marian-hