BRIGHT DAYS AHEAD

64 year old Caroline has retired earlier from her dental practice than she had expected too after falling out with a colleague and she now finds herself at a loose end with too much spare time on her hands. She feels somewhat depressed and disorientated after the death of her best friend from breast cancer just three months prior, and this has made her even more aware of her own mortality.   Her two grown up children with their own busy lives, want to encourage her to move on and so buy her a trial membership to a local seniors club that has the innocuous title of  'Bright Days Ahead'.

Caroline's first nervous visit to the centre ends every badly when she feels patronized by the young woman running the drama classes, but when she gets home and neither she or her husband can work out their new wifi set up, she reluctantly agrees to go back and try the computer class instead.  This is led by Julian an attractive 41 year old man who confides in her that he has a toothache and after Caroline takes him back to her ex surgery to fix it for him, he returns the favor by making a pass at her.

Its not exactly the main reason why this man, who is the same age as her daughters, wants to bed her as he turns out that he is quite the ladies man with a small stable of regular 'dates'.  But even when she discovers this Caroline is more happy to indulge in some very hot love-making as she and her husband had stopped being physical with each other some time ago.

The secret affair brings more than color to Caroline's cheeks as it makes her extraordinary happy and gives her such a sense of purpose that she throws herself enthusiastically into most of the activities at the Club and becomes friends with all the other women there. When word eventually gets out about her daily dalliances in Julian's office etc , her classmates are in awe and egg her on. However Phillipe her husband doesn't take too kindly at being cuckolded especially as in this small coastal town that they live in, news like this travels very fast.

It seems like as a respected dentist, a loyal wife and a good mother, Caroline has always put the consideration of others first in her priorities, but now she has done  a complete U turn and thought of nothing more than her own pleasure and happiness. With such a past track record, its obvious that she will end up doing the 'decent thing' in the end, but hopefully with the realisation that there is an alternative to the inevitable after all.

The movie has received criticism that it portrays a very unrealistic view of old-age greatly enhanced by the fact that Caroline is played by the strikingly beautiful and exquisite Fanny Ardant. One would never ever dream of calling this great French actress a senior citizen no matter what her age.  It is her very presence that so radiates in every scene on the screen, and so I for one am more than happy for Caroline to indulge in this fantasy, no matter how unrealistic it may be.

A very light and enjoyable piece with one of THE grande dames of French cinema.

Available on Amazon

★★★★★★★

CHEF

Writer/director/actor Jon Favreau is back to his indie movie roots with this sparkling new comedy that he has just completed for less then $10 mil. which evidently is considered pocket money by Hollywood standards these days. However the man who was relatively unknown when he had his breakthrough writing and starring in 'Swingers' back in 1996, can now count a lot of 'A' list stars amongst his friends and he has peppered them with some perfect cameo roles that make this new movie really so delightful.

This is the story of Carl Casper, played by Favreau, who is the Executive Chef of a highly successful fancy restaurant in L.A. Although it is packed every night the food is safe and boring as the Chef once renowned for his innovative and creative style of cooking has lost heart.  One day word gets out that the country's most important Food Critic & Blogger is due to eat there that night and Carl is determined to cook something audacious and new just like the old days.  He has however not taken into consideration that the conservative Restaurant owner won't hear of any such plan, and after a showdown with him in the kitchen, Carl backs down and serves the critic food from his tired old regular menu.

The very articulate review he writes is nothing less than damning but if this is not bad enough, news of it spreads like wildfire on Twitter.  It takes Carl's 10 year old tech-savvy son Percy to explain to his father how this, and other Social Media work, and as beginner Carl tries to grasp the fundamentals of it all he inadvertently sends the critic a rather nasty note that he thought was going as a private message.  It was in fact very public and is the start of a vitriolic exchange of tweets between the two men that very quickly attracts thousands of followers.

It leads to an exasperated Carl publicly taunting the Critic to come back and try a new menu, and with all the public attention this spat is getting, the restaurant phone is ringing off the hook and they are having to turn away reservations every minute of the day. Come the 're-match' and the owner forbids Carl to cook the proposed new menu,  so he angrily  just storms out just minutes before the Critic walks in.  Faced with having to eat the same food he has already decried, the Critic starts to complain via twitter whilst he is still in the restaurant, resulting in an angry Carl hot footing it back and having a screaming fit which seemingly every single diner there catches on their cellphones and puts up on YouTube.

