lorraine-benn Reviews

Finding You (2020)

Uplifting romance film

[7/10 · 14 May 2021]

Finley, a violinist from the US, goes to Ireland to attend a college and hopefully pass an exam. She meets Becket, a famous film star on the plane to Ireland. By coincidence, they meet up again as Becket happens to be staying at the same accommodation as Finley. There are some wonderful scenes of Ireland, fairly rare in romantic movies, and joyful pub entertainment scenes with an Irish fiddle player. With Vanessa Redgrave as an elderly woman in a nursing home, there is much to like about this film.

Delicious (2021)

Interesting film with a focus on food

[6/10 · 21 March 2021]

After chef Manceron is sacked by his fussy aristocratic boss, a woman appears out of nowhere and asks him to let her be an apprentice chef. He is unwilling as he thinks that chefs should all be males. She hands him some money for her tuition fees and finally pursuades him to teach her. He teaches her how to identify plants suitable for eating, and how to cook animals. She becomes an excellent cook, and we see some of the delicious looking food that she produces. We learn about the poverty of the local peasants and how many are starving. The arrogance and condescending attitude of the Duc de Chamfort and his fellow aristocrats give us a taste of the unfair treatment given to the poorer people which eventually led to the French Revolution.

Perry Mason (2020–2023)

The early life of Perry Mason

[8/10 · 6 January 2021]

This began rather slowly, and it took me a while to feel any connection to the characters, but it got better and better as it went along. Some of this background story would not have been allowed on TV in the years of heavy censorship (1950's and 60's) so I was a bit shocked at the experiences of the young Perry Mason. However, I soon warmed to the character, and others who surprisingly became much more rounded human beings as the story went on. Some things didn't seem credible for the 1930's (Perry Mason's unshaven look seemed more 2015) but I was surprised that the series became more gripping and I felt more for the characters as I learned about their past. I will look forward to the next series if there is one.

The Dry (2020)

A good story at the time of the drought

[8/10 · 18 December 2020]

This film really captures the atmosphere of a small Australian country town after a long drought. The river has run dry, and fields are parched. Aaron Falk, who grew up in the town but moved to the city when an older teenager, returns for the funeral of his boyhood friend, Luke. Luke's wife and son have been killed and it is assumed that Luke is the culprit, but Luke's parents ask Aaron (who is now a police officer in Melbourne) to do some unofficial investigating. Aaron teams up with the young local policeman to come with some unexpected solutions. The acting of Eric Bana and others make this an intriguing film. My only concern was that some of the flashbacks were a little bit confusing. The film shows the sort of small country town where rumours can be spread and believed for years. Aaron feels compelled to find and reveal the truth.

The Translators (2019)

Complicated film - not very enjoyable

[6/10 · 15 December 2020]

I didn't really like this film as the setting was sterile and we hardly got to know the characters. The translators of a novel (third in a series) are all seated at desks in a room with no decor, like students in a school. I couldn't warm to any of the characters as they were hardly introduced to us and the fast-paced complicated plot began. I had trouble keeping up with the plot twists and found it difficult to know what was real and what was made up by the characters. For instance one scene shows everyone suspecting everyone else as the person who was leaking the story, then a later scene implies that all of them were in it together. This was referred to as an Agatha Christie type of film, yet there were no likable characters such as Poirot or Miss Marple. I like Agatha Christie films and have seen many, but this film didn't have the humour, beautiful scenery or quirky characters that those films have. I also liked the idea of a group of people translating a book into their own languages, but somehow the film lacked the sort of charm that I had imagined.

Oliver Sacks: His Own Life (2019)

Excellent documentary of compassion and bravery

[9/10 · 13 December 2020]

This was fimed during the last few months of the life of Oliver Sachs, but also includes photographs and footage from his earlier years and his working life as a neurologist and scientist. It is not sensationalised but still manages to show the extremes that he lived through. I felt the sadness of his family life in Britain during World War II and beyond. He went to the USA when he was 27, and although he struggled with drug addiction he was also able to make a medical career for himself. We learn about some of his work with patients who would never have been seen by people outside of the mental hospital where they had spent many years. The medical establishment took many years to accept his ideas and his writings. We also observe his compassion towards his patients, and his bravery in being the vanguard in the understanding of the human brain.

