  He succeed with his first aim and lived 6 years after his initial diagnosis of just 30 days, and as he gradually got less paranoid of the gay community, he started allowing some people to have the drugs even though they couldn't afford the Fee.  It wast as much that he was any less of a homophobe, but as his own friends totally rejected him out of sheer fear, he started to be able to relate to being an 'outcast' like his fellow AIDS sufferers.

This film has been a long time coming.   Scriptwrters Craig Borten and Melisa Wallack based it on the hundreds of interviews they had with Woodroof, and then waited 20 years for the movie to finally get made.  Several directors and stars were attached to it until it ended up in the hands of Canadian director Jean-Marc Vallee who's claim to fame (so far) is C.R.A Z.Y. a very neat gay coming of age so far. His two principal stars lost a ton of weight for the parts Jared Leto as Rayon dropped 30 lbs and Matthew McConaughey a scary 50 lbs. They both gave powerful dazzling performances which will surely get them several acting award nominations. It was definitely a stunning change in direction for McConaughey in particular who has established his career so far mainly in rom-coms, but for my two cents (!) it was Leto's heart-breaking turn as the drug-addicted Rayon that totally bowled me over.  It makes one appreciate that Leto has been off our screens far too long (5 years whilst he was touring with his Band)

These Clubs like Woodroof's (there were others in other cities) played an important role alongside the wonderful ACT-UP movement to continually put the FDA on notice, and without their unceasing pressure, demands and activism so many of the drugs that would eventually help with people with AIDS would never have been made available in time.

It's a compelling story told with such passion and authority that both disturbs and delights. Unmissable. 

★★★★★★★★★

THE FINAL MEMBER

Some 40 years ago someone gave Sigurdur 'Siggi' Hjartarson a School Head Teacher in Iceland, a bull's penis as a joke.  It kicked started what turned out to become a lifetime obsession of collecting any mammalian phallus's he could lay his hands on ..... it evidently pass those the long dark dismal days and nights of Arctic winters. Soon his jars of organs in formaldehyde filled ever nook and cranny Of his home and his frustrated wife cracked another yet joke (even though she must have known by now that Siggi took them too seriously). 'Why' she asked 'don't you open a Museum?'

Thus the World's first ever Penis Museum was started  ... although it is officially known The Icelandic Phallological Museum  ... and the world flocked too it.  Siggi, a very likable and seemingly sane man, continued to expand his vast collection of phallus's that had ranged in size from tiny (hamster) to outsize (sperm whale) but he was always aware that it could never ever be considered complete until he got a specimen to put into the empty jar labelled 'Homo Sapien'.  Now that he is nearing retirement and in poor health, the pressure is on to insure that the dream of his legacy will be fulfilled. 

According to an hilarious piece of Icelandic folklore concerning an old married woman who demanded the Sheriff permit her to divorce her husband because she wasn't satisfied with the size of his john thomas'.  It was only 3" long and legend has that she insisted that it should be at least 5" to keep her happy, and over the years this has evolved into what the Icelanders now call 'a legal 5'!  ( Who ever said they had no sense of humor in the frozen wastes of the North?)

Siggi located two possible donors who were prepared to give their all (i.e. scrotum, testes and penis...) so that he could die a happy man.  One was an Icelandic explorer and eccentric local hero Pall Arason who at aged 96 years old had documented proof that he had slept with over 300 women.  He initially claimed that he was more than adequately sized to qualify for the exhibit, but then he and Siggi started to panic as, like most body parts when you are that old, it started to shrink drastically.

Meanwhile in California native sixtysomething  year old American Tom Mitchell, who sports a full seven inches (nicknamed 'Elmo' by his first wife), is so determined to be the chosen one for the exhibit. What he can boast of in size in his pants, he seriously lacks in other body parts, as he not only gets the thing tattooed with the stars and stripes, but he seriously starts to investigate having it surgically removed before he dies.

Its Mitchell's obsessive determination to be the first donor regardless of how he achieves it that makes this whole story becoming side-splitting hilarious. He has this totally deadpan expression and irrational annoyance, and he completely lacks any humility or a sense of humor.

Full credit to newbie directors Jonah Bekhor and Zach Math for pitching this wee joyous story so perfectly.  There is no titillation, or eroticism at all, but a great deal to laugh about  .... and most importantly for Siggi at least, a very happy ending.