Carl's tantrum goes viral.  He may no longer be a star chef but on the Internet he is very big news. Unable to get work and rapidly running out of money he reluctantly accepts an invitation by his ex-wife to travel with her and their son back home to Miami to visit the boy's Cuban grandfather.  She also connives for Carl to meet up with his predecessor i.e. her first husband Marvin a real sharp wheeler-dealer who provides the bemused Carl with an old Food Truck.

The Truck is in a real dilapidated state but after a touch of fairy dust and a hell of a lot of elbow grease, the van is soon shiny just like new. Thanks mainly to the fact his son Percy is there to help, and also his ex-assistant chef Martin, who hearing about the truck, packs in his job in LA and hops on a plane and turns up unannounced in Miami volunteering his services.

They start a dry run making and selling traditional cubano sandwiches on South Beach, before starting a road-trip adventure driving the truck across the country back home to California.  It gives Carl a chance to get back to his roots and cook authentic food but more importantly an opportunity to bond with his son Percy for the first time since he left home. Percy's role is not just as prep chef but also the social media expert of the group and his regular twitter feeds ensure that there are large crowds awaiting them in Austin Texas, New Orleans and all the other colorful stops they make.

This very touching tale about rediscovering oneself and having a second chance has a predictable ending but its the journey that it takes that makes it the real delight that it is. With cameos by a barely unrecognisable Scarlett Johansson as a smouldering sexy Maitre'd, Dustin Hoffman as the grumpy restaurant owner, Oliver Platt as the Critic, Bobby Cannavale as an hilarious insecure Sous Chef, Amy Sedaris as a push P.R., and an hilarious scene-stealing turn by Robert Downey Jnr as Marvin the ex husband. Inez, Carl's ex wife was played by Sofía Vergara in a quieter version of her 'Modern Family' role that she plays for every part she is in, and John Leguizamo was Martin the other chef. However Mr. Downey Jr wasn't the only performance that totally charmed the audience, as 11 year old 'veteran' actor Emjay Anthony was completely enchanting as young Percy.

I had the pleasure of seeing this preview in an invited audience at O Cinema in Miami that included several local celebrity chefs, and we were all overjoyed by the way that Mr Favreau had lovingly portrayed what we unanimous agreed was an authentic view of our city. Not just the famous sights and sounds of Little Havana but even the comic behaviour of the Miami Beach police officer who was insisting that they move the Truck but not before he had his own 5 minutes of fame, which any local here will tell you is sadly very accurate.  But also Mr Favreau treated all the cooking scenes with such sheer passion and in great detail that we all left literally drooling and rushing to the nearest restaurant in our Wynwood district.

Sheer joy, and a great perk being able to see this gloriously warm and funny movie before it opens nationwide very soon.

P.S. And the biggest laugh that came from this knowing local bunch was when Inez was trying to explain why none of her household staff couldnt accompany her to Miami .....'you know that they cannot get on a plane'........

★★★★★★★★

OMAR

In the opening scene we see Omar scaling the impossible high wall that the Occupying Forces have erected that not just separates Palestinians from Jews, but also Palestinians from each other. He is going to meet up with his best friends Tarak and Amjad to plan their first ever terrorist activity.  Tarak mentions a Brigade Commander but it seems evidently when the three of them set out a few nights later, they are acting on their own accord. They succeed in their intentions of killing an Israeli soldier, but that puts them immediately on a Wanted list as there is no way that the authorities are going to let anyone get away with assassinating one of their own.

With great speed they track the three men down in the days that follow and manage to capture Omar, and its soon clear to them that there is a traitor in their midst who has betrayed them.  Behind bars, Omar is subject to some very brutal and vicious torture that is carried out by his interrogators but even so he refuses to give in and name names.  He is however later tricked by one of them dressed as another prisoner to make an incriminating statement that could get him a 90 year jail sentence if he ever went  to Court. Instead he reluctantly agrees to act as a spy for the Israelis and he is freed from jail on the condition that he names and locate the actual gunman.

Whilst this has all been going on Omar has been conducting a secretive and totally pure courtship with Nadia who is Tarak's younger sister.  So far it has just consisted on stolen moments together and the frequent exchange of letters but the couple have declared their love for each other and now want to find the right moment to seek Tarak's approval.

