rkhen Reviews

The Rockford Files: Quickie Nirvana (1977) Season 4, Episode 7

Great episode; not about politics or religion.

[10/10 · 18 March 2023]

I loved this episode when I saw it first-run in high school, and it holds up very well. Much of this is due to Valerie Curtin's great performance, and of course, as always, James Garner's.

Until I dropped in here I was unaware than Jim Rockford is one of those characters rightwingers have since claimed as their own. (Along with Hank Hill, Andy Taylor, and a few other apolitical classics from pre-2016 America.) So it just needs pointing out that Jim was not in any sense rightwing, nor did he espouse conservative values. All the reviewers here crowing about how he "rips into hippies" in this episode apparently turned the show off before the last scene, where our girl joins yet another in her long series of cults -- Evangelical Christianity.

And that's entirely consistent with Jim's values. He's a perennial sceptic who has a sharp professional nose for a con. That's all that's happening here. Nobody in 1977 said, "Woo-hoo! The Rockford Files just owned New Agers!" when this show aired. That was just an over-marketed fad in the 70s, as Evangelicalism would be in the 80s and Q is as I write this, and Jim's reflexive tendency is to reject dippy shallow self-glorifying movements like those. (Now that I think of it, the fact that Jane finally ends up in fundamentalist Christianity was scarily prescient, since that would in fact be The New Hip Thing in just 3 years. Seems like the writers must've done some research into developing trends when they wrote it.)

So there you go. It would be sad if well-meaning potential viewers were scared off by the ranting Right here. The guy in this episode is the same Rockford we know and love. He's not out to get anybody, not out to expose whole demographics as stupid or inferior, not trying to do anything but rescue (yet another) friend in need. One whose final line - as a Christian - is the funniest in a very funny show.

Watch it with no axe or grindstone, and you'll enjoy it.

Events Transpiring Before, During, and After a High School Basketball Game (2020)

Very fun low-key indie with a lazy title.

[8/10 · 30 April 2022]

This fly-on-the-wall high school movie is well worth the time. The relentless satire on a whole basket of classic public high school tropes is wonderfully understated, left for the viewer to remember and appreciate, and I truly did.

The director went for the signature Canadian technique of banning all BIG. DRAMATIC. SCENES from the footage and frowning at "acting", rather than just responding like you would if that really happened. Everyone behaves like the bored, slightly annoyed, doing their best, passive aggressive, vaguely desperate people we all are. This frustrates some viewers who are accustomed to, shall we day, other nations' cinematic conventions, where the drama (or in a comedy, the jokes) are signaled to the audience with fakey delivery that no-one would tolerate in real life.

And it really works here. A favourite example: after the coach tries to get the team to adopt a gung-ho jock attitude, he's told, "But this is just a high school basketball team." And another player adds, "In Calgary."

That zinger is so many levels deep it kept me laughing for several minutes. The fact that the actors half-mumbled it, like actual real-life teenagers, was the dunk.

This was something I turned on just because it was there, and ended up ignoring everything else I had to do tonight to watch all the way through. The title needs work, but if you ever went to high school, and like brilliant, genre-busting comedy -- the kind that doesn't elicit many "haw-haw" fits but keeps you smiling from start to finish -- this is for you.

No Men Beyond This Point (2015)

It's hard to know where to start with you people.

[10/10 · 24 February 2022]

You know you're in for a rollercoaster in the reviews when a third of them are feminist screeds and another third are MRA tantrums.

So, to avoid spending too much time here, let me just lay down some real.

1. This is a mockumentary. It's pushing exactly no agenda. It has nothing it wants you to do or enlist in. The point of this exercise is to make you think about some big topics while also making you laugh. (Although that apparently doesn't work on butt-hurt ax-grinders.)

2. Every line in this movie is a joke. EVERY LINE. If you took a single one of them as advocacy, you're a moron. If you thought the women came off looking "correct" while the men were all dopes, or the men were all "correct" while the women were sitcom stereotypes -- you're half wrong. (The "correct" half.)