How to Be a Good Wife (2020)

Good fun but strange ending

[7/10 · 13 December 2020]

Most of the film was quite a good send-up of the finishing schools for young ladies in the early part of the 20th Century. However, I felt that it suddenly jumped to a musical about the Feminist Movement of 1968 without really taking us along. I liked the three main characters, played by Juliette Binoche, Yolande Moreau and Noemie Lvovsky, even though the comedy was a bit overdone in places. People who are old enough to remember 1968 would appreciate the old-fashioned attitudes about the expectations of a good wife, and the changes that took place in the Feminist Movement. However there was not enough explanation in this film, of the reasons that the teachers and students of this school became involved. I felt that the good actors were wasted on a film that was too light and fluffy.

Ladies in Black (2018)

Excellent depiction of Sydney in 1959

[9/10 · 29 September 2018]

Our family moved to Sydney in late 1959. We lived in Tempe, and the trams came down the Nepean Highway to the depot not far from our house. Not long afterwards, the trams were sadly replaced by buses.

My first job was in a typing pool, and I bought a black dress with a white collar - a popular work dress at that time. Some of the details in the film really brought back that time to me.

I loved the fact that the film depicted people who liked cultural pursuits such as reading and classical music. When I lived in Sydney, there were some free concerts of classical music at the Sydney Town Hall, and quite a few of my acquaintances went along.

Some of my male friends had surfboards, and went surfing regularly on the weekend. I didn't know any females with surfboards - I don't think that was very common at that time. There was a beach scene in the film, which brought back memories of that time.

I loved the fact that there was a lovely scene of the Blue Mountains. It was a popular place for Sydney people to go for a holiday, especially in winter when they could sit near an open fireplace. In summer we usually went to the beach.

The actors in the film were well-chosen and I really related to the whole film. In fact, I didn't want it to finish. It was great to see an Australian film which doesn't show us as living in the outback, and which shows some positive friendships with European immigrants. Also good to see a film which doesn't rely on the shock value of violence. The sort of people who want to see fast-moving violent films will not find this film to their taste, but I think it could be interesting to a wide audience.

Noah (2014)

Too different from biblical record

[5/10 · 5 April 2014]

My main problem with this film was that it takes far too many liberties with the Bible story. Of course, I expected the director to pad the story with family interaction, building of the ark, scenes of the flood and so on. But the rock characters were unexpected. Also Noah's character - he was chosen as the pure person who was to continue the human race, but there are a few places in the story where he is quite willing to murder people. The actors were fine, especially Jennifer Connelly and Emma Watson. Scenes of the flood were well done, and the animals were credible. The real problem was that Noah never seemed really clear about God's purpose in saving him and his family.

Eat Pray Love (2010)

They changed the book

[7 August 2011]

Unfortunately the main problem with this film is that it completely changed the book. This book is not a fiction, it is an account of a woman's true story. Firstly, it doesn't show Julia (Liz)'s marriage breakup as causing her the trauma that she felt in the book. She and her husband had had fights about having a baby, and other issues, where she felt controlled. Also she was supporting him, and he wanted her to go on supporting him, so she felt trapped. She sat in the bathroom night after night in floods of tears, as she was so distressed about being in a marriage where she had no choice, but the breakup in the film shows none of her anxiety and sadness, just jumping to the scene where she prays. In the book she supported her husband, and he wanted her to have a baby, which would have made it difficult for her to keep her career, and when they divorced he got everything, but the film shows her as being selfish.

In Elizabeth Gilbert's book, she meets Filipe at his home as the host, serving food to people. This was changed completely in the film, where her way of meeting Filipe was him hitting her while she was riding her bike. Her meeting with Filipe would have made a lovely scene if it was shown exactly as in the book. The real Filipe did not offer to be her tour guide. He was a businessman, and that was hardly mentioned in the film. In the book he talked about his gems, and this should have been in the film to show that he was a self-sufficient man, not someone she would have to support. The scene where she has an argument on the beach with Filipe was made up, it wasn't in the book. She loved Filipe because he didn't try to control her and she knew that she would have freedom to be herself, but this scene in the film shows him trying to control her, which is exactly the sort of man she didn't want.

The best part of the film was in India, where it did capture the intention of the book, and Richard from Texas was a good character, and the little Indian girl was perfect. There were also lovely views of Rome, and the area around Ubud in Bali. I couldn't understand why the film changed so much about Filipe. What she loved about him was that she could still be herself, without being controlled, but the film changes the whole relationship, making him a controlling man - the sort she had wanted to get away from.