HUMAN CAPITAL aka Il Capitale Umano

On a snowy wintry night in a small town in the suburbs of Milan, after he has worked at an Awards Evening for the local school, a waiter jumps on his bike to make his way home.  However before he can get there, he is run over by a hit-and-run driver who leaves him at the side of the road to die. This tragedy affects many more people than the ones involved in the accident, and this complicated multi-layered drama is the tale of a number of people from all walks of life who end up embroiled.

Director/screenwriter Paolo Virzì tells this story in three chapters through different sets of eyes, and each re-telling of the same events has its own particular focus.  

The first one is 'Dino' and it starts 6 months earlier when Dino is dropping off his teenage daughter Serana at her boyfriend's family fancy villa. Massimiliano and she go to the same school together even though they come from totally opposite ends of the social scale.

Massimiliano's father Giovanni runs a major international hedge-fund, and Dino a small-time real estate broker is desperate to be allowed to invest in the fund.  As it happens that particular day Giovanni is short of a tennis partner and so the anxious-to-please Dino wangles his way on the court and into the Fund.  He mortgages his business and house to find the necessary minimum ¢500,000 investment without telling his new second wife who is expecting a child.  You know its not going to end up well for him even then.

The second chapter is named 'Carla' after Giovanni's insecure socialite wife who is bored to tears as she is always left to her own devices by her neglectful wheeler-dealer husband. An ex-amateur actress, Carla persuades an indulgent Giovanni to save the local dilapidated theater for the sake of the town's culture, but he does it to make a quick buck on the property.  She at least gets to have a one night stand with the theater director as a way of compensation.

The final chapter is the one on 'Serena' who has been keeping dumb to the Police on who actually drove Massimilani's car the night it hit the driver. This is where all the loose ends of the story get tied together and as the Fund fails both Dino and Giovanni's wives act like they are both completely in shock at discovering their husband's greed. Dino had believed the myth that easy money was just that, and it would bring him happiness too, whilst Giovanni used it as a tool simply to buy anything and anybody he wanted, including his son's freedom.

This very Italian tale was surprisingly adapted from an American best-selling novel in which the action had been set in Connecticut. Avarice is avarice wherever it is. Although the emphasis was on the menfolk, in this movie, it was the three women's performances that were the attention grabbers: newbie Serena Ossola in her first screen role as Serena, Valeria Golino in the small but vital part of Roberta, Dino's wife, and the stunning Valeria Bruni Tedeschi who picked up the Best Actress Award at Tribeca Film Festival for her excellent portrayal of the neurotic Carla.

The morals may be loose but the pace is fast and consuming in this look at capitalism in crisis.  It's a sorry tale, but one that is told very well.

★★★★★★★★

FRANK

Frank is way beyond odd. He is the mentally ill front man of a Band who insist on creating such impossibly bad music that no-one will ever want to hear them. And to that end he/they are very successful.  He also insists on wearing a giant expressionless papermache head/mask at all times onstage and off : even in bed and in the showers. And as for some reason all the other members of the band regard Frank as cult figure, they find that perfectly acceptable. 

One night after the band's keyboard players tries to top himself, Jon an office geek who spends all his spare time composing dreadful songs about his work mates or anyone he passes in the street, steps up and offers his services. After Don the Manager ratifies he knows how to play C, F & G, then Jon's got the job and is now a full member of the band with the unpronounceable name : The Soronprfbs. 

The  band includes Clara the ice-cold theremin player who has the hots for Frank and deeply dislikes everyone. Especially Jon although it doesn't stop her sleeping with him. Whilst she and Frank insist on creating experimental abstract pieces Jon is desperate to be playing something more akin to the banal pop songs that he is addicted too. Its obvious that this is not going to pan out well, and when they reach the SXSW Festival it all falls apart.

Lenny Abrahamson's completely bizarre but unquestionable genius comedy is actually based on a real life Frank.  Writer Jon Ronson played in such a band led by an English comedian/musician Chris Sievey who developed a persona known as Frank Sidebottom, complete with paper mache head. The setting here though is the US and the story is total fictional.  Mainly. But by all accounts that I have read, the movie completely captures the manic originality of the demonic Sidebottom that is never far from being sheer ridiculous.

Director Abrahamson scored well in persuading the multi-talented Michael Fassbinder to don the mask and grunt his way so effectively through the movie. Perfect casting too with redhead Irish Domhnall Gleeson ('About Time') as the nerdy Jon and the deliciously funny Maggie Gylenhaal as the woman of mystery, Claire.