Meanwhile learning of the deal that Omar has been forced to agree too, Tarak decides that Omar should give the Israelis the information that they want and they will set up an ambush when they come and collect.  It all goes horribly wrong and Omar is once again back in jail and beaten up not just by the Israeli authorities this time but also by the other inmates who believe that Omar had collaborated with the other side so that the ambush would fail.  He pleads with his Captors to be let out one last time on the condition that he will not fail to bring them Tarak dead or alive.

Now on the outside again even Nadia accuses him of being the group's traitor, but at the same time, it is obvious that she has secrets of her own to hide.  As does Amjad too, and it looks like with the Israelis close on everyone's trail, no-one will get out of this in tact.

This very taut and tense thriller that is part romance and also part melodrama humanises a very tough way of life in an Occupied country where really no-body is a winner.  Omar, a baker by trade, is too emotional and sensitive to be the hard-bitten killer the other Palestinians want him to be.  He would risk it all, including his life, for Nadia but his faith in her and the 'cause' are so tested, it makes him re-think everything.

Omar is played by a relatively unknown actor Adam

Bakr in a stirring and moving performance.  It helps too that the man is strikingly handsome and extremely fit as constantly trying to avoid the Police he seems to spend half the movie jumping from one roof top to another.  The final scene stuns you into silence, and rounds out what is a rather wonderful gripping movie that was good enough to be nominated for a Best Foreign Picture Oscar.

★★★★★★★★★

Available on Amazon

THE UNKNOWN KNOWN

Oscar winning filmmaker and documentarian extraordinaire Errol Morris's latest 'subject' makes for compelling viewing even though he is best summed up by two very simple words 'smug' and 'arrogant'. Donald Henry Rumsfeld seems to have more lives than a cat since he first burst into the public arena in 1962 when he was elected to Congress at the tender age of 30. The President at the time..... Nixon... quickly appointed him to some high-flying jobs, one even at Cabinet level before he was whisked off to Belgium to be the US Ambassador to NATO.

The timing, as often the case in Rumsfeld's ascent, couldn't have been better.  Far away in Europe he escaped the aftermath of the whole Watergate scandal that brought down Nixon and so many of his close Aides.  The President was undone by his insistance on taping every single conversation he had in the White House, and interesting enough, Morris unearthed one in particular where Nixon was telling Haldeman that Rumsfeld should go as he 'wasn't one of them'.

He not only survived but was called back to Washington to become Gerald Ford's Chief of Staff (the youngest to hold the post) and Rumsfeld chose his old friend Dick Cheney to be his Deputy. The President then named Rumsfeld as the Secretary of Defense, with Cheney stepping into his still warm shoes.

Ford's defeat meant that Rumsfeld was back in business with a couple of lucrative positions until he got the call to come back to Washington in 2001 by the U.S. Vice President, who was none other than his old deputy Dick Cheney.   This time Rumsfeld became the oldest Secretary of Defense, and now a neoconservative was responsible for not only shaping the Government's response to 9/11 but for his agressive stance of starting and maintaining the wars in Afganistan and Iraq.

Rumsfeld is a highly intelligent man and extremely articulate (when he wants to be) and has the infuriating habit of making these convoluted statements that leave you thinking WTF! When he discusses the line for justifying the absence of evidence regarding Iraq's non-existing nuclear arsenal (on which war was justified) he adds the evidence of absence should also be considered. I.E. no-one proved he was actually wrong!

As well as several oblique references to the number of times that Rumsfeld was described as Machiavellian in the way that he maneuvered his ascending career at by rough-riding over others, there was his constant habit of passing the buck. He made no qualms in claiming that the warmonger was Secretary of State Colin Powell, and that he simply backed him up.  But then again, in his obsession at being the closest ally to the President he made no bones about the fact that he would publicly humiliate Condoleezza Rice if he didn't get his own way.

Morris was the perfect interviewer for Rumsfeld as his line of questioning was thorough and very well researched but never confrontational like other doc. makers such as Michael Moore. Rumsfeld rarely missed the beat with his well rehearsed and considered responses which were in sharp contrast to the Press Conferences that he held at the Defense Department. They showed him patronizing and dismissive and downright arrogant as he stumbled over legitimate questions he did not, and would not answer.  In hindsight it amazes me that he got away with these appalling performances for so long. He was always (as Margaret Thatcher once penned) 'economical with truth' , and still is according to some of his responses to Morris.