3. The movie is genius. Watching it, I really wanted to use it as discussion fodder for a class on gender politics, or social problems, or cultural assumptions. It would drive the students crazy though because I'd be stopping it every 5 seconds to point out the jokes, and what the writers were harpooning with them. Since I'm a man, I mostly noticed the way they undermined us with vaudevillian call-backs to 50s-sitcom tropes. Example: the dazed brother who wanders out of his "sanctuary" hoping to meet girls, and after proving about as adept at that as most of us, winds up treed and darted exactly like a lost cougar, right down to the plummeting body. I laughed for 10 minutes. And yes, the unspoken reference to cougars is intended. They're talking about the mean little Main Street morality we weaponise to stick our pointy little noses uninvited up others' crotches, whether it's women who date younger, or awkward would-be pickup artists.

4. Most of the jokes here are that kind. You have to be well-informed, paying attention, and not trying to win some "case" in your head. A few of them stand on your chest -- the global sorority synching up, requiring a worldwide three-day retreat every month to prevent global PMS riots; the male hunger-strike that ends after 24 hours because "Hey, we got hungry!" ('Nother pause for another ten-minute laugh.) But there are also very subtle, straight-faced what-ifs, if you're watching closely. No digital cameras in this world; the new female regime isn't technologically helpless, but neither is it performing to bi-gender spec. And male creativity is greatly curtailed. Without women to write songs about, to dress for, to build homes for, to paint and sculpt, to keep us honest and on-task, to please and fence with, our "sanctuaries" become immense fraternities. Our heroics are gone. So is our discipline. So is our ambition. We look, and act, sleepy and slovenly.

I was bowled over by the sheer density of the commentary in No Men, the relentless torrent of brain-candy. You could discuss any twenty seconds of this movie for hours. It isn't all soft and cute -- like all human beings, many women, once placed in a dominant position, become arrogant jackasses. And in spite of the comeuppance they've received, many men still fail to get it. "Oh, so this is what it's like. Well, damn. What were we thinking?" Some brothers just can't chamber that insight, even when it's dumped in their laps.

So here: if you're fuming over this clever and thoroughly enjoyable little sociology experiment, why don't you just watch it again, and this time try not to be one of the two sad cases in the paragraph above?

Knights of Badassdom (2013)

Worth watching; might have been better as another movie

[6/10 · 16 November 2021]

This is a fun project with an awesome cast. It's enjoyable to watch, if you're not a nerd of the arrogant tribe. (I'm a nerd of the game tribe. As in, up for whatever someone else has created.)

That said, I couldn't help but think that Badassdom could have been an epic movie if they'd ditched the whole demon-rises story and stuck with the annual grand geek mélée that's wasted as a backdrop here. The film is strongest when it lovingly lampoons the LARP/D&D/SCA subculture, for example, when we're introduced to the clans/tribes/Narnic street gangs vying for the honours. (The one I best recall is "Gnomeland Security", but they were all terrific.) Tragically, after that introduction, these compelling little armies are ignored, except as massacre victims.

Instead we get an improbable story about fighting supernatural beings with plastic weapons, based on the conceit of a wizard role player who ends up conjuring actual demons because - for some reason - he's working from authentic ancient texts. None of that is D&D-standard, so it weakens the drama and humour of the premise.

Anyway. The film is fun, the cast is great, I enjoyed it, and if you're not hell-bent on criticising someone else, you will too. But it did seem more like a chain of summer camp skits than a movie, owing to the scattered nature of the plot and its failure to really delve into why these people so relish and look forward to this annual event.

Perhaps someone else will make the other movie, that's just about gently and affectionately lampooning, while celebrating, LARPer culture. That's what reeled me in, and I was disappointed when the story veered hard to the right and smashed into Buffy the Vampire Slayer. (Another show I love, but not really compatible with the one this started out to be.)

Dear God (1996)

Watch Tim Conway.

[5/10 · 20 August 2021]

Everyone's already hit the main points in the other reviews. I wanted to add that this is a movie with a lot of heart and high ambitions, that it doesn't quite achieve. Although it has likable characters and the zaniness is fun, the premises are trite and the script stretches credibility to the breaking point. In the end I decided to receive it on the "dumb but fun" channel, rather than turn it off, and made it through.