This movie is definitely an acquired taste.  But if you like quirky, totally off-the-wall, odd-ball humor, then you will so love this one. Unlike the eccentric music, there is much to really savor and enjoy in this weird and wonderful comedy.

★★★★★★★★

AN HONEST LIAR

Born in 1928, when he reached the ripe old age of 17 James (The Amazing) Randi ran away from home to join the circus as he wanted to become a escape artist like The Great Houdini.  By all accounts from this engrossing new documentary on his life by filmmakers Tyler Measom & Justin Weinstein he eventually achieved his goal and could have possibly been even better than his idol if an injury hadn't brought a sharp halt to him performing his very dangerous stunts.  He succeeded at his craft because he was an avid student of stage magic and escape artistry and with his very particular logical approach to his act he could fathom out the most intricate routines.

For the next part of his life he focused on exposing what he called 'shameless charlatans' who used a wide variety of lies and deceit to fool an unwitting public.  His success at doing this made him something of a media darling as he triumphantly unmasked some of the more successful fakers.  Two of them featured in the movie made for very entertaining viewing included the fraudulent Evangelical Minister Peter Popoff who  despicably claimed to be able to heal the incurable by listening to the Word of God : turns out that it was his wife feeding him lines through a tiny radio earpiece. Unmasking Uri Geller the physic also seemed easy for Randi and he even ensured that none of his spoon bending tricks would work on a live performance of a Johnny Carson TV Show. Popoff filed for bankruptcy as a result, but years later he's now back and thumping his bible and extracting more money by other means from a willing and gullible pubic. A very bitter Geller also reinvented himself and tried to reverse the claims about his trickery by naming Randi as the actual one misleading the public. 

Randi wanted to go one further than just debunking the feats of these con-artists, and actually refute the evidence of the scientists who legitimised many of the suspect claims with publishing their research. He not only proved to have a remarkable talent for fooling the experts with a 'fake' prophet that he invented, he also surprised them (and us) for falling in love with him too.

The third part of Randi's fascinating story deals with his personal life and how he spent the last 25 years of it in a committed relationship with the much younger Jose Alvarez who he had randomly met in a library. After Alvarez played the part of Carlos the fake prophet he established his own career as an artist.  It is he that packs the final punch in this tale when the Police turn up unannounced at  their home with an Warrant for his arrest. Turns out that Alvarez is not who he said he was and has been living with a stolen identity.  It is a cruel twist of fate for the man who is an honest liar, or is it??

Randi is undoubtedly a charismatic, highly intelligent and extremely amusing man that you simply cannot help but be drawn too.  And people like Alice Cooper and magician Penn Jillette are happy to testify to that. An expert self-publicist he insured that he was always in the public eye, and if it wasn't doing tricks then he would be doing something equally visible like performing on an episode of Happy Days with the Fonz.  He came 'out of closet' at the ripe old age of 82 years old and now 4 years later with his partner in jail suddenly his smile finally disappears along with his confidence and he asks the filmmakers to turn the cameras off. However like the expert escape artist that he truly is, this is far from the end.

This was an unexpected treat about a man who I confess I had never heard of prior, but he is an audacious and brave one that I so enjoyed learning about.  And anyone who dislikes Mr Geller as much as I do, simply cannot be all bad.

★★★★★★★★

An Honest Liar OFFICIAL TRAILER from Justin Weinstein on Vimeo.

ALIVE INSIDE

I cannot remember exactly how social worker Dan Cohen came across his amazing discovery but what we can see from this heart-warming documentary about him putting it in to practice is the undisguised joy from all the people who are reaping from his 'invention'. Cohen established that elderly hospitalized patients numbed the cruel ravages of Alzheimer's disease and dementia literally come alive listening to their favorite music.  It is quite miraculous and remarkable and such a joyous sight.

In this movie from newbie director Michael Rossato-Bennett  we see a few of the people that Cohen has managed to help so far simply by somehow finding out which particular music they like and uploading onto their own personal ipod.  There is Henry who rarely acknowledged anyone now swaying to the Cab Calloway and belting out 'I'll be home for Christmas'. With inert John an extremely morose Army Vet it was the music of the Andrews Sisters that had him tapping his feet, and for Denise a bipolar schizophrenic the sound of Schubert has her discarding the walking frame she has been attached too for years and literally dancing.

