An Uncomfortable Admission

Watching the DVD version of Bend It Like Beckham was two hours well spent. It's not often one sees the pursuit of female sports portrayed with such positive energy and sympathetic camera angles.

*SPOILER ALERT: the following reveals the nature of this film's ending, and discusses the resolution of a primary source of tension/conflict.*

I knew, because of comments other people had made to me, that this movie had a happy ending. And yet I couldn't help feeling a sense of forboding as it unfolded.

One of the main characters, played by Parminda Nagra, is from an immigrant Sikh family - which expects her to behave in a traditional manner at odds with that of modern day Britain. This young woman's desire to become a professional soccer player receives little support from her family. In order to play at all, she must constantly deceive them.

While everything works out well in the end - due, primarily, to her father's realization that remaining inflexible will shatter his daughter's dreams and leave her miserable - in real life, these conflicts sometimes turn ugly. It isn't unheard of for young women such as this to be coerced into arranged marriages, assaulted by their elders and brothers, and even murdered because their non-traditional choices are viewed as bringing shame upon their families.

From a certain perspective, this film provides a template for families facing such challenges. Its message is that respect on the part of the young, compromise on the part of the elders, and old-fashioned love and affection can all help to preserve the family unit rather than rupturing it. (A tragic account of a real-life family destroyed by its inability to navigate similarly tricky waters appears here.)

But here's another thought, one I'm still turning over in my mind: watching this film made me glad I wasn't born into an immigrant family from India. As a photographer, I'm attracted to the vibrant colours of the textiles, footwear, and jewellery on display in Toronto's Little India. I've often thought that Indian children - with their dark eyes - are among the world's most beautiful. And if I had to choose only one cuisine to eat for the rest of my life - it would be East Indian, no question about it. In other words, my associations with East Indian culture have always been hugely positive.

But while watching this fictional young woman struggle to accommodate the suffocating expectations placed on her by a family rooted in another time and place, it became clear to me that I wouldn't ever want to be a young woman in that culture - any more than I'd want to be one in a hyper-traditional Italian family.

This is a new idea for me. One I didn't anticipate coming away with when I sat down to watch this film.

[full movie info]

Shirley Valentine

Re-watched this 1989 release recently with four other women aged 24 to 76. The majority were of British descent, so the film resonates differently for them. I've never met people like those depicted, but evidently some of my viewing companions have.

What struck me is that, despite its overt feminist message that middle-aged women are more than wives and mothers, the film is also gentle and humane.

The husband who treats his wife like a doormat isn't demonized here. We come to understand that his life, too, has stagnated and calcified. Moreover, because we see the heroine being bullied by her neighbor, her friend, and her own daughter, we come to realize that she herself is part of the problem.

The film's over-arching message is not that men (or the system) are bad but that:

• we each are responsible for the state of our own lives and
• the power to change things lies within us

From a certain perspective, this movie serves admirably as a time capsule. Twenty years later, it's difficult to believe that large numbers of people - even in the stodgiest corners of the United Kingdom - live like this.

But there was a time when many did.

[full movie info here]

Madeline

This isn't a flawless film. Some of the acting is weak, and the script can be awkward since it attempts to portray French-speaking people to an English-language audience.

That said, it's beautiful to watch - and not just because of the fabulous glimpses of Paris. Reds and yellows frequently dominate the color palette, and there's a scene involving rain at an outdoor circus that's utterly gorgeous.

Frances McDormand is a treat as the teacher-nun at the girls-only boarding school. Cut from similar cloth as Mary Poppins, she's firm, kind, and engaged - the sort of teacher with which every child should be blessed.

She has clarity about the difference between children and adults - which means she knows adults have leadership obligations that must not be shirked. In one memorable scene she announces:

"All of this is no reason for us to stop acting like proper young ladies. We will not fall to pieces. We will maintain composure."

Madeline, the clever and feisty orphan around whom the film revolves, is a likeable imp. And while the rascal neighbor boy isn't featured in many of the press shots, he's exceptionally fine-looking on screen.

The film includes one of the most tender, well-acted hospital-bed scenes ever (involving the school's benefactress). This is a sweet gem of a film - especially if you're in the mood for somewhat girly family fare.