★★★★★★★★

DESIGN IS ONE : LELLA & MASSIMO VIGNELLI

Even though I have spent most of my life in the design industry I was still totally unaware of the existence of husband and wife design duo Lella & Massimo Vignelli until I came across Kathy Brew and Roberto Guerra's new documentary.  Yet whilst like so many people I may not be familiar with their names, all of us have been impacted some time or another by their vast output of creativity that has influenced all our daily lives.

This strikingly handsome and extremely likable grey-haired couple now in their late 70's/early 80's have spent the last half century working together as a partnership creating logos, furniture, interiors, dinnerware, books, jewellery and even clothes.  With their exacting tastes and unbending comittment to minimalism they soon adopted the maxim for their lives as 'if you cannot find it, then design it.'  And that is exactly what they did.

Some of their most famous work includes the signage and the map for the New York Subway Systems, corporate logos for American Airlines, Bloomingdales, Ford etc etc.,furniture for Knoll, dinnerwear for Heller, books for architect Richard Meier, showrooms for Poltrona Frau etc etc ..... the seemingly in-exhaustible list of Clients and Projects is way beyond impressive.  Their multi-disciplinary studio has been responsible for re-shaping the identities and products of so many of the world's leading design-led companies.

Looking at the two of them discussing their 24 hour a day partnership it's hard not to compare them with that more famous design husband and wife Ray and Charles Eames.  Although to be fair to Massimo even though he obviously hogs most of the limelight, he is much more generous in acknowledging Lella's equal role (which Charles never ever did with Ray). Massimo claims that when it came to creating a design 'I am the pencil, and Lella is the criticism' which is not totally true.  In fact more other than not he is the dreamer and she the realist who insures that the design works and their business flourishes. And some of the projects such as interiors are just all her (she qualified as an architect).

The Vignelli's are Italian after all (and still with heavy accents even after all those decades living in New York) and there were some flashes of those moments when with fiery tempers they didn't quite see eye to eye  ..... and in fact the film would have been a tad more human it had included more of these.

I may have never heard of the Vignellis but many creative geniuses had, and as well as Meier, there was the likes of designer Milton Glaser, MOMA curator Paola Antonelli, architectural Professor Barry Bergdoll singing their praises.  Their comments, and the seemingly unedited interviews with the Vignellis started to get a little repetitive by the end of the 86 minutes.  The irony being that this movie of two ultra-minimalists ended up being a tad too cluttered and starting to lose its direction.

Massimo and Lella have now donated their vast design archives to the Rochester Institute of Technology outside in New York where it is housed in a building they designed themselves, to insure that their designs, and principles will influence future generations.

'Design' and 'designer's' are two of the most maligned and misused words in the English language over the past three decades , so here is a great chance to see and hear two of the real masters of the form, who add a whole new dimension to both terms.

★★★★★★★

GREAT EXPECTATIONS

Have no great expectations of Mike Newell's new much abridged version of Charles Dicken's classic story but you will  at least get a real visual treat that Oscar nominated cinematographer John Mathieson has created here with his dramatically lit sweeping landscapes.

Of all the previous 18 + times this story has been brought to the big and small screens, it's hard to surpass David Lean's 1946 Oscar winning version which retained all the terrifying details that enriches Dicken's tale. At least Newell, and screenwriter David Nicholls, didn’t seek to contemporize the story or radically alter the imagery (such as last years ‘Wuthering Heights’ by Andrea Arnold) so it’s the perfect movie for students of the classics ….particularly those who like to speed-read everything. 

Newell did had the benefit of a really sterling cast, to raise the level somewhat. Helena Bonham-Carter as Miss Haversham romped through another of her wide-eyed white-faced vampy roles that seems to be her hallmark performance in these days, and for which I will profess that I have too unhealthy an obsession with. Ralph Fiennes, who will seemingly not be off our screens this Fall, made escaped convict Magwitch more creepy than menacing; great to see Robbie Coltrane (Jaggers the Lawyer) back on the big screen after too long an absence, and he and Ewan Bremmer playing his Clerk were pitch perfect.

The weakness was James Irvine as Pip who never seemed comfortable as either the apprentice blacksmith or as a proper real gent, and was sadly no leading man.

This may not be the best period costume drama of the year, but until Ralph Fiennes is back on screens (later this month) playing Mr Dickens himself, this will have to do.

★★★★★★★