The eminent neurologist Oliver Sacks explaining about some of the scientific specifics of memory loss points out that musical memories generally escape even the most severe cases of Alzheimer's. This is backed up with testimony from scientists, nursing home workers and activists about the power of music to awaken those feelings and memories from the past. But the best proof, and the highlight of this very moving documentary, are the patients whose very restricted lives are transformed with Cohen's help.

The snag is that although each Ipod may cost just $40 there is no provision in medical research or funding to finance them even though they are doing each of the fortunate recipients a power of good that they simply do not get from their expensive regimes of drugs.  Since 2006 Cohen's non-profit organisation Music & Memory have been developing their goal to be able to offer these personalised MP3 to as many Care Facilities as they can raise Funds for.  So far thanks to very generous private donors and Foundations their work has spread but with some 16000 Nursing Homes in the US alone with over 5 million people with dementia they still have a long way to go.

Not a perfect documentary technically but the subject matter is powerful enough for you to overlook its shortcomings.  And if you are as moved as most people who watch this (it won another Audience Favorite Award this week at the Provincetown Film Festival) then you can make a contribution too via https://musicandmemory.org/donate-now/.

★★★★★★★

Alive Inside Official Trailer from Alive Inside on Vimeo.

DIOR AND I

Bernard Arnault, the CEO of LMVH took a year to decide on who to appoint as the new Creative Director of DIOR after the unceremonious  firing of John Galliano for his very public display of anti-semitism (alleged). The interim in-house designer's collection had been very poorly received so Arnault knew that he had to think outside of the box to save the reputation of the House.  His unexpected choice was the Belgian Designer Raf Simons who had made a name for himself with his sublime minimalist collections for the Jil Sander label. Even though Simons had never designed a Haute Couture collection, Arnault threw him into deep end making this his first task and giving him just two short months to do it.

The Company also gave filmmaker Frédéric Tcheng  what initially seemed like carte blanche to film the whole process from the time that Simons was first introduced to his new team right through to the Runway Show itself. Tcheng was a wise choice as he had been part of the team who had made the Diane Vreeland documentary The Eye Must Travel and the equally excellent 'Valentino The Last Emperor'.  This time however he was to be the sole director.

Simons is a quiet reserved man which is the total opposite of his predecessor and relies completely on his right hand man Pieter Muller who is more open and approachable to execute a great deal of the work.  Simons, who insists on doing away with the traditional formality of the House and been called Raf by one and all, creates in a very democratic manner. A very visual man who never actually sketches, he compiles extensive 'mood boards' of the 'looks' that he wants to constitute his debut collection that has to be good enough to lift Dior out of its current doldrums.

He is not only fortunate enough to have a design team who are both eager and very capable of interpreting his concepts into reality, he has two workrooms who have for decades been lovingly hand-making all the couture clothes up in the attic floors of the building.  Managed by two Ateliers (one for tailoring, the other for dresses) they are staffed by a dedicated bunch of seamstresses who at times seemed to show far more passion about the actual collection than their new Creative Director.

Simons can, and does get anything he wants to help make this collection even if it means his fabric buyer must beg and plead with her printers, or if the seamstresses work into the early hours of the morning. Tcheng gives us a fascinating fly-on-the-wall look at how it all comes together, but apart from one incident when a Atelier is in New York doing a fitting for a customer ratter than toiling away upstairs in the Workroom, the whole process is presented as being totally drama free which is so completely unrealistic. There is one very real and funny moment when Simons wants a new white jacket made in black, and so to see what it would like like, Muller just takes a can of spray paint and the offending white is covered over.

Tcheng gets full marks for the innovative way that he incorporates part of the legacy of Mr Dior himself by imagery and narrating parts of the Couturier's own biography.  Simons is also aware of what he has inherited by stepping into the legendary Designers shoes (although he is the 7th one to date to have dine so). Whilst he looks through the House's archives as part of his research, he makes a point of stating 'the past is not romantic to me : its the future that is romantic.'

For a venue for the Show itself they find an empty very grand house in the centre of Paris and whilst walking around its many floors with his team, Simons says that what he would like to do is take the concept of Jeff Koons Puppy (outside Guggenheim in Bilabo) and cover the interior with walls of flowers. What Simons wants Simons gets, although when Arnault comes in to see a test run of the walls he takes the PR Director away from the prying camera when he asks 'how much is this going to cost?' Whatever the answer was he still stumps up for it and come Show Day and Simons is walking Anna Wintour into the venue to face this stunning beautiful sight, she takes off her dark glasses for one quick moment to mutter 'No budget restrictions then?' with a smirk on her face. 

