Message in a Bottle (Robin Wright)

I was browsing our local thrift store when I spotted a couple of DVDs which I hadn’t seen, and which looked interesting. One of them was the 1999 film  ‘Message in a Bottle’. As the film was on special offer I had to agree that I wouldn’t complain if it was faulty, and paid my 50 cents. We decided to watch it last night - and what an amazing film it turned out to be!

Theresa (Robin Wright) is the main protagonist. She works as a researcher for a newspaper in Chicago, and has a young son though she’s divorced and his father has remarried. I’m not quite sure of the point of the sections involving the son, as they’re not really relevant to the story other than, perhaps, establishing Theresa’s character and situation as a single mother. 

Out for a run along the beach, she comes across a bottle with a message inside. It’s a beautifully written love letter, to someone who has left them, signed just “G”.  Theresa is moved by this, and also intrigued, and she takes it in to work to show some of her colleagues. One of them decides to print it, although she did not want to, and this leads to a huge amount of correspondence, including someone mentioning another letter written in the same style. 

Theresa’s colleagues become more and more interested and involved and eventually track down the person who must be the author of the letters, and Theresa persuades her boss to allow her to fly out to meet him. She finds herself in a boating village, and gets to know Garrett (Kevin Costner), the person who wrote the letters. She learned that his wife Catherine died a year earlier, and that he’s still grieving. He’s also in major conflict with her relatives, who blame him and want some of her paintings…

It’s a beautifully made story, with excellent casting. The two main characters have excellent chemistry, and there’s ongoing tension as Theresa keeps putting off telling Garrett what originally brought her to his village and it’s inevitable that he will find out at some point. But possibly my favourite character is Garrett’s father Dodge (Paul Newman) who is frustrated with his son, but also utterly committed to him - and full of wisdom. There is a very poignant scene between the two. 

It’s not all poignant, however. There are some light-hearted scenes in the newspaper offices, which made us smile. And there are some delightful sequences as Garrett and Theresa realise how much they like each other. I had hopes that it would end happily, but although some issues are solved it was basically a very sad movie, albeit with a hint of encouragement at the end. I understand it was based on a book of the same title by Nicholas Sparks, but the film was so good I don't think I necessarily want to read the book - and that's unusual for me.

We were absolutely gripped by this film, which was thought-provoking, moving, and extremely well-made. The rating is 12 which I feel is right - there’s quite a long scene of intimacy, but it’s implied rather than explicit, and there’s also a very tense, difficult scene to watch in a storm. I don’t think the storyline would appeal to anyone younger than about fourteen or fifteen anyway.

But for adults and older teens who don’t mind a film with a bittersweet ending, I would recommend this very highly.

The only extras on this DVD were some deleted or extended scenes, which were interesting to watch but we agreed that the film was perfect as it was, and these extras would not have added anything.

Review copyright 2021 Sue's DVD Reviews

Quartet (Maggie Smith)

We usually watch a film on DVD about once a week, and as we don’t have any new ones at present, we are currently re-watching films we haven’t seen for six or seven years (or more). We saw the film ‘Quartet’ in 2013, and I had entirely forgotten the storyline, so it was a good choice for yesterday evening’s viewing. We seem to be seeing a lot of films with elderly actors; it only occurred to me yesterday that there are so many of them because as actors grow older they don’t necessarily want to retire, but to continue working. 

This film features a care home for retired musicians. As we learned in one of the extras, most of the minor characters in the home are actually musicians, not actors. Dustin Hoffman directed, and wanted them to be themselves, not trying to play parts.

Having said that, the four members of the quartet which gives its name to the film are well-known actors: Maggie Smith as Jean is really the main character, although she’s not yet at the care home at the start of the film. Tom Courtenay is Reggie, quite an academic and an expert on opera who gives lectures to teenagers on music appreciation. Billy Connolly as Wilf is the third member of the quartet, and Pauline Collins as Cissy is the fourth. Each of them is very different: Wilf is outspoken, full of innuendoes and humour; Cissy is clearly approaching some form of dementia that comes and goes. 

Two other important people in the film are Cedric (Michael Gambon) who likes to take credit for organising everything that goes on, and Dr Cogan (Sheridan Smith) who runs the home as well as being the medical advisor. And they’re all wonderful - the pace is good, the music excellent and while there’s not a whole lot of story, there was definitely enough to keep my attention focussed. 

