Julie & Julia

A review by Roger Knowles

Food, happiness and lovemaking are combined in this cheerful movie. A combination of the true stories of two women separated in time and space, it features the incomparable Meryl Streep as Julia Child, famous American cookbook author and TV presenter (of 50’s and 60’s cooking programs) and a young woman author, played with authentic, vivacious power by rising young star Amy Adams.

The last line spoken in the movie is “I love you, Julia Child” by the latter. Julie, played by Adams, is a young woman who decides to pursue an ambitious goal – that of cooking every recipe (530 I think) in only one year from the famous cook book created by Child thirty or so years earlier to teach American women how to prepare French food. She also sets out to write a daily blog about her experiences, as she struggles through the book, learning how to be an accomplished cook and collecting a significant following on the way. She is captivating as she experiences emotional rises and falls (crashes, actually) during the daunting journey from nervous amateur to accomplished cook.

Streep is good, as usual, faithfully re-creating the shrill-voiced, very tall Doyenne of the mid-twentieth century American kitchen, but her character lacks the sheer lovability of the younger woman, who renders an Oscar-winning performance.

The husbands of both women adore and support them through their trials and tribulations. Both likeable characters, they are not quite the ‘power behind the thrones’ but they are definitely the wind beneath their wives’ wings. 

Nora Ephron is the Director of this enjoyable movie – she is known for both her humour and her empathy. Though she is unlikely to achieve artistic greatness, she is going from strength to strength and could well garner awards for Best Picture here. The settings are great (mainly Paris and New York), the camera work good; I was however distracted by noticing all the maneuvers that had to take place to present the average-altitude Streep as an extraordinarily tall woman. The sound track may well be one to buy. See and enjoy this delightful movie!

Roger Knowles is a professional speaker, author and attorney. For more information see http://www.rogerk.co.za/, http://www.referralnetworking.co.za/ or http://www.getyourmoney.co.za/

Departures

A review by Roger Knowles

This Oscar-winning Japanese movie with subtitles is a superb examination of the most important issues in the life of a man – his father, the need to do something worthwhile with his life, and his primary relationship. The central character is Daigo, a young man excellently played by Masahiro Motoki. The passion of his early life is his music; encouraged by his father to play the cello, he achieves professional status and wins a job with a symphony orchestra. Sadly it closes and he admits that he is not really good enough to make it as a musician. Jobless, he and his young wife move to the home left to him by his mother who raised him after his father left when Daigo was a small boy.

Daigo finds a job as a ritual ‘encoffiner’, a job that shocks his wife and friends, but one in which he discovers a deep significance – the need to give the dead a dignified departure from this life and leave an important memory for those remaining. In the process, Daigo confronts and deals with important issues of his own.

The movie is set in a drab town in Northern Japan, where the predominant weather seems to be grey. Notwithstanding this and the morbid nature of his work, the movie is never dull. Backed by a superb musical score, it is filled with warmth, humour and the drama of life itself. Very aptly sub-titled, ‘The gift of last memories’ this film will leave you with some significant memories and insights of your own.

Roger Knowles is a professional speaker, author and attorney. For more information see http://www.rogerk.co.za/, http://www.referralnetworking.co.za/ or http://www.getyourmoney.co.za/

Last Chance Harvey

A Review By Roger Knowles

Dustin Hoffman looks like a cross between the Potato Man and an unmade bed, but his acting skills are so profound that you hardly notice. He is the perfect foil for… well, anybody, but Emma Thompson and he work together as if it was meant to be one of the great screen partnerships. Not because their characters are huge, important or celebrities. Anything but. Harvey Shine and Kate Walker are two ordinary people, bruised from the experiences in their lives, yet still willing to consider adventure. They represent you and me – we can all identify with, and cheer for, these ‘little people’ making good, finding a new romance in their middle years.

Satisfying and uplifting, this romantic drama portrays an everyday struggler as a person standing in the wings of his own life, waiting to go onstage as the hero. It is the story of Harvey’s ‘last chance’ – in more than one sense. A failed family man, Harvey is a jingle-writing New York musician on the brink of career failure. He absorbs additional body blows when he arrives in London for his only daughter’s marriage. He is booked into a hotel far from the mansion occupied by the other members of the family, is allocated the worst seats at gatherings and informed that the bride will be given away by his ex-wife’s suave second husband (played with dignified largesse by James Brolin). The storyline is predictable in all but the finer details. It nevertheless makes compelling cinema, by reason of the fine performances by the actors and the beautiful setting – London on a string of magical summer days.

I have kept the last word for Emma Thompson. A charming genius, she brilliantly portrays the reluctant romantic, frightened but unbowed by life, far more beautiful than she might ever hope or acknowledge. Her desire to find a lasting relationship is balanced by the sum of her personal doubt and her nervousness concerning the fragility of human connection. Kate’s mischievous Irish friend plays a wonderful cameo role, setting her up with a blind date and trying to nudge her into happiness with a man.

Romantics will enjoy this movie. It is not however a ‘chick flick’; its message is as much for men as women – where there is courage, there is always hope.

Roger Knowles is a professional speaker, author and attorney. For more information see http://www.rogerk.co.za/, http://www.referralnetworking.co.za/ or http://www.getyourmoney.co.za/

Coco Avant Chanel

A Review by Roger Knowles

Audrey Tautou is brilliantly cast as ‘Coco’ Chanel. She is not a classic beauty, but she grows on you – just as the strong-willed central character in this biographically-based story grows on those she chooses to befriend. She reveals the moody, crafty determination of the young woman who was known for her readiness to lie her way (in more than one sense) to her goals.


Coco Chanel did not invent the female form, but in fashion terms she may as well have done so. She gave socially aware women comfortably simplistic yet revealing clothing – such as her signature ‘little black number’. The clean lines and lack of adornment were carried over from her early life in an orphanage, and her years in a convent, where she learned her sewing skills.

The film is beautiful, with an easy flow as it moves from the austerity of her early life to the opulence of the environment in which she chooses to create her unique life and style. The important transitions in her life are preceded by journeys in various vehicles through the magnificence of the French countryside. Observe how the opening journey moves the child Gabrielle (later gaining the nickname ‘Coco’ – the title of a song she sang) from the sunlit beauty of a leafy glade to the sunless gloom of the orphanage; crows squawking as the trip nears its end.

The musical score is wholly appropriate, matching the moods of the various scenes so well that it is hardly noticeable.

This is certainly not an ‘action’ movie, but neither is it a ‘chick flick’. It will suit those who have an interest in seeing a young woman of humble birth climb from obscurity and poverty to a self-made success with its happiness and its inevitable agonies.

Roger Knowles is a professional speaker, author and attorney.  For more information see http://www.rogerk.co.za/, http://www.referralnetworking.co.za/ or http://www.getyourmoney.co.za/

Genova

A review by Roger Knowles

Colin Firth, the under-stated, self effacing quiet man of British cinema, is excellent in this powerful movie that captures the cinematic senses, tightening the chest one moment, amusing and enthralling the next.

He plays Joe, a quiet, affable man whose small family is struck by a terrible tragedy – the loss of his wife, the mother of his two daughters – Mary (11) and Kelly (15). He resolves to take them to Italy for a year, to try to rebuild their lives. There, amidst the clamour of Italian culture, they endure a turmoil of passions – the growth pains of the children, Joe’s own repressed grief, their different struggles with the tragedy, stresses on family unity, the terrible weight of the unsaid as they battle to move forward.

Visually, the extraordinary beauty of the Mediterranean and the cultural richness of Genoa are intriguing, seductive and eerie at times. There is romance, tension, empathy, heartbreak and joy, all set to a stimulating, sometimes light, often soothingly solemn soundtrack which frequently reprises the deeply melodic main theme. See it if you are interested in people and buckle yourself into your seat for an empathic rollercoaster.

Roger Knowles is a professional speaker, author and attorney.  For more information see http://www.rogerk.co.za/, http://www.referralnetworking.co.za/ or http://www.getyourmoney.co.za/  

Young Victoria

A review by Roger Knowles

This is a ‘chick flick’ cunningly disguised as a historical drama – but still well worth seeing, in my view. It relates some of the early experiences of the young queen – showing us something of the insular, pampered life of a child destined to take to the throne – and a little about her early years there.

We see her mistakes, her reliance on a strong, wily mentor (women will love the suave, politically-skilled Lord Melbourne, coolly played by Paul Bettany), the political turbulence in England at that time, and the relationship with her beloved Prince Alfred.

Emily Blunt seems, on reflection, the perfect person to have played the part of the young queen Victoria. She is attractive, vivacious and developing into a good actress – I think we’ll see plenty more of her.

The movie features a wide variety of good performances. In fact, as is the case with all good British movies, not one of the actors was inappropriate in their parts. The whole production was superb, from the flawless costumes to the representation of real-life characters and situations from the early days of the British queen who still holds the record for the most years on the throne. Unfortunately the director decided, about two-thirds of the way through, to leave the important historical stuff well and truly in the background and focus on the romance between Victoria and Alfred. This relationship was a vital feature of Victoria’s personal life. It also resonates with ‘real’ life today – isn’t it amazing how often a very strong personality relies on the support of a much lower profile person?

If you love historical ‘costume’ productions, this bright, well-made movie will not disappoint you.

Roger Knowles is a professional speaker, author and attorney.  For more information see http://www.rogerk.co.za/, http://www.referralnetworking.co.za/ or http://www.getyourmoney.co.za/