When the Show begins in front of a star-studded audience and seemingly the entire world's press, we finally get to see in full what we have only glimpsed at in part up to now i.e. the clothes themselves. They are nothing short of stunning, something that will be born out by the clamor of congratulatory hugging afterwards, and to be followed by rave reviews in the media the next day.  But now as the skinny models glide from room to room whilst every one is looking in awe, we finally see the emotional side of Simons as breaks down and quietly weeps and has to be comforted by Muller.

The lack of real drama was not the only surprise it was the fact that Belgian Simons couldn't speak French that was quite a shocker, which was hardly something that Tcheng could change.  What however he was responsible was the total absence of Galliano's name at all as if he never ever existed. Despite this unforgivable omission I was still completely enamored by this otherwise enchanting record of this very talented man and his team creating these works of art that would be admired by so many and worn by so few.

★★★★★★★★

LOVE CHLD

In 2010 a young South Korean couple were charged with manslaughter after their malnourished 3-month-old baby starved to death after they had abandoned her to go play online games at a cyber cafe for 12 hour stints. The Judge had been persuaded that their gaming addiction was technically an illness and made them not culpable for the death of their baby. The irony of the situation was that the game the two were obsessed with was called Prius and it involved them creating a avatar child which they brought up as their own.  

Filmmaker Valerie Leitch picked up on this very sad situation from a BBC News Report and hot-footed it to Seoul to make a film to tell the couple's story. What emerged was not pretty at all. The impoverished pair with somewhat limited IQ's had no emotional support and were in such denial of the reality of becoming parents, that the mother didn't actually seek any medical advise/help until the baby was about to be born.  They used gaming to provide them with a limited income, but their addiction rendered them outwardly emotionless.  The virtual world they created became the means to achieve the only happiness they had in life.

After interviewing them, and their own parents, the Police and everybody else connected to the case, Leitch took a 360 degree turn and decided to make the focus of the movie less about the plight of the couple, and more about society's attitude to all the repercussions of the combination of gaming and digital cultures which seems to be spiralling out of control.  

South Korea has one of the most advanced information and communication technology infrastructures in the world.  One of the reasons that this couple, like so many other people, preferred using Game Cafes was they offered such powerful broadbands that were not affordable/available in homes at that time. Whether that increases the possibility of a more rapid rise in electronic abuse is not clear, but then again part of the message of Leitch's take on this is that she obviously didn't agree that it could all simply be summed up as an addiction.  

What she tries to show is her belief that there is a collapse between the virtual world and the real world in terms of how we socially, spiritually and emotionally address these problems.  Its a very valid message but her presentation of it by mixing up interviews with footage of the games themselves and some psychedelic imagery was in itself confusing and somewhat messy at times.

Like other movies surfacing now that are about the excessive use of Internet gaming like 'Web Junkie', this movie highlights the problem but like the grossly inadequate Addiction Clinics, it proffers no concept of a solution or even optimism that there will be one. In the footnote to this we are told that the offending game Prius has now been withdrawn from the market .....but not for the adverse way if affects the vulnerable, but just purely for economic reasons as it simply lost its popularity.

★★★★★★

A PERFECT PLAN aka Un Plan Parfait

Isabelle is in love with Pierre. She has been so since they met at Dentistry school and now that they are all grown up and working together in their own Practice in Paris, life is perfect for the pair.  Well almost. Isabelle would like to get married, start a family and spend the rest of her life with him, but there is one thing that is getting in her way of eternal happiness in the form of her family's curse. For generations all the women in her family have divorced their first husband and never found joy until they married husband number 2. There is, Isabelle decides, only one way around this, and that is to have a quick marriage of convenience with someone else, divorce him, and then have her wedding with Pierre.

We learn all this as it is recounted at a dinner party at Isabelle's family home by Corinne, her sister, who is trying to cheer up a tearful female friend who has just been dumped.  In fact it was Corinne who had located a willing student in Copenhagen who agreed to marry and divorce Isabelle in the same day as this is evidently legally possible in Denmark.  A good idea in practice but when the 'suitor' stood her up at the airport, Isabelle panicked and hastily came up with her Plan B.