When Bush eventually fired him in 2006 it was hard to tell if he was any worse than the people who remained in that Administration, but sad that he, and the others in Bush's team have never really been held accountable for some of their very questionable actions especially the ones that resulted in so many deaths of Americans and others.

The final words of the film belong to Rumsfeld, when a rather incredulous Morris asks him why he agreed to sit down with him in the first place.  Rumsfeld replies 'that is a viscous question' and with his customary smirk over his face added. 'I'd be damned if I  know'

P.S. Lest I forget : great soundtrack by Danny Elfman

★★★★★★★★★

Available on Amazon

DANCING IN JAFFA

Renowned world champion ballroom dancer Pierre  Dulaine returns to his home town of Jaffa for the very first time since his family fled when he was just 4 years old. At that time when the state of Israel was established the majority of the Arab population were pushed out, and those that remained became Palestinian Israelis. Sixty years on it is still a deeply divided city and Dulaine believes that through his program of teaching children to dance he can break through some of the political and cultural differences and bring a moment of unity that hopefully may even endure.

Enlisting the support of six local schools, all but one segregated by religion, he realises early on that his task will not be an easy one. What he is asking them is literally that they dance with the 'enemy' which both the parents and the children themselves have deep reservations about, especially as it doesn't just involve close social interactions but physical touching between the children.

At the beginning Dulaine struggles to hide his sheer frustration that despite all his charm and elegance he seems to simply fail to convince many of the reluctant children of how much they would enjoy learning to dance if they would just at least try it. Things start to improve when his ex dancing partner Yvonne Marceau flies in for a visit so that she can help demonstrate all the dances he is trying to teach them. The children are entranced by the elegant Marceau and in response to their questions about his 35 year old professional relationship with her, Dulaine tells the children that 'you don't have to marry everyone you dance with!' 

As the weeks pass, the camera follows a handful of the children around so we can see how this new activity will impact on their particular lives.  They include Noor a slightly chubby Palestinian girl who seems to have no friends and who lives alone with her unemployed mother.  Her unhappiness with her lot is carried through to school where she is often in trouble for being a disruptive influence and a bully. She is not initially keen on the dancing lessons especially as none of the boys want to be her partner, but when Dulaine selects her to be part of the team to represent her school in the Competition they have been working towards, she somehow remarkably transforms into a totally different, and rather charming, young lady. 

It is actually a reflection of Dulaine's success that by the time it comes to naming the children that will make up the teams, some of the unlucky ones who are so upset that they didn't make the cut, round on him demanding explanations.

The day of the Competition in the packed local Community Hall the atmosphere is rife with excitement. Palestinian mothers sit next to Jewish parents to watch their children dance with other children from other schools and other faiths.  And somehow the patient Dulaine with his irrepressible good humor has turned these once reluctant and clumsy ugly ducklings into graceful swans that just glide around the dance floor.  It is a rather sensational success and one that we could have never have forecasted after watching Dulaine struggle to break the children's initial deep rooted resistance. The main pay-off was not who won medals of the gold cup, but the scenes in the days after when Arab children and playing with their new Jewish friends, something that no-one would have ever deemed feasible just a few weeks ago.

This enchanting documentary from prolific filmmaker Hilla Medalia (also has just released the excellent 'Web Junkie') cannot avoid being compared to 'Mad Hot Ballroom' an highly emotional roller-coaster story of kids in New York Public Schools getting addicted to a mean tango too. Both movies so beautifully prove their point that dancing like this not only crosses the divide but is a great eye-opener as to how it affects the children's social behaviour and attitudes.

This is a heartwarming tale beautifully told that makes one feel so greatly encouraged that one man's vision of putting something back into society could pay off so handsomely.

Unmissable.

★★★★★★★★★

ALFRED & JAKOBINE

When a young pretty Danish girl was broke and stranded in Japan she asked a handsome American seamen in the Port in Yokohama for help, and a couple of bottles of Sake later, she was smuggled aboard his ship that was setting sail for Casablanca. A few days into the voyage they had fallen madly in love, and he was quick to declare to her that he wanted them to have a baby together.  Some sixty years later, now an 80 year old woman, she reminisces that it was the only thing in her life that he promised that ever came true.

