A Midsummer Night's Dream (1999)

(Amazon UK link)

We have watched one or two films based on Shakespeare plays in the past and liked them very much. So when I saw the 1999 film version of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ at a church sale, it was an easy decision to buy it. We noticed a few well-known actors and actresses listed, and finally watched it yesterday evening.

Rather than being set in the 15th and 16th centuries, the film is set at the start of the 19th century, in Italy. So the clothes and some of the settings are rather more modern than would be expected, in particular several bicycles. But the language is Shakespeare’s.

I don’t know how true to the original play the script is as I haven't read it in many years. There may have been additions or deletions. But I certainly recognised many of the more famous speeches or dialogues, and it felt authentic. And as when seeing any Shakespeare production, the text became easy to understand after the first few minutes, once my ears were attuned to the style. The cast have a slightly odd mixture of English and American accents that jarred a little at first, but we gradually got used to that, too. 

The story is well-known. It's set both in the real world of autocratic fathers and unrequited love, and also the woodland full of fairies and sprites. Two young men, Demetrius (Christian Bale) and Lysander (Dominic West), are both in love with a girl called Hermia (Anna Freil). She loves one, but her father wants her to marry the other. And he threatens her with death or a convent if she fails to do his bidding.

Hermia’s friend Helena (Calista Flockhart) is in love with Demetrius, but he ignores her. And while I found Hermia quite believable, Helena’s histrionics felt exaggerated and fake at times. Perhaps it’s in keeping with a Shakespeare comedy - there’s certainly plenty of exaggeration later - but I didn’t much like Helena. Hermia and Lysander decide to run away into the forest, and their friends follow… only to be caught up in the fairyland world, in particular the mischievous sprite Puck, brilliantly played by Stanley Tucci. I had thought of Puck as a much younger lad, but could almost believe in this one.

Michelle Pfeiffer is excellent as the slighted queen of the fairies, Titania, who is bewitched to fall in love with the weaver known as Bottom (Kevin Kline). Rupert Everett makes a good Oberon too. The real and fairyland worlds weave together very well, fairies shown as mischievous, liking drink and dancing and various kinds of carousing.

The scenery, the magical effects and the acting and directing were all excellent, we thought, even if there was rather more implied intimacy than I had ever seen before in productions of this play. While there’s nothing untoward shown, there are several scenes where it’s obvious that couples are naked, and in at least one of them it is very clear what is about to happen.

Shakespeare’s plays are full of innuendoes and bawdiness, but it was rather more overt in this production than in the live theatre I have seen previously. So I was a little surprised that it was only rated PG, at least in the UK. The US has rated it PG-13 and I feel that would be more appropriate.

That apart, I would recommend this very highly, if you don’t mind a rather different style of production. It was very amusing in places, and we enjoyed it thoroughly.

Review copyright 2019 Sue's DVD Reviews

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (Ewan McGregor)

(Amazon UK link)

Browsing a box of DVDs on a church bookstall, I spotted ‘Salmon Fishing in the Yemen’. Although it’s not a title that would naturally appeal to me, I had heard good things about the book and even better things about the film adaptation. I thought it well worth 50 cents, and we decided to watch it last night.

Ewan McGregor is the real star of this film, as the somewhat grumpy Alfred (Fred) Jones, an expert on fishing. We meet him almost in passing at first, responding in the negative to a proposal by a wealthy Sheikh (Amr Waked) who wants to introduce salmon fishing in his native country. The idea sounds ridiculous so Fred’s response is not unreasonable, pointing out that salmon need a cool, rainy climate rather than a hot, dry Middle Eastern one.

The project might have disappeared but for the government deciding they need a ‘good news’ story from the Middle East, promoting Anglo-Arab relations, to balance the many negative ones. The Prime Minister’s press secretary, Patricia Maxwell (Kristen Scott Thomas) is a pushy, assertive person who manipulates Fred’s boss into taking the project on. And Fred is inveigled into meeting Harriet (Emily Blunt), a financial consultant who has been employed by the Sheikh.