Corinne had urged her to simply grab any stranger and persuade him to be her new groom, so Isabelle latches on to the notion that the best candidate would be the rather odd loose cannon who had sat next to her on the flight up from Paris and who made a heavy-handed pass at her.  The only snag to this was that a) she had been extremely rude and patronizing to him, and b) he was just about to catch a connecting flight to Nairobi.  However neither of these facts were going to stop a determined Isabelle, so she immediately bought a ticket to go to Kenya on the same plane and start a charm offensive on this rather eccentric loner.

Jean-Yves her 'intended' is a travel writer for The Rough Guide which is a perfect excuse to make this somewhat preposterous story into a manic comic caper which takes them both literally all around the Globe. Compared to the highly successful and immaculately turned out Isabelle, Jean-Yves is a slovenly mess in every sense of the word, and the pair couldn't have been more opposites if they had tried.  Where Isabelle's life in Paris follows precisely the exact same routine every single week (e.g. she and Pierre make love every Friday evening) Jean-Yves's is completely spontaneous and rather wild.

Back in Paris an unsuspecting Pierre who has no idea that his Bride-to-be is trying to break the curse by luring a stranger to the altar before he gets there, thinks that Isabelle is abroad at a Mental Institution helping Corrine through a bad fit of depression.  After she eventually manages to trick Jean-Yves into making a dishonest woman of her, she hot foots it back to France to the man she has always loved with the plan to now marry him. But like every other scenario in this rather hectic farce, nothing ever works out quite like Isabelle thought it would.

This rather silly film was helmed by Pascal Chaumeil who had a break-out hit with his first feature film 'Heartbreakers' starring Romain Duris and Vanessa Paradis.  This new film doesn't have the same coherence and the plot does get a tad messy at times, but it is made immensely watchable by the all-consuming central performance by a rather stunning Diane Kruger as Isabelle. After wowing us as Marie Antoinette in 'The Royal Affair' (the movie she made just before this one) Miss Kruger shows that she is really at home playing comedy too.  At first it didn't appear that there was much chemistry between Isabelle and Jean-Yves but with a delightful performance by Dany Boon (who also starred in 'Joyeux Noel' with Ms Kruger) by the end of he movie, I was convinced they were a perfect match.

The movie has yet to have a theatrical release in the US which is odd when one considers that this rather nonsensical plot seems much more of a Hollywood made movie than a piece of French cinema.

Great fun and quite touching.

★★★★★★★

JIMMY'S HALL

Jimmy Gralton returned to his native Ireland in 1932 when a new Government led by Eammon de Valera took office and at last promised peace after 'the troubles'. Gralton's eldest brother had recently died and his elderly mother was left trying to scrape a living off the poor infertile land on the Farm that the local Lord of the Manor leased to them.  The whole area in this beautiful corner of Ireland had been decimated by war and was depressed by the sheer poverty of the region which seemed inescapable.

Next to Jimmy's family cottage was a rundown old small outhouse on his land that had once served as a Community Centre for the village. The moment that he returned everyone started to implore him to let them help restore the place and bring some small joy to the area again. Everyone that is except the local Catholic Priest who immediately renounced both the plan, and the people executing it, as pure evil and agents of the Devil.  Nothing went on in 'his Parish' without his permission he claimed, and when it came to the matter of classes the Centre would offer he literally blew a fit as he shouted 'education is the sole domain of the Holy Mother Church.'

The villagers finished the Hall and they all attended the opening Dance even though the Priest stood outside with his notebook and wrote down all the names which he then called out and denounced from the Pulpit the next day. But still the children attended singing and dancing classes, and the adults took part in book clubs and all sort of discussions so much so, that the Hall became the centre of the Village.  When a Tenant farmer got evicted, his pals from the IRA took him to the Hall to ask Jimmy and the others for his support.  They did so without the backing of their own IRA Commanders who, in those days, were thick as thieves with the Church as each of them were propping the other's grasp of power.

Jimmy's support, backed by the villagers, of the evicted tenant created more anger and pressure from the Priest and whilst some people caved in (he threatened to get them fired or boycott their wee businesses) Jimmy never did.  He paid dearly though as one night the Hall was burned down completely. Despite the fact that all those in Authority hated what he stood for and his sheer popularity, he was not doing anything that they could charge him with in Court of Law, so the powers-that-be in Dublin were urged to act on a technicality. Jimmy Gralton also owned an American Passport so when they eventually caught him after he went into hiding they deported him without a Trial .... the first, and last Irishman to have been evicted from his own birth country.