Someone else here said, "I didn't hate it, I just didn't like it." That about sums up my feelings, too.

But I wanted to leave a review to draw attention to Tim Conway's incredible performance. I'm not a giant fan of Conway's trademark burlesque, which worked wonders on Carol Burnett but is out of place in anything that's not an ensemble variety show (i.e., vaudeville). But here he's absolutely brilliant, playing a comedy archetype that is not however over the top. He sold the character with complexity and palpable sincerity and proved that he could in fact act, in the full sense of the word.

Watch this movie for him. I'm glad I did. I wish we could have seen him in many other such roles. Such a missed opportunity.

Le plateau (2002– )

Série absolument fantastique.

[10/10 · 23 January 2021]

J'ai dégusté chaque épisode de ce chef-d'oeuvre de la télé québécoise quand il est sorti, et vient de le repasser grâce à YouTube. (Mais pour combien de temps encore.) Le génie de la générique et scenariste(s) en fait un vrai cure de rire. Si seulement Radio-Canada le sortirait sur DVD.

The United States of Leland (2003)

Unsimple. Worth the time.

[7/10 · 3 May 2020]

A movie like this is bound to annoy the posers, and this one has. In a word, it's not an easy film. You're not going to get any comfortable tropes. The good guys are normal. The bad guys are normal. Everybody's complex, conflicted, hypocritical, and often right.

I especially appreciated Pearl, the reformatory teacher played by Don Cheadle. He's all of those things, and Cheadle does a great job portraying a guy who's sometimes right and sometimes wrong but when it comes down to brass tacks, has a conscience. Sometimes in spite of himself.

Just like me.

I think it's probably harder to play (or write) a real person than a cartoon character, which may be why there aren't many of those in movies.

I also suspect this is why many critics, including Roger Ebert, for whom I have great respect, decried the "moral muddle" they saw in this movie. You can't really root for anybody. Nor do you hate anybody. (Except maybe the drug dealer.)

Anyway, if you like challenging films, see it. A young, pre-heart throb Ryan Gosling does an excellent job in the lead, and so does Jena Malone as his girlfriend.

I've filed it under "Movies I'm Glad I Watched."

Welcome to Happiness (2015)

Very fun ride

[9/10 · 10 September 2019]

Whatever you think this movie's going to be, you're wrong. Instead it's a lot of things, all happening at once. If you go in with that understanding, you'll probably like it.

The performances are great, which is good, because without that, this film would be hard to love. The story winds around a lot before it gets to the point, then winds around some more after it gets to the point. I had no problems with this, because the characters are so well written and played that it was worthwhile just being in their (rather surrealistic) space.

Basically it's an art film, except not annoying. The main characters don't take themselves too seriously, and although the screenplay touches on plenty of "heavy" themes, nobody drones on about them in black-and-white Swedish.

Like all art films it's also packed full of symbols, and it's kind of fun spotting and pondering them. I suspect when I see it again in a few years I'll catch more, and a few plot points that breezed past me the first time.

Basically, it's a friendly practical joke that leaves you thoughtful, and little happy and sad at the same time. As an essay on life, that's pretty dead-on.

Good movie to see with someone you like to talk with.

Save Yourself (II) (2018)

The unflinching writing and performance you loved in Being Awesome

[10/10 · 9 September 2019]

This is a deceptively simple film: basically just a long conversation. But the characters are well fleshed-out and the actors manage somehow to deliver their lines as if they're not lines. The scenarios are almost painfully realistic, utterly without romantic silver-lining storytelling; if you've got at least two decades under your belt, you'll have lived many of them yourself.

The direction is just razor-sharp, entirely free of big dramatic flourishes. As the interlocutors banter and fence, the depth of the subjects they're broaching is telegraphed in the briefest breaking of eye contact, the smallest alteration of vocal tone. By the end of the film you know these people intimately, as they've come to know each other.

