This Is Where I Leave You

A high powered cast represents a family gathered together to sit Shiva (a Jewish period of mourning) for the deceased patriarch of their family. Reunited at close quarters and at a stressful period inevitably highlights tensions within family relationships and generates new sources for tension too.

The group setting is a familiar structure for establishing a dramatic and/or comedic environment. With performers of the calibre of Jane Fonda and Tina Fey the casting element of 'This Is Where I Leave You' is set up for success but for the mine the film goes off the rails somewhat. For example, the Rabbi (admittedly, an incidental character) is as unlikely a spiritual leader as one could imagine. And you know a film about 'adult' issues and relationships is struggling when one of the recurring threads is a joke about a baby's pooping activities.

With all that talent on show this could have been better.
★★1/2

Bridge

Tonight, 53.20%, 7/15

Force Majeure

In 'Force Majeure' a Swedish family, Tomas (Johannes Kuhnke) , Ebba  (Lisa Loven Kongsli) and their two children are on a skiing holiday in France when they find themselves in danger from an apparent avalanche. Ebba instinctively tries to protect the children but Tomas seems to run away to safety. The remainder of the film focuses on how the family and others they encounter respond to this moment of behaviour under stress.

Many will find this movie too long and lacking in action and it is indeed overlong and filled with plenty of static, dialogue free scenes. The creators also seem to be undecided on how to bring the film to a conclusion. In the final ten minutes I observed at least five possible endings emerging all of which are retained in the movie as though you should pick the ending you prefer along with the eventual 'non end' final moments. Despite all this I found the film curiously interesting.

For one thing, the many sights and sounds of how the snow resort is maintained and managed were fascinating to me as one unfamiliar with the skiing world. The oddly science fiction and mysterious nature of this activity had me intrigued. Secondly, the angles and stylistic photography appealed to me. Finally, the ginger headed Kuhnke is quite a spunk and notwithstanding his over the top, overwrought, big emotional scene, I could happily watch him for hours on end.

Not for everyone but I liked it.
★★★1/2

Bridge

Tonight, 59.50%, 1/11

Skylight

(National Theatre of Great Britain)

I love these cinema screenings of live stage performances and those from the National Theatre of Great Britain are amongst the best I have seen.

'Skylight' is about an evening when an older man renews acquaintances with his young mistress some years after their relationship had concluded. His wife has died in the intervening period and she has moved on to pursue a career in teaching. Are these old friends enjoying a catchup, or former lovers seeking to revive a past passion?

The cut and thrust of David Hare's dialogue is delivered expertly by Bill Nighy and Carey Mulligan in beautiful performances.
★★★★

Climbing the mountain

It took me enough hours to download and install Apple's new Yosemite operating system to my MacBook so I knew what I was in for when I volunteered today to take Ae's MacBook home to update hers.

Ae's prepaid internet connection simply doesn't have enough capacity for the required amount of download to be handled speedily and I knew that Ae would panic at the apparent lack of progress if left to monitor the download herself.

As it turned out I was 4/5 of the way through the download to her MacBook when my internet connection dropped out and when I got it going again the download restarted from the beginning. Four hours after I started and with much relief the download and installation finally were accomplished.

Children of the Sun

Sydney Theatre Company

Andrew Upton has adapted Maxim Gorky's play 'Children of the Sun'.

Nineteenth century Russia and we find a number of middle class characters are distracted by their relationships; mostly unsatisfactory and unsatisfied relationships. Meanwhile their servants are engrossed in their own mysterious relationships.

Having not seen a version of the original play I am not sure how close this adaption is to Gorky's vision and watching it I felt afterwards that I just didn't 'get it'. Was this play an allegory about impending revolution? Or a mild clash of class structures? Or a depiction of social manners? Maybe all of these things?

I came away from the play somewhat baffled.
★★1/2

Before I Go To Sleep

A woman (Nicole Kidman) awakes each morning not knowing who she is, where she is, or who this man besides her in bed is. That man (Colin Firth) patiently tells her each morning that she is his wife and that she suffers amnesia following an accident. After the man goes to work, leaving the woman at home alone, a Doctor telephones each morning to speak to the woman, to tell her who she is and to seek answers as to how she got to be in this condition.

I suppose this is a potentially interesting plot but its silliness - for one thing how is it that these events occur every day without fail and in the same sequence each day - had me distracted for most of the running time of 'Before I Go To Sleep'.

The eventual 'reveals' made little sense to me.
★★

Reach for the sky

Westfield shopping centre Bondi Junction

Bridge

Tonight 46.10%, 13/14

Spring has sprung

Departing the Opera House last Saturday after attending the matinee of 'The King and I' and the bar and cafes along the concourse were crowded in the late afternoon early spring sunshine.

The King and I

(Opera Australia and John Frost)

Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical 'The King and I' is this year's money spinning musical to complete the 2014 Opera Australia Sydney season.

This production of the experience of Anna Leonowens who travels to the court of the King of Siam to teach dozens of Royal children has been around since the late 1990s and is deceptively simple in its staging but still visually stunning.

It is difficult to imagine any stage production matching the superb film version of 1956 in which Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr made the two main characters absolutely their own but to my surprise Lisa McCune especially and Teddy Tahu Rhodes come mighty close in their performances.

I don't know why this production presents Sir Edward Ramsay as a bit of a buffoon which makes one wonder why Anna would have tolerated him as an early beau but his is an incidental character with only the one appearance and so this is a minor quibble.

Just about as good as it gets for classic Broadway musicals.
★★★★1/2

A holiday from the holiday

In retrospect it wasn't smart planning.

Five weeks of overseas travelling. Seven flights spanning the globe. Many changes of time zones. Hours and hours of walking each day.

What should have followed all that was a short period of rest and recovery.

Instead, what have I done in the two weeks since returning from overseas? Six days of volunteer work, attended five theatre performances, saw four films, played three sessions of bridge, had the car serviced, a podiatrist appointment, a doctor's appointment, a blood test, one funeral, attended one football grand final, participated in one Consumer Advisory Group meeting and wasted two hours speaking to a call centre in India.

I need a holiday from my holiday.

A swell send-off

It was simply by chance. Wednesday morning and our nursing home participants are delayed arriving because of heavy traffic. So, whilst I wait I flick through the newspaper and there I notice in the funeral announcements, a section of the paper I only occasionally look at, the name of a former work colleague and friend with whom I have had no contact since exchanging Christmas niceties last year. What a shock. He'd seemed in acceptable health always and a death announcement was unexpected.

The funeral was today. More than 250 in attendance. Clearly a man respected by many. His grown up family impressive in their demeanour and speech. Charming young grandchildren participating articulately and with poise beyond their youth. Widow dignified.

I shed a tear as the coffin was carried out of the church.

The Judge

A brash, aggressive and successful big city lawyer (Robert Downey Jr) returns to his small town of origin to attend his mother's funeral and finds his father, the long serving local Judge, (Robert Duvall) facing a serious criminal charge.

'The Judge' has received some mixed reviews and low ratings which I think is rather harsh. It is a well acted film with an original plot that doesn't entirely follow predictable lines. Yes, there is the occasional misstep. One of those is the moment when an unexpected court room confession brings a noisy intake of breath from the assembled observers; a rather silly unintentionally comical moment.

Overall this is a superior drama about family relationships.
★★★★

Bridge

Tonight, 49.10%, 7/13

The Skeleton Twins

Adult twins are reunited after a separation of ten years when Maggie (Kristen Wiig) comes to the aid of her brother Milo (Bill Hader) following his unsuccessful attempt at suicide.

'The Skeleton Twins' is a gentle examination of troubled souls haunted by a past they barely understand. Both siblings have unfulfilled ambitions but find solace in their obvious love for each other.
★★★1/2

Bridge

Tonight, 47.40%, 6/11

The Motherf**ker with the Hat

Darlinghurst Theatre Company

In 'The Motherf**ker with the Hat' a New York Hispanic American couple's relationship is strained when the boyfriend discovers a stranger's hat in his girlfriend's apartment.

This profanity laden play is often funny and despite its characters behaving badly you develop a sympathy for the tribulations they experience in developing relationships and resisting addictions.

A nicely performed play whose only drawback is that it is a little long for a one act work.
★★★1/2

The Glass Menagerie

Belvoir St Theatre

This is the first time I have seen Tennessee Williams' play which established his reputation; 'The Glass Menagerie'.

The play tells of the Wingfield family. A deserted mother is desperate to find a suitor for her introverted and handicapped daughter. Her son, narrating the play in flashback, loves his sister dearly but can no longer abide his mother's yearnings and her living in the past.

This is a beautifully performed production especially by Pamela Rabe as the mother and Rose Riley as the daughter.
★★★★