This rather enchanting tale of a man who could do a mean Bessie Smith impression when he showed his Irish neighbors how he had learned to 'shimmy' in New York, is based on a very real story.  It's Ken Loach's latest (and probably his last ever) movie on his take on some parts of Irish history and his most gentlest so far.  He and his usual scriptwriting partner Paul Laverty make no effort to dilute their own distaste on how the landed Gentry (mainly English), the IRA and the Church all conspired to keep the working class downtrodden and in their sorry places.  They balanced that with their portrayal of Gralton and his neighbors as unselfish and generous men with very simple ambitions and such a strong sense of love for their country, as opposed to simply what they could plunder from it.

Loach's leading man Barry Ward a handsome Irish actor known mainly for his work on television and stage was a very impressive Gralton that everyone in the Village seemed to fall in love with (save the Priest and his cronies).  Especially Oonagh played by another Irish stage actor Simone Kirby.  In fact Loach ( an Englishman) has used a mainly Irish cast and not necessarily local ones as it includes the Tony Award winning American/Irish Brían F. O'Byrne.

The words that resounded most in this great re-telling of a disturbing time in Ireland's history belong to Gralton when he faces the angry Priest for one final times and says 'There is so much hate in your heart, there cannot possibly any room left for any love at all.'

★★★★★★★★

GRACE OF MONACO

This story of the beautiful Oscar Winning movie star who swapped being Hollywood royalty for her own real life Prince Charming who swept her off her feet, starts almost at the beginning.  Its the final day on the Set of 'High Society' the last movie that Grace Kelly will ever make, and the very next day she and her entire family set sail across the ocean. There she will have the fairytale wedding that every little girl dreams about after which she will naturally live happily ever after.

We then fast forward a few years and the new Princess's two children are already school age but the magic of living in her own Palace is wearing thin, especially as she rarely sees the Prince who is always so busy with Affairs of State. She is tempted then when the director Alfred Hitchcock turns up one day clutching a new script of his next movie with a role of a lifetime for her and a paycheck of $1 million. 

However the offer has come at a most inappropriate time as the Monaco Treasury is broke and the country is in the middle of a big row with France.  It is essentially about money, but in reality it is also more about which Leader can shout loudest : De Gaulle or Rainier. The spat is littered with threats and scaremongering and as it escalates the two neighbors edge closer to the real possibility of war.

The French media, fed by their Government, are stressing that Grace is the real problem for both Rainier and Monaco which causes more friction between the Prince and his Princess. Listening to the wise old priest that she runs to every time she is upset (she's there quite a lot...) and taking his advice, Grace launches an all-out charm offensive to not only turn herself into the most perfect Consort the Principality has ever seen, but also to turn the tide of media coverage to her favor.

Her idea of stopping the impending hostilities is to throw a Grand Ball and invite tout society and world leaders, including De Gaulle, to attend. Naturally they all show up and the Princess all glowing in her white ballgown, and bedecked with the crown jewels, addresses the guests with a simpering speech about how love conquers all. There is naturally not a dry eye in the house during the standing ovation. Amongst the crowd is Robert McNamara the US Secretary of Defense who turns to the President of France and literally says 'Well, you won't be dropping any bombs on Grace now will you Charlie?' 

De Gaulle is speechless, as we are too, although having sat through almost 90 minutes of this drama that is funny in all the wrong places, we are now quite used to howlers like this.   Despite an 'A' list cast led by Nicole Kidman playing Grace who is playing Nicole Kidman, and being directed by the respected award-winning Olivier Dahan, this is one of the worst biopics I have sat through in ages.  How Miss Kidman kept a straight face  saying lines like 'Colonialism is SO last century' I will never know. Or hearing Frank Langella as the Priest churn out 'You have come to Monaco to play the greatest role of your career.'  

And Rainier (played by Tim Roth) didn't look that amused when his wife trying to cheer him up when she blurted out 'who wants this old throne anyway?' Well evidently he and the Grimaldi family who had been hanging on to it for centuries.  If only they had turned up the heart-tugging overly-dramatic soundtrack just a tad more, they could simply have drowned all of this out.

Billed as a fictional account of real events, the movie strived so hard to be light and frothy that even in the deeper moments an immaculately coiffured Grace still radiates like she didn't have a skin care in the world. Pretty to look at, this travelogue for the Monaco Tourist Board however was very careful not to include many of the poor people that Grace kept pleading she cared so much for.