It's worth watching just to marvel at its documentary feel, but you'll come away with some powerful insights into your own past as well. An amazing feat of "little" filmmaking.

Find Me (2018)

Solid entry in its class.

[9/10 · 17 August 2019]

Gave this a 9 because it is one. Only an idiot expects a garage production to compete with a mega-millions Hollywood vehicle.

With that established, the writing is good, the acting better than amateur, the cinematography patently better than you'd expect in this kind of project. I had no difficulty watching it start to finish, which is often not the case with micro-movies. (And I watch a lot of them.)

Nice to see an Asian-American main character who's just A Guy. Except his Chinese accent sucks. Seriously Tom, I could do better than that, and I'm white. But in context that made it even funnier, and contributed to the character's development.

Anyway, see the film. Remember who made it, and how. And enjoy.

Vigilante: The Incredible True Story of Curtis Sliwa and the Guardian Angels (VI) (2018)

Having a beer with NYC

[9/10 · 29 May 2019]

I'm from the 70s. I remember what a cesspool New York was in that decade, to a point that must be hard for younger folks to believe. In the midst of it all suddenly emerged the Guardian Angels -- a white-hat (make that red beret) street gang -- and the media just couldn't get enough of it.

So I walked into this one already interested and eager to hear the story. What I didn't count on was the one-man army that Curtis Sliwa turned out to be.

The guy's like the living embodiment of New York. It's not just the accent; it's the machine-gun delivery, it's the every third sentence in Italian, it's the goomba expressions that somehow manage to be sheer poetry. But mostly it's the attitude.

Sliwa reminded me of any number of New York characters we saw on TV back in the day: lightening fast, tough as nails, rude and sarcastic, but determined not to retreat. It's the portrait of a real, natural leader. Facing Sliwa's merciless pounding rhetoric, I thought, "I'd'a followed this guy anywhere."

That's how he built a defence force out of the staff of a McDonald's.

If you remember those days, see the movie. Yeah, it's one-sided. Yeah, his detractors don't get no time. Yeah, they probably left out a lot of stuff.

So what's it to you?

Blaze Glory (1969)

How to make a roomful of kids happy.

[10/10 · 13 October 2018]

I was a 4H summer camp counsellor in the mid-70s, and one summer we got a solid week of rain. The kids were restless and having no fun, and the whole thing looked like a bust, until several days in the brass drove everybody into the mess hall, had us counsellors hang blankets in the windows, and began playing movies. I have no idea where they got this one, but it was the first.

The kids loved it! Saved the whole session. I still have a very fond memory of being crammed into that old stone CCC building, with all the dirty, steaming clothes, sipping hot chocolate with the kids and my colleagues, and laughing like crazy. The humour was a little infantile for us jaded teenagers, but seeing the kids enjoy it so much made it hilarious for us, too.

When it was over the director was smart enough to run it all way back again, backwards. The kids went nuts! Those people knew how to take care of children.

After the Storm (2016)

Underscores the universality of humanity.

[10/10 · 19 September 2018]

Others have summed it up. I'll just add that from the very first scene -- a simple conversation between a grown daughter and her mother, in the mother's kitchen -- I instantly recognised my own sister and my own mother. The dialogue is so accurate it could be a documentary. The fact that I'm (we're) not Japanese is entirely beside the point.

Which is part of the point, I think.

The characters in this film completely absorbed me, right from the start. Even the supporting roles are incredibly well-played. (C.f. The main character's kind, patient, cheery, long-suffering young partner.) And the script manages to be simultaneously funny and familiar and deeply heartbreaking, all at the same time.

It's also a very courageous movie that's not afraid to ditch storybook clichés and stick to plausibility. The main character in particular is played like an actual person; you want him to win, you want him to grow up, you want to kick him... but you don't. Because it's not that simple.

You don't see many films like that.

And don't walk out on the credits; the final song (Deep Breath, by Hanaregumi) is devastating and beautiful, and somehow manages to sum up the whole story without actually being about the story.

Just... brilliant.