I found the number of people a tad confusing at first, until I had worked out who the main characters were. Fred’s wife Mary seems quite important at first, but it’s clear that their marriage has lost its sparkle, and they are drifting apart. Harriet embarks on a relationship with a soldier, too, but it’s fuelled by passion rather than anything deeper. And then he is sent to Afghanistan…

The film is shot in three main locations: London, parts of Scotland, and (rather than Yemen) Morocco. It’s very well done, paced exactly right for my tastes, and with a good balance of conversation and action. The Sheikh is a delightful man, probably around the same age as Fred, and their shared interest in fishing sparks an immediate rapport. His reason for wanting the fishing is not for selfish enjoyment, but to bring more life and leisure activities to an arid reason. Unfortunately, not all the locals agree with him, and the project brings some angry - and, eventually violent - protests.

Harriet is a great character too, overwhelmingly positive, determined to overcome all Fred’s possible objections to the project, and with an unexpected flair for languages. There are some interesting conversations about faith, alongside fishing; Fred insists he is a man of science, with no faith, but the Sheikh gently persuades him otherwise.

It’s billed as a comedy, whereas I would have called it a romantic drama; inevitably there’s a romantic thread, although that, too, is extremely well done, with a strong friendship developing before any talk of love. There are certainly some amusing conversations, but they made us smile rather than laughing, and they were interspersed with much more serious, sometimes tragic interludes.

But all in all, we thought it an excellent film, one I would highly recommend. The rating is 12 (PG-13 in the US) which I think is about right. There are instances of fairly mild bad language, with just one or two ‘strong’ words, and there is a fair amount of implied intimacy, but nothing explicit, and no nudity. The violent scenes are brief without gore or too much tension. But the political and sometimes satirical themes are unlikely to appeal to children anyway.

There are a couple of extras; we watched the ‘making of’ extra, with the cast and director explaining how it was made, why the cast were chosen, and how they dealt with some of the filming.

Highly recommended.

Review copyright 2019 Sue's DVD Reviews

Mr Holland's Opus (Richard Dreyfuss)

(Amazon UK link)

While we’re starting to watch some films for the second time this year, there aren’t many that I want to see for a third time - and already look forward to seeing again some day. But one film that bears multiple viewings is the little-known Mr Holland’s Opus, which we last saw in 2007. I don’t know why we’ve waited so long to see it again, but last night we finally watched it once more.

Richard Dreyfuss is the title character, and he carries the story superbly. We meet him first as a thirty-year-old man about to start his first teaching job at a high school. He’s not particularly keen to teach; he has been working as a travelling musician up to this point. But he wants to be able to spend more time with his wife Iris (Glenne Headley), and also to compose a symphony which he has started working on.

However, he quickly realises that teaching is more than just a nine to four job. He has to arrange appointments before or after school to help students who are struggling with music, and he has to attend school meetings, and organise school choirs, and eventually a marching band. At first Mr Holland is nervous, teaching by the book, and evidently not catching anyone’s interest. Gradually he relaxes, and tries different methods, interacting with his students more directly, and discussing their tastes in music.

Richard Dreyfuss was born in 1947, so when this film was made in 1995 he would have been almost fifty; yet he carries the energy and youthfulness of a much younger man at the start of the film. He also manages to portray a sixty-year-old by the end; perhaps rather older looking than most people his age, but realistically different from how he appeared at the start of the film. His wife, too, looks much older at the end of the film. We were extremely impressed by the skill of the make-up artistes, as well as the acting.

The story is not just about music teaching, however. There are rivalries and friendships amongst the staff; Mr Holland is a likeable, unthreatening man, yet the deputy head (William H Macy) dislikes him from the start. The school head (Olympia Dukakis) is much fairer and more reasonable, and the sports coach (Jay Thomas) becomes a good friend despite their very different subjects and teaching styles.

