Mine, Mary, McGariggle,..Measures

New films opening in January usually mean bad news, and this year is no exception. New this week is a film I screened over a month ago, and I can scarcely remember anything about it except that I thought it was incredibly dull and lifeless. It is called EXTRAORDINARY MEASURES--even the title seems to disappear in banal, lifeless measures--and the best thing I can say about this film is that you should have no problem falling asleep while watching it. It is like watching a TV disease-movie-of-the-week, one that you would watch for a couple minutes because there IS Harrison Ford acting serious, and then you'd turn the station, because nothing seems to be happening except a lot of talk, talk, talk, and dull talk it is. If you want to see a much better film about a couple struggling to find a cure for a rare and unusual disease that their child is struggling with, then rent LORENZO'S OIL (1992) which features Nick Nolte and Susan Sarandon. My rating for EXTRAORDINARY MEASURES is ZZZZZ... ZZZZZ... ZZZZZ....
A lovely documentary, MINE, playing at SIFF Cinema this week only is well worth the price. It is a poignant post-Hurricane Katrina true story about animals that were lost/displaced, and the efforts to reunite them with their owners. Unfortunately, some people who adopted these misplaced animals resisted wanting to return them to their rightful owners because they felt that the animals had been abandoned (sometimes there was no choice) and ill treated (most animals from that region were not neutered or spaded, and had heart worms and other diseases.) Issues of racism and classism really make for heart-rending viewing--but there are many happy endings on view in MINE.
A TOWN CALLED PANIC is a French, stop-action animated film with plastic figurines of an Indian, Cowboy and horse, along with other animals, that creates its own unique world of abstract zaniness. It's like watching YELLOW SUBMARINE (1968) on acid and without the Beatles music or the colorful drawings. Movies like this are admired, but for me they are so unconnected from reality that I find it hard to stay engaged, and find my mind wandering, or wishing it were over soon. This would make an inspired 12 minute short, but stretched into nearly 90 minutes, it is just too much.
It's been many years since I viewed MARY POPPINS (1964) and I'm pleased to report it holds up especially well. The tone of this musical film is very British and rather serious. A workaholic banker and his women suffrage-obsessed wife are literally ignoring their children in the early 1900's ,who are placed in the hands of a magical nanny who seems to (literally) come from heaven to help the children cope with their boredom and neglect by stimulating their imagination with fanciful visits to the country side to dance with penguin waiters, and to tea parties on the ceiling. The many popular songs created for this film by Rich and Robt. Sherman still charm: Jolly Holiday, A Spoonful of Sugar, Chim Chim Cher-ee, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!, I Love to Laugh, Step in Time, and Let's Go Fly a Kite! But for me the emotional punch of the "quieter" songs give MARY POPPINS its real heart: Stay Awake (a sarcastic lullaby), The Life I Lead (about the proper -and unattainable-British home), The Fidelity Fiduciary Bank (about corporate greed and money mis-management) and especially Feed the Birds (a beautiful and hauntingly moving song about poverty and charity that was Walt Disney's personal favorite.) You certainly don't need to wait for a child to watch one of the great films of all time--still Walt Disney's greatest achievement!
We also watched a filmed winter concert on dvd last week: A NOT SO SILENT NIGHT(2009) featuring Kate and Anna McGarrigle (aka the McGarrigle Sisters) with Kate's adult children Rufus Wainwright and Martha Wainwright, and featuring Emmylou Harris, Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson, at the Knitting Factory in NYC. The stage seemed small and crowded with the singers and musicians and many songs were awkwardly (and at times, poorly) filmed. But for those who love this family and their friends, the refreshingly unfamiliar (and some familiar) Christmas and "winter" songs were a delightful revelation. Many of these songs also appear on the CD called A McGarrigle Family Christmas Album that was released over 2 years ago, and is a wonderful celebration of the season. It was the CD that turned us on to Rufus and Martha as unique singers in their own right (see my blog from early November 2009).
So it was with great sadness to read just a few days later that Kate McGarrigle died of cancer at age 63. Check out their best and most popular album from the mid-1970's--Dancer with Bruised Knees by the McGarrigle Sisters.
Coming Soon I promise--the Top Films of 2009!