Being Awesome (2014)

Top-ten "guy" movie

[10/10 · 2 July 2018]

Being Awesome isn't even a movie. It's a documentary about single guys. The writers resolutely avoid the stereotypes and obvious gags, to go straight to the heart of the matter.

The actors are brilliant, the director is an artist, and those writers... holy crap.

I know these guys. I am these guys. This is a great movie.

How to Be a Latin Lover (2017)

Eugenio Derbez is a genius.

[8/10 · 30 June 2018]

Gotta say, most Mexican comedy leaves me completely cold. Cultural thing, I guess; just seems so infantile. But I've been a major Derbez fan for over 20 years, since the days when I used to stay up to watch Al derecho y al Derbez on UNI.

And he doesn't disappoint here, either. Latin Lover has his acid commentary on American culture, his trademark self-mocking (nobody can ring in a totally committed performance of an essentially reprehensible character like Eugenio, and make you love him in spite of yourself), and his wild, eccentric sense of humour. He's the Monty Python of Mexico, and that's a very good thing.

Latin Lover is basically a Mexican movie made (mostly) in English. They even film "American" scenes in Mexican locations, which is awesome! How many times do we see Hollywood movies trying to pass off American or Canadian settings as other countries? Eugenio strikes again.

That said, people who aren't familiar with Mexican comedic conventions will find some things "hokey". (I assure you the comedy of your nation is just as hokey, you've just been trained to accept it.)

Those same people will probably also fail to note how groundbreaking Derbez is, with his adult-pitched gags, his razor-sharp irony, and his calm, cerebral delivery. People should have to watch 30 hours of non-Derbez Mexican comedy before they're allowed to have an opinion of Eugenio Derbez. He's a great comic by any standard; compared to typical Mexican fare he's a freakin' genius.

Anyway, see the movie. It's fluff. It's meant to be fluff. It's talented, entertaining fluff. Have fun. Don't take it so seriously. You'll have fun.

Oh, and to the woman who rated it low because "so much of the movie is in Spanish and I don't speak Spanish"...

The Spanish bits are subtitled. All of them. In English.

So that's my advice: accept another culture's comedic conventions; relish Eugenio Derbez' respect for his audience and fellow performers; and, uh... learn to read.

And you'll like this movie.

Zathura: A Space Adventure (2005)

Refreshingly entertaining message movie.

[8/10 · 13 March 2018]

This fun little film with a message (appreciate your siblings) could have been preachy or nauseatingly "family-oriented", but it's not. The kids are realistic, and there are effectively no adults guiding or lecturing them. (OK, possibly one young adult; you'll have to see the movie to get it.)

A nice evening home with the kids, or just a trip back to childhood.

Special mention to Dax Shepard, whose performance as The Astronaut is delicately nuanced between competent and capable, and sensitive and approachable. A memorable character.

Dorfman in Love (2011)

It's all about Sara Rue.

[8/10 · 11 March 2018]

This is a formulaic rom-com, but that's not a bad thing if they get the formula right. You'll pretty much know what's going to happen from the first scene, right down to the way it's all going to end, but like I said, they do it well.

Sara Rue in the lead role does the best job of playing an actual woman I've seen in a long time. No tired Hollywood "supermodel in glasses playing homely" stuff. Rue is beautiful from the first shot, but you have to, like, look, to see that. You gotta appreciate Rue's performance; playing real is difficult. (Which I guess is why we usually get fake.)

I'll avoid spoilers here, but let's just say that whatever transformations may or may not take place are all about framing beauty that's standing in front of you, rather than painting over anything. (Just go with it; you'll get the allusion when you've seen the movie.)

This movie isn't going to set the world on fire, but it's a nice evening in with a well-played story. I recommend it.

Love (I) (2011)

2045: A Space Odyssey

[8/10 · 8 March 2018]

You know you're in for a thoughtful, challenging film when not one, but at least TWO of the reviews here are titled "Boring, boring, boring".

But enough about you, rapier-witted viewer; what did you think of the film?

