This film’s power is hard to describe to those who have not seen it. Unfolding at its own pace for nearly four hours, introducing us to a large cast of characters, never wasting a moment, it’s as close as cinema can get to a great novel. An epic tale of growing up, family and first love, it is often warm, funny and thrilling, but hanging over it is a sense of inevitable, impending doom, as events move towards a devastating final act. My choice for greatest film of the 1990s and one of the best movies about youth ever made.
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Bad Lucky Goat 2017
Today’s ‘Film of the Day’ on Mubi is a minor gem, a vibrant and offbeat account of several hours in the lives of two squabbling teen siblings as they desperately try to fix the problems caused by their accidental killing of a goat. It’s always a delight to discover a movie that focuses on such a unique and distinctive culture - the dialogue is in Providencia Creole, the first film shot in that dialect - and there is plenty of local colour, engaging music and charming performances by the two kids. Hints of the supernatural, too, and a genuinely surprising ending. Well worth seeking out.
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Father's Little Dividend 1951
The 1950 'Father of the Bride' is a sparkling comedy that still holds up beautifully. This sequel sticks close to the formula and retains the A-list cast, but fails to recapture the magic. A passable time-waster, but thoroughly unnecessary. I did like the idea of crusty Spencer Tracy, already an old man in his fifties, thinking himself too young to be a grandfather. For the most part he just goes through the motions here, but he is still Spencer Tracy and keeps things watchable.
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Elizabeth Taylor ranked -
Enchanted April 1991
Something of a sleeper hit in its day- successful enough to score a few Oscar nods and to set director Newell up for monster hit ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’ a couple of years later - but I found this too quaint for its own good. There is little attempt at character development beyond the inclusion of occasional awkward voiceovers. Plowright has a smattering of good lines, which she delivers with aplomb, but the other actors have little to work with, and main protagonist Lawrence is saddled with a character whose earnestness and optimism become grating.
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Drive My Car 2021
It’s testament to this film’s enthralling power that, the first time I glanced at my watch during the screening, well over two hours had passed. Based on a Murakami short story - I haven’t read it, but some of the prose is unmistakably his - this is a rich and rewarding experience, superbly acted, epic in scope, deep in themes without being inaccessible. My attention wandered, briefly, in the last half hour or so but this is a major achievement.
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Elvis 2022
Easier to sit through than I feared, this is an energetic but exhausting, chaotic account of the King’s rise and fall. If you know Baz Luhrmann then you know what to expect. The widespread calls for Oscar-attention for Butler are overselling his achievement, I believe. He’s charismatic, nails the swagger and works that pelvis, but Luhrmann’s frenetic style - headache-inducing editing and brief dialogue scenes - give him little room to explore the character. After two and a half hours,…