[full movie info available here]

Groundhog Day

Some people find this movie repetitive since it's about a television weather announcer who keeps re-living the same day again and again until he redeems himself in the eyes of the universe. But in addition to being a sweet love story, this is about second, third, and fortieth chances to get things right before one's soul is lost forever.

We don't see any gypsy lay a curse on obnoxious, self-absorbed weatherman Phil, but essentially that's what happens. For the third time in three years he's sent to a small town to report on the prognostications of a groundhog. Rather than joining in the spirit of the occasion, he looks down his nose at the community and treats his coworkers with disdain.

As a result, it's Groundhog Day every morning when he wakes up and he's compelled to keep going through the motions until it penetrates his noggin that other people's well-being matters, and that life offers us no end of opportunities to be both useful and creative.

It turns out there's one thing in particular Phil must accomplish before the spell can be broken and, although he's a slow learner, he finally achieves it. The movie includes some great physical humour (I love the shower scenes), and lots of low-level giggles.

[full movie info here]

Michael

Andie MacDowell: "I thought angels were cleaner."

"I'm not that kind of angel" - so responds John Travolta who plays a slobbish celestial being with a fondness for sex, sugar, and many of life's other pleasures.

I adore this movie. It has a solid story, an entire scene praising homemade pie, and Travolta in one of his most wholesome roles.

Anti-cynicism in a charming package.

Travolta: "You gotta learn to laugh. It's the way to true love."

[full movie info here]

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Little Miss Sunshine

Tons of folks adore this 2006 release, and here's why it works for me: It's a genuinely laugh-out-loud film that's ultimately an uplifting one, too. The script is never lazy or maudlin (and won a well-deserved best-screenplay Oscar). The acting is note-perfect and sometimes heart-wrenching.

The six central characters, who pile into a VW microbus for an 800-mile journey, are all decent and sympathetic -- despite their eccentricities. The opening scenes are painful to watch, but a series of very funny incidents follow.

The film is irreverent and contains tons of profanity, but there are also lovely, tender moments between father and son, grandfather and granddaughter, uncle and niece, and uncle and nephew.

synopsis: Olive is an ordinary-looking 7-year-old girl who dreams of being a beauty queen. She and five relatives undertake a cross-country journey so that she may compete in a pageant already tainted by a diet-pill scandal. (Yes, we're talking 7-year-olds!)

In addition to her parents and her brother, she's accompanied by her grandfather (who lives with them after being kicked out of a retirement home) and her gay uncle who's recently attempted suicide.

The adult themes and aggressive profanity make this film unsuitable for kids. On the other hand, there are no weapons, violence, or gore.

[full movie info here]

Romancing the Stone

A young Kathleen Turner plays a romance writer in over her head when she flies to Columbia to rescue her sister from kidnappers.

An equally youthful Michael Douglas demands money from the damsel-in-distress before he'll assist her, and manfully chops the high heels off her shoes with his machete.

Turner: "These were Italian."
Douglas: "Now they're practical."

A fun, respectful treatment of the romance novelist - paired with a mildly serious exploration of the gulf between fictional adventures and dangerous, grimy reality.

A good date movie. One (brief) gory scene, near the end.

[full film info available here]

Only You

A silly, romantic, feel-good comedy.

Robert Downey Jr., some good shots of Rome - and luscious footage of Venice.

[full movie info available here]

It's a Big, Beautiful World

This world is wide, deep, tasty and gorgeous - with so much that's so great. The trick is finding the bits that speak to us.

For me, blues and roots music are way up there - especially the songwriters who'd be called poets in another era.

I love East Indian, West Indian, Italian, Asian and Mexican cooking. I consider dark chocolate and red wine to be food groups in their own right. I prefer restaurants that have character to restaurants that charge the Earth.

My taste runs to films that aren't too gory, cruel or lazy. I'm a fan of sci-fi television from Star Trek to Babylon 5 to Firefly. I'm more interested in TV now that I can buy it by the season - since I've never been willing to schedule my life around television programming.

This blog is about what works for me. Random ramblings. Passions. Discoveries.

Thanks for dropping by.