This is an independent effort filmed without commercial backing, in the backyard of the producer's parents. This fact will amaze you when you see it. "Love" is one of those indies that reminds you that filmmaking isn't dead. (Just not profitable, in a world of boring viewers.)

The parallels to 2001: A Space Odyssey (another "boring, boring, boring" film) are striking, right down to the fact that the leading men share an uncanny resemblance. In "Love", however, the antagonist is not a virus-infected computer, but the hero's own mind.

Anyway, if you want to see what you can do with little money, a high concept, a talented actor (who holds down most of the movie all by himself; think "All Is Lost" -- yet another boring movie), and sheer grit, then give this a spin.

It's an astonishing film.

Night Job (2017)

Fun little effort; well worth watching

[7/10 · 7 March 2018]

Nice little student film! Basically a literary experiment; a chain of character sketches unrolling over a young night doorman's first full shift in the lobby of a Manhattan high-rise. The scenario reminded me powerfully of the jobs I had myself when I was the protagonist's age. (23.)

Well worth the time for viewers who know a little bit about movies and like to indulge a director's whims.

If I Were You (2012)

Reminiscent of Neil Simon

[8/10 · 31 October 2017]

If you grew up in the 70s and 80s, you'll recognise the Neil Simon pretense of this movie. Though it has neither the fast pace nor the wicked writing of a Simon production, it's well done and entirely worth an evening's light viewing.

The depiction of a main character in an agonising predicament, but whose basic decency wins out time and again over her broken heart, is rare in popular culture, and brilliantly performed by Marcia Gay Harden.

Saint Ralph (2004)

Great portrayal in the young priest

[7/10 · 11 September 2017]

Others have already reviewed this film in depth. In brief: I agree with the general opinion that this is a nice little picture that's old-fashioned in several ways, most of them positive, a few a little embarrassing. But it's well worth the watch, and with its large-audience appeal and loving attention to Canadian detail, a welcome addition to the Canadian oeuvre.

I just want to draw particular attention to one truly break-out performance: that of Campbell Scott as the young priest. This is probably the most realistic portrayal of an actual young teaching priest I've ever seen in the movies. Generally directors either go with sticky-sweet or spuriously bitter and cruel (c.f., the school director in this film). But in real life, most of the young priests I've known are like Scott's: sardonic, sincere, bold, a little bored, comfortable with their students, game, and apparently (or overtly) wondering if they've chosen the wrong life path.

It's worth watching this movie just to see Scott and his director nail this character. Also: props to the production crew for getting the priestly vestments right. Clergy don't dress like that any more, but they totally did then, and it was a major part of their presence.

Idiocracy (2006)

A "pre-documentary"; scary-prescient.

[8/10 · 5 July 2017]

Saw this for the first time tonight; almost creeped out how accurate it is. Or was? (It was released over ten years ago.)

Somehow in 2006 Mike Judge saw it all coming. Particularly striking was his understanding that middle school values ("He's wrong cuz he got his ass kicked!!") would become standard in American culture. And that professional wrestling and rap aesthetics, including the way those worlds view women, would become mainstream and respectable.

I'm not sure the central premise -- that stupid people outbreed smart ones -- is watertight. Seems to me most of the Idiocracy types I know come from families of 1 to 3 children. Rather, it seems that folks who should know better have been converted to trailer park values.

Or maybe it's all that Gatorade.

Anyway, if you haven't seen Idiocracy, see it now. You'll be blown away by how incredibly accurately it portrays current American society and its economy.

And if you have seen it, but not recently, see it again.

Sorry to get all faggy on ya, bra.

Summer of Sam (1999)

Good Spike Lee joint.

[8/10 · 22 February 2017]

This is what Spike does best: capturing a moment in time, and looking deeply into the human condition. Ignore those whining that it's "not about the Son of Sam." Yeah. That's why it's not _called_ "Son of Sam".

What it is, is an extremely well-done vignette of New York City, and the world in general, in 1977 -- a period when "Sam Hysteria" gripped that city, and the rest of us watched obsessively from afar.

Along the way Spike gives us another "Sam": a man with a sexual compulsion he can't control, complete with the pseudo-religious angst typical of such personalities. This is a fantastic technique. I won't spoil anything for other viewers, but you'll see how Spike juxtaposes these two characters in the film.

Other classic Spike themes are here: bigotry, intolerance, hatred of anybody different, the universality of all of this regardless of "race" or community, the stupid callowness of youth, the dumb brutality of the uneducated, and the quiet existence of fundamentally decent people in the midst of it all.

For those complaining about the Plato's Retreat scene, welcome to the 70s, mofo. Sex was invented in the 1970s; we were sure of it. I'm not saying everybody (or even many) did that Plato stuff, but we were told everybody was doing it. And one thing is certain: everybody was talking about it. Everybody. All the time. So it was part of the era. It would have been a serious oversight not to include it in a film that purports to capture the feel of that city at that time.

If you remember the media furor over those killings; the saturation-covered moral and physical rot of NYC in the 70s; and the golden age of KC and the Sunshine Band, this movie will be a visit home.

And if you like complex, unflinching, insightful films, you just might learn something.

Elstree 1976 (2015)

Brilliant little film

[9/10 · 19 September 2016]

Well, after reading the pouty petulance of half a dozen butt-hurt sci-fi nerds in this forum, I figured a grown-up ought to weigh in.

This is a great movie. Yeah, it has "Star Wars" in the deck. No, it isn't really about Star Wars. It has that in common with life.

Elstree 1976 has a novel premise: let's sit down and talk with several people who had uncredited bit parts in one of biggest smash hits in history. What is it like to have had a tiny, expendable role in a huge cultural event?

In other words, it's not really about the movie. It's more about that old Patricia Rozema line: "Isn't life the strangest thing you've ever seen?" This is a meditation on living, working, hoping, striving, failing, changing your mind, and growing old. The interviewees are engaging, funny, personable, and wholly aware they're "nobody". And a little bemused that anybody wants their autograph, or to interview them. And refreshingly grateful for that, every last one.

In sum, Elstree 1976 is a pleasant evening spent with people not much older than those of us who saw Star Wars first-run, talking about things people our age can understand.

I like Star Wars. I went into this expecting another rehash of Star Wars lore, which would have been mildly entertaining. What I found was something much rarer than that. If you're more than half an inch deep, you'll appreciate it.

Romantics Anonymous (2010)

Well-written film with translation issues

[8/10 · 21 March 2016]

This is a neat little movie full of very human characters you will come to love. Even the supporting roles are wonderfully written and acted. Overall, the script is a masterpiece of understatement, and an example of artful writing paired with precise performances. A lot of the point is actually conveyed between the lines, in what isn't said, which is a brilliant approach for a film about people who are too shy to speak.

Given the above, one might wish they'd paid better attention to the translation. Time and again important nuances in the French lines are lost in the English subtitles, often for reasons that are hard to fathom. (I've worked as a translator and know how heartbreaking some choices can be, but most of the out-of-sync stuff in Romantics Anonymous is easily expressed in English.)

Just two examples:

In a significant scene, a character is told, "You're going to have to touch someone." This was translated as "Touch someone."

Another time a character is uncharacteristically outgoing, and another one says, "You're not sick, are you?" But at the bottom of the screen it says, "Are you feeling alright?" Not only does this mess with the theme of the film - that these people live in fear of misfortune - it also flattens a much funnier joke.

Similar humbugs rain down in Romantics Anonymous. I don't know why the studio's translator made these choices, but given the tone-deaf nature of the work I'd bet he or she was simply handed a list of lines to translate and not shown the film itself.

As a final indignity, there's the unforgivable use of a subtitling machine that deals with diacriticals by *dropping the accented character entirely*. In a French film!! Therefore, not only does the expression "crême de la crême" appear as "crme de la crme", but the male lead's own name - Jean-René - is consistently written "Jean-Ren" throughout the movie.

Shameful treatment for a film that deserves better. If you speak any French, even just a bit, try to understand as much of the dialogue as you can while you read the subtitles; a lot of easily-understood genius is lost in the clunky translation.