The rather wonderful but patchy love story of Alfred and Jakobine as retold in this new documentary by filmmakers Jonathan Howells and Tim Roberts really kicks off in 1955 when Alfred stumbles over an old London taxi in Casablanca and decides that the two of them should cross the Sahara Desert in it. After parting with the princely sum of $80 the taxi is theirs and the young couple set off on a trip of a lifetime.

Seven years and several continents later after more than a few brushes with danger and death the couple, complete with Taxi, end up back in Japan and when news of their travels goes public, they become media celebrities there for a while.  They then load the taxi back onboard a ship and set sail again, this time across the ocean and back home to the US to finally settle down.

For Jakobine the journey with the man she loved totally fulfilled her every dream, but for Alfred it had just been an awakening to the fact that this had defined him and who he was, and that didn't entail being a husband.  One day after being in their house in Connecticut for a couple of years, he came home from University, took a photograph of Jakobine from his desk and just left home for good. No word and no goodbye. Jakobine recalls now that she was so devastated that she didn't stop crying for two years.

She did however manage to inveigle Alfred to come back for just night a couple of years later and make him give her the child he had always promised her. She was lucky because it worked, and when her son Neils was born, she felt happy again at last.

Now nearly 50 years later, Alfred aged 84 and living the life of a loner in a shabby decrepit Trailer in New Mexico has a plan. He still has the rusty remains of the old taxi and he wants to get it fixed up once more for a final roadtrip right across the Country to see Jakobine for the last time.  He inveigles on Neils, who he has had very little to contact with over the years, to come and help him. Although he has ambiguous feelings about his absent father he agrees to the plan, and to keeping it a secret from his mother.

Jakobine has long since remarried to a younger man called Rusty who has filled her life with joy, but not totally replaced Alfred in her heart.

Some $6000 later the two men set out on their intrepid journey in restored taxi which appears to be in as fragile health as its owner.  Both somehow they both make it, and also the days on the road as they motored on slowly, gave father and son their very first chance to bond.  When they finally turn up un-announced in the drive way of Jakobine's house, her reactions are very telling. The appearance of the man she loved so passionately and the car represented all those good and wild times they had together stirred up many memories for her.  It seemed also that Alfred's notion had also paid off as it gave them both a chance to heal and say goodbyes properly. 

Alfred died some six months later but not before he had trekked a rather exhausting schedule of far flung countries on his own that would take most of us decades to get around to visiting.

Using a whole wealth of home-movie archive footage and combining it with filming both the Taxi's last journey and current interviews it shows what is undoubtedly a unique and passionate relationship that lasted one way or another over 60 years simply because it was deeper and more profound than most conventional ones.  As each of these rather wonderful old people recounted their stories they were as vivid in their minds as if they had just happened yesterday, and both of them had irrepressible twinkles in their eyes as their memories came flooding out.  It's so really hard not to like them or their remarkable story.

Highly recommended

P.S. Currently showing at the Hot Docs Festival in Canada I am going to track this one and update this here when the movie rolls out more.

★★★★★★★★

Alfred & Jakobine: Official Trailer from Jonathan Howells on Vimeo.

LIFE ACCORDING TO SAM

In the same manner that movie theaters hand out glasses when you go to see a 3D movie, then you should be giving a box of Kleenex if you are ever fortunate to see this heartbreaking about one exceptionally wonderful and precocious teenager. The fact that Sam's story is so remarkably moving is not so much about the prognosis of his medical condition but because of his seemingly limitless charisma and the sheer love that binds his family with their unwavering optimism and determination.

Sometime in the mid 90's two young medical students at Brown University met, fell in love, married and then on October 23rd 1996 they had a baby.  There names were Leslie Gordon and Scott Berns, and Sam was their child.  By the time he was 2 years old it was obvious to them that something was amiss with Sam and after a great many tests and examinations he was finally diagnosed with having Progeria. This is fatal disease that is so rare it that it only affects 1 in 4 million, and at any time there are just some 200/250 children in the world suffering from it.

It is essentially a rapid-aging disease resulting in stunted growth, elderly looking skin, brittle bones, and other symptoms associated with advanced age. Inevitably, children with progeria die from a heart attack or stroke in their early teens. There is no known treatment or cure for this.