There were some odd casting decisions too with Parker Posey really misplaced as an officious straight-laced Aide, and an unrecognizable Robert Lindsay who seemed so uncomfortable trying to play the arrogant shipping magnate Onassis.  Sir Derek Jacobi couldn't have been more outrageous as the Chief of Protocol, and he made think if only the whole movie had been as odd as he, it could well have turned into a fun piece of camp.

The present Grimaldi family have objected to this movie in very strong language ostensibly because they  vehemently hate the way that they have been portrayed, but probably also because they loathe bad Lifetime TV biopics too. Harvey Weinstein the American Distributor has disowned the movie too now that it hasn't a chance in hell of getting a single one of those Oscars he loves to collect.  If he does relent and actually releases the movie in the US, he'll be lucky to get his costs back.

The last word goes to Peter Bradshaw, Film Critic of the UK's The Guardian Newspaper who wrote that a new level of mediocrity in biopics had been established with the recent appalling 'Diana' about the Princess of Wales.  Now there is a new critique term he has coined which is 'it's worse than Diana' and Grace is the first one to achieve that and set the bar for mediocrity even lower.

TOPSY TURVY

In 1884 when 'Princess Ida' their latest Operetta for the D'Oyle Carte Company fails to ignite audiences like their previous hits it looks like the celebrated duo Arthur Sullivan and W.S. Gilbert's run of success may be finally over. Sullivan, although newly knighted by Queen Victoria, is depressed and ill decamps to Europe vowing never to compose light opera piece again, whilst Gilbert his stubborn partner presses on writing another libretto for their next piece.  

When the two meet again there is a stalemate in their discussions as neither will change his mind about writing another 'topsy turvy' scenario where the world always ends up being turned upside down. Meanwhile Gilbert's much-neglected wife who is always looking for ways to get some small attention from her inconsiderate husband, drags him along to an Exhibition of Japanese Culture being staged.  This is quite a novelty in Victorian London and an eye-opener for the rather staid Gilbert and it inspires him to break his traditional writing pattern, and pen what will become known as 'The Mikado' and his and Sullivan's most successful operetta ever.

The rest of the movie is about the setting up, rehearsals and all the back stage dramas behind the presentation of this musical play about an exotic Japan mounted by some very decidedly un-exotic turn-of-the-century English theater people. It's a wonderful true story and as it has been interpreted and embellished by the acclaimed Brit filmmaker Mike Leigh you know it was evolved through improvisation and collaboration as is his style. One of the hallmarks of his movies is that you know that the very talented British cast have rehearsed for months until they were literally totally immersed in their parts which in this instance in particular really makes this whole ensemble piece such a sheer delight.  It's a rich period in British musical theater and Leigh extracts all the comedy and pathos of Victorian society with such glorious relish.

The fun-loving pleasure-seeking ladies man Sullivan is desperate to be recognised as a composer of serious music (which is never going to happen) is played by veteran actor Allan Corduner. Whilst the austere righteous WS Gilbert who appears for the most part impervious to anyone else feelings, especially those of his wife's is equally brilliantly played by Jim Broadbent ( who would go on to win a Oscar 2 years later).  In fact the entire very large cast (including a glorious Timothy Spall as The Mikado) ..... chorus and all, are completely splendid.

I re-watched this movie from 1999 as it has always been one of my favorite Leigh movies, but I am evidently in a minority on this  When it opened it received favorable reviews but didn't really find its audience especially in the US where it won 2 Oscars (for costume + make up design) but never fully recovered its production costs.  That is an immense shame as not only as this has appeal to aficionados of British period costume dramas and also those of musical theater too, it is a magnificent production of a deliciously funny movie.  

★★★★★★★★

THE LUNCHBOX

Ila a young Indian housewife feels totally neglected by her husband and so her older upstairs neighbor suggests that to put some spice back into her marriage she should start with spicing up his food. Everyday she prepares a lunch box that is picked by one of Mumbai's 5000 plus white coated 'dabbawallahs' who, through a very intricate system that involves bike and trains, deliver them to people's desks in the heart of the city. As infallible as the ancient traditional system is lauded to be, for once it goes wrong and instead of reaching her spouse's desk it lands on that of a Mr Fernandes a widowed office worker nearing his retirement.