There’s humour, mostly from Wilf who likes to flirt with all the women, particularly the doctor, but also in the timing and interactions of others of the cast, particularly an elderly duo, one of whom (Trevor Peacock) I recognised from ‘The Vicar of Dibley’.  There are also some quite moving sections.  When Jean arrives at the home, she’s surrounded by admirers; she was once quite a star, although she insists she no longer sings. But Reggie is very upset that she’s there, and it quickly becomes clear that they were once married, although it didn’t last. The way they gradually get to know each other in their old age is beautifully done. 

Most of the story, such as it is, features the lead-up to the annual fund-raising gala concert, and attempts to persuade Jean to sing. It all feels quite believable, and I felt quite engrossed - though even as I watched, I didn’t recall much of what happened. Possibly because there isn’t all that much plot. 

The rating is 12 (PG-13 in the US) which seems fair. There’s no nudity or anything explicit, but a lot of innuendoes, and a few instances of ‘strong’ language. There’s no violence, but there are some very poignant scenes involving Cissy, which could potentially be disturbing. I can’t imagine that a film about people in their seventies and eighties would appeal to anyone below the age of about fifteen anyway.

We both enjoyed the film very much, and watched some of the extras: behind the scenes commentaries, and some outtakes. There are also some deleted scenes although we didn’t see them all.

Review copyright 2021 Sue's DVD Reviews

Educating Rita (Julie Walters)

We were chatting with friends recently about the play Pygmalion, and the related film ‘My Fair Lady’, which were inspired by the classic Greek myth about Pygmalion.  I remembered that the 1983 film ‘Educating Rita’, which we hadn’t watched for about twelve years, was also inspired by the original Greek myth, so we decided to watch it last night. Unfortunately our DVD is quite old and it skipped a few scenes (one of which I later watched on YouTube, which probably wasn’t legal but we do actually own a DVD, albeit faulty). 

The story is well-known. Rita (a very young looking Julie Walters)  is a hairdresser, married to Denny (Malcolm Douglas), who is a traditional working class young man. He really wants them to start a family, but Rita (whose real name is Susan) is determined to get some education - to ‘find herself’, as she puts it. So she enrols in the Open University, and her assigned tutor is called Frank (Michael Caine).

Frank is a lecturer in English literature, but he’s also an alcoholic with spirits hidden around his study. We first meet him when he’s supposedly running a tutorial group, but is quite inebriated, and takes almost no notice of his students. He has no wish to be an Open University tutor, and his first impression of Rita is not positive. He tries to put her off, but she’s outspoken and very determined, and despite himself he comes to like and respect her, although he’s not convinced he can teach her anything useful.

Since the two become friends, and it’s clear that she is a much stronger character, the resemblance to ‘Pygmalion’ is perhaps rather tentative. Rita is not seen as an object  - this is what she makes clear to her husband and family; that she wants to be a person, to expand her knowledge and learn about ideas that are outside her normal world. Frank is perhaps the first person to take her seriously. 

There’s plenty of humour in the film; Julie Walters is superb in the role of Rita, gradually changing from a brash, pushy young woman into a gentler, tasteful woman with considerable knowledge about English literature. Her hair grows longer and softer, her clothes become more casual and somehow more classy.  It’s not about class as such, although the stereotypes are there, it’s about the way that education, at least in some forms, gives choices. Rita probably does want to have a baby one day, but she wants to make that choice herself, because it’s the right thing to do, not because it’s what her family expects of her.

It’s rated PG which reflects the total lack of any nudity, violence or intimate scenes, but there are some more adult themes - such as Rita and Denny’s discussions about birth control - and some parents might prefer their children not to see quite so much alcohol being consumed, with the resultant drunkenness, albeit mostly good-natured.  There are a few instances of strong language, too, although mostly used for the sake of making a point. 

I liked the film very much; I’d forgotten a lot of the detail, and look forward already to seeing it again in another decade or so.  But we might get hold of a better quality DVD first. Definitely recommended to older teens and adults.  Apparently it's available not just in a remastered older edition, but in a new, digitally enhanced version produced in 2018.

Review copyright 2021 Sue's DVD Reviews