Instead of falling apart at this devastating news his mother Leslie in the middle of her pediatrician training simply changed track and started to do genetics research to investigate the disease to help find a cure and buy as much time possible for Sam and other kids.

The movie starts when Sam is now 13 which is the median age for children with his condition. His parents have raised $1.25 million and launched the Progeria Research Foundation which has successfully discovered the progeria gene.  This in turn led them to doing clinical trials of a promising drug called lonafarnib on 26 patients.

As the trial progressed more patients came forward but under the strict rules that are laid down by the authorities Leslie Gordon and her team had to reluctantly turn them away with a promise that if they were successful and the drug was approved then they would be amongst the first to have it prescribed. That is little comfort to a child who simply does not have the luxury of time to spare or waste. The Team had already made a controversial decision not to give any of the trial patients a placebo as is the norm as they considered that somewhat immoral in this situation, not a view shared by the Medical journals whose opinions were paramount to the outcome of the trial.

When the trials are over and the very encouraging results are written up in a report, they are rejected by the first two Journals. The third one asked for some clarification and a rewrite, and then finally after another interminably long wait, decides to publish it. This not a cure, but the very first glimmer of real hope as it did show that it reversed changes in blood vessels that usually lead to heart attacks and strokes, which was a major step forward.  The next study which is now under way is to see whether combining lonafarnib with two other drugs will work even better. 

Throughout the years the film follows the mother's involvement spearheading the research it also witnesses Sam graduating junior High with honors and it is obvious that his wisdom is not restricted to his academic work as he is uncharacteristically profound and optimistic for a person of his age.  His parents rightly encourage him into accepting that everything is within his reach and worth trying for, and when the bandmaster hesitates about Sam's strength to fulfill his dream of playing drums, they just quietly find a solution.

We see an infectiously happy young man enjoying life to the fullest despite the limitations his health may try and impose on him.  He wants to prove that he is better than the norm, and he does by going against all predictions and celebrating his 14th, 15th and 16th birthdays during the course of this documentary.  His are the words that we hear at the start when he explains why he agreed to be a part of the film. He says that he didn't put himself in front of us to make us feel bad about about him.  He did it so that we wouldn't feel bad, but actually appreciate who he really was.

He certainly achieved that.  His example, and that of his parents, will probably render you speechless. His mother has won countless awards for her work (she is also a physician on the faculty of Boston Children's Hospital and Brown University), and you know that there is only thing she will ever differ from Sam on. It's when he is calmly discussing his impending death like the wise old soul that he is and he says his mom will be able to let go of her arduous search for the cure and rest once he has gone.  We know that she never will.

This documentary by Oscar winning filmmakers Sean Fine & Andrea Nix is due to be shown on HBO soon, and is currently available on Amazon VOD.

★★★★★★★★★

Life According To Sam - Trailer from Fine Films on Vimeo.

GLORIA

The moment we first glimpse Gloria the whole screen simply comes alive capturing the essence of this intoxicating vibrant woman. She's at a mixer in her hometown of Santiago for other mature and older single people who are hoping the heady combination of Latin dance music and alcohol will help them make a romantic connection. Gloria makes an awkward stab at conversation with a man she thinks she knows and even after they dance tightly entwined and quite provocatively, she still goes home alone with only her neighbors ugly bald cat for company.

Gloria is an attractive 50-something year old divorcee with a pair of twinkling eyes and an infectious smile that never seems to leave her face.  Sadly her boundless enthusiasm for life seems wasted on potential suitors and lost on her two grown up self-centered children who have little time for her. On her next visit to the Singles Club however Gloria espies an attractive older man who takes an instant shine to her and in a very short space of time the two have embarked on a passionate romance.

Rodolfo is also divorced but by the constant ringing of his cell-phone its very clear he is not out of the clutches of his ex-wife or their two grown up daughters who he is still expected to completely support financially and emotionally 24/7.  What starts as an irritation soon becomes a major obstacle in the way of any relationship that he can ever establish with Gloria. Especially when he keeps running off and leaving her in a lurch at a moments notice just to appease his whining family.