Ila soon discovers that her food has been eaten by a stranger by the mere fact that he literally licked the containers clean and is obviously much keener on her cooking than her complacent husband has ever been.  So next day she includes a brief note, and to her delight receives one back with the container that night.  The brief notes of thanks and mild criticism that follow soon begin a regular correspondence that quickly evolves from exchanging pleasantries to actually trading the type of very personal confidences which people feel more comfortable doing with perfect strangers.

Mr Fernandes has been a loner since his wife's death and his life revolves around the same desk he has sat at for the past 35 years filing Claims.  He has no friends amongst his work colleagues, and back at his apartment building even the neighborhood children steer clear of him.  Now that he is about to stop working his boss has asked him to train an irrepressible chatty young man who irritates the life out of him.  This replacement is impervious to the cold-shoulder treatment he gets and insists on trying to get as closer to his new mentor as possible.  

As the notes in the lunchbox keep coming every day, Ilo shares that she is now convinced that her husband who is rarely home is definitely having an affair, and wants out of her marriage.  Mr Fernandes agrees to meet her one day in the City for lunch, but chickens out when he catches sight of her from afar and is brought up very sharp that their age difference is much more significant than he had imagined.  They have both been clinging to the dream of a new life and a new beginning even though beyond a few daily notes, they knew hardly anything about each other.

There is something extremely refreshing to this sentimental romance that has such an old-fashioned feel to it.  Even though it is shot on location in the heart of a very contemporary bustling city its perhaps the whole notion that something as quaint as the lunchbox system still flourishes even today. Mr Fernades is played by Irrfan Khan (Adult Pi in The Life of Pi) with a perfect hangdog expressionless face as he is resigned just to put up with the rather empty life that had been doled out to him.  A relatively unknown Nimrat Kaur is perfect as Ilo whose guide through life is the unseen 'Aunty' who doles out her sanguine advice by shouting down from the upstairs window.  Ilo and Fernandes are just two lonely souls perfect for what I guess could be easily described as an Indian take on 'You've Got Mail.'

Quite delightful and a treat to watch unfold.

★★★★★★★★

ADVANCED STYLE

Five years ago Ari Seth Cohen took to the streets of Manhattan armed with his camera looking for old ladies. Not just any elderly dears but photographing fashionable women in their '70's, '80s and beyond having being inspired by his own grandmother who made him appreciate senior style icons who life live to the fullest.

His Blog which became de-rigour reading for myself and many of my friends developed into a Book and is now a delightful Documentary. A project that started out with Cohen being inspired by this tight band of eccentric women with a zest for living and a passion for their fashion has almost turned full circle as they are now enjoying the fame and celebrity that his attention has brought them from a curious world.

The ladies's stories are inspirational and a sheer joy to listen too, and the highly individual and colorful personal styles their adopt in their traffic-stopping outfits are just part of their well-conceived mantras of living every moment of the lives to the hilt, especially as they recognise that they are now in their twilight years.  Tiny red-headed 92 year old artist Illona Royce Smithkin with the biggest eyelashes I have ever seen, sums it up aptly when she say that she no longer buys green bananas as she simply cannot afford to wait for them to ripen.

Each of the group has a swathe of stories to tell and none with more than a hint of regret of lives well led ('I wish I had children' says one coyly, but adds quickly that 'taking care of all her hand made clothes is much more hard work than playing house.' There's 81 year old Jacquie 'Tajah' Murdock who was one of the original Apollo Girls in Harlem and during the course of the film, is chosen by Steven Meisel no less to be the new face of his campaign for Lanvin. And Lynn Dell Cohen, also in her 80's, who has run a Vintage Frock Store Off Broadway for 40 years and still politely hectors each of the customers o find their own style.

It's refreshing and a real treat not simply because these elderly women look so ravishing but because they dare to be different and are such a delightful anti-dote to mainstream America that slavishly try to keep up with ever-evolving fashion trends that few can afford and most look hideous in.  But they are also up there on a pedestal as wrinkled and challenged as they are ('at my age for everything in my body that I have two off, one hurts like hell') simply refusing to either act the way society expects them too,  or just die quietly in the corner. In fact one of their number, Zelda Kaplan a mere 95 year old had a heart attack whilst she is the front row of a Fashion Show. Zelda must be so happy in heaven now.

Style, as these elderly Icons will show you, is much more than just about fashion.  It's an innate quality that not just enriches your own life, but also those of the people that are part of yours too.  And each of these irrepressible ladies remind us yet once again that life is not a dress rehearsal.

Unmissable.

Currently in selected UK cinemas and on UK DVD only.

★★★★★★★★★