And there’s another important subplot, that of Mr Holland’s home life. We see their son Cole as a baby, and a toddler; we see, too, the shock and grief that both parents suffer when they realise that Cole has a disability. It’s one that his father finds very difficult to deal with, and the teenage years show them struggling to communicate. Iris decides that Cole needs to be at a special school, so her husband must keep working, and take extra duties in the summer break to pay for it.

There are some light-hearted moments to this film, such as the appalling standard of the school band at first, and the behaviour of some of the students Mr Holland attempts to teach to drive during the summer break. There’s a lot of poignancy, too, in the family and also at the end; and there’s some excellent music as background. Teaching methods are challenged - and change, over the years, as do the students - and the productions become higher quality, more classy.

There’s a low key possible love interest story that kept me on the edge of my seat the first time I saw this, but all was resolved in what was (to me) the best possible way, so on subsequent viewings I was able to appreciate them better. And there’s one very sad scene, too; as with some of the news that’s briefly covered, it cleverly sets the scenes in their time periods without anything too overt.

Once again, I loved the film; I was totally absorbed as we watched, and sorry when it finally ended. Apparently there are quite a few anachronisms and other errors, but I didn’t notice any of them while watching.

Very, very highly recommended. It’s a gentle, moving film with a positive message. The rating is PG, probably due to some mild bad language and some tension, but there’s nothing unsuitable for young children.

Review copyright 2019 Sue's DVD Reviews

The Bishop's Wife (Loretta Young, Cary Grant)

(Amazon UK link)

I’ve forgotten how we acquired the classic 1940s film ‘The Bishop’s Wife’, but we watched it at the end of 2008, and (on the whole) liked it. It seemed like a good idea to see it again as we had almost entirely forgotten what it was about. We had even forgotten that it was in black-and-white; something that isn’t obvious from the cover.

Loretta Young is Julia, the bishop’s wife of the title. She’s young, loving and somewhat neglected by her ambitious husband Henry (David Niven). He is extremely busy with his work, including an attempt to raise funds for a new cathedral. This means that he cancels dates, is regularly late for meals, and often seems to forget that he has a wife and children.

Into their lives appears Dudley (Cary Grant). We see him early in the film, helping a blind man across the street, narrowly avoiding being hit by traffic. Then we see him racing to catch a runaway pram just before disaster happens. And he speaks to Julia… but it isn’t obvious, at first, that he is an angel looking after the neighbourhood, dressed in a suit.

Dudley persuades Bishop Henry that he needs an assistant, and soon endears himself to the household staff by greeting them by name, opening doors for them, and generally treating them far more respectfully than they have come to expect. And since Henry cancels yet another date with his wife, Dudley takes her out instead, and it’s quickly rather evident that they like each other a little too much…

There are some very cleverly done sequences, all the more impressive in an era long before computer animations or graphics. We were amused by a self-tapping typewriter, for instance, and some filing cards that arranged themselves tidily in boxes. There’s some excellent timing, some enjoyable ice skating (about the only part I had remembered from previous viewing) and some clever scripting.

There’s also some poignancy, and parts that are quite thought-provoking. It’s a 1940s film so it’s going to end in a positive, moral way; but not without some heart-searching and bittersweet endings. There are some sections which would have been so much better in colour, such as the way Dudley decorates the Christmas tree. But I found myself caught up in the story for most of it, and almost forgot that it was black-and-white.

The style is inevitably very dated, the accents sound very 1940s, and I doubt if this would appeal to many people nowadays; there are so many modern Christmas films available, rather faster paced and of course in colour. But we enjoyed this, and I would recommend it to anyone who doesn’t mind black-and-white films, and who would like a gentler, slower film with much to think about, and a moral ending (albeit predictable).

Recommended, if you like this kind of thing. But look out for special offers, as it is often very highly priced new. The rating is U and there’s nothing in it unsuitable for children; but equally very little that would interest most of them.

Review copyright 2019 Sue's DVD Reviews