One of Gloria's greatest strengths (or weaknesses?) is her resilience.  Even when her own offspring mock her choices in life and men, she is nothing less than magnanimous with them in return.  And when Rodolfo doesn't deserve a second chance, she still gives him one and throws herself into it wholeheartedly although she must have an inkling that it will fail ignominiously.  Even when her attempts at a shot of happiness do not work out, Gloria is not to pitied as she is a fighter and when at she finally ends up alone on the dance floor singing along to the song Gloria', it is somehow a moment of pure joy that you cannot help but want to celebrate too.

The movie owes its success completely to the tour-de-force performance of its star Paulina Garcia who is simply electrifyingly wonderful.  No holds, barred even in the lovemaking scenes which are frankly rare and bold given the maturity of the two leads.  Kudos to director & co-writer Sebastián Lelio for leaving enough loose strands in the plot line to pump up our imagination more.

Unmissable.

Available from  Amazon

★★★★★★★★★

ONE CHANCE

We Brits evidently love an underdog breaking through. In 2007, two years before Susan Boyle dramatically assailed the musical world, a chubby and rather insignificant mobile phone salesman from Wales won the first ever 'Britain's Got Talent' Competition on television.  The name of this unlikely winner singing Puccini's aria 'Nessun dorma' was Paul Potts, and this is the story of his life. Well the Hollywood adapted version of it anyway.

In an attempt to re-conjure the spirit of Billy Elliot, in the movie Paul is from Port Talbot a heavily industrialised town in South Wales where he, and his shop manager, appear to be the only men not working in the Steel Mills.  Paul's been overweight and bullied by the same local thugs since he was a school, and even his own father relentlessly teases him about his size and his obsession with singing.  Only his mother wants to encourage him .... to both eat and sing .....but then so too does the girl that he has been wooing online for the past 6 months.  He confides to both women that his dream is to go train his voice at School on Venice where the great Pavarotti is an invigilator.

He makes it to Italy but his insecurities and nerves get the better of him, and he messes up his big break big time.  Back in Wales and back in hospital ..... the man is also a walking medical disaster and is always breaking/injuring something ..... but this time its on the eve of his 2nd big break when he had been offered the lead with the local amateur opera group.

And then when one night when he is online chatting with Julz (who he has at last met in person) an advert pops up on screen for the new TV Talent Show,  and the rest is history.  Even the ubiquitous Simon Cowell (playing himself on screen) is shocked at how good Paul is .... as are we as it's the 'real' Paul Pott's voice that James Corden the actor is miming too. 

It's a very cheesy biopic about an unquestionably talented man who simply didn't really have quite the sad life of a loser until his big win as portrayed here.   In real life Potts got a Bachelor of Humanities Degree and was a respected local Liberal Democrat Counsellor for years.  However this piece of fiction is made more interesting with a very watchable performance by the likable Corden, known in the UK for co-writing an starring in TV's Gavin & Stacey and in the US for his Tony winning performance for 'One Man Two Guvnors'.  Great performances too by Alexandra Roach (Young Margaret Thatcher in 'The Iron Lady') as Julz, and the irrepressibly wonderful Julie Walters as the mother.

Despite their best efforts this is no way another exhilerating Billy Elliot rags to stardom story, but if you like a bit of shmaltz with your some opera, then this one is for you.

★★★★★★

NINE

The story of Nine is loosely based on Federico Fellini’s  (masterpiece) movie ‘8 ½’, which itself is even more loosely based on Snr. Fellini’s own life.  At middle age, the Italian filmmaker found himself with a bad case of writer’s block, and whilst the words wouldn’t come, a lot of memories about the women he slept with did.  Thinking about the women was much easier than working on a script, but ultimately after his struggles with all his turmoil he eventually gets back to the mistress he loves the best, his work.

This star-studded cast film version of the Tony Award winning musical had all the potential of being the smash hit of the season, but it is in fact one of the biggest duds.  From the miscasting of Daniel (I’ve-got-to-ham-it-up-for-another-Oscar) Day Lewis (they should have kept to first choice of Javier Badem) to a galaxy of so many superstars who are giving little chance to develop any characters at all, and the hackneyed choreography that the NY Times so aptly described as a Victoria Secrets Lingerie Show, but without the class. 

A wasted opportunity of a good idea, and the only thing that redeemed this movie was the presence of Marion Cotillard as the director’s put on wife.  She shines even in this mess.

(reproduced from my original 2009 review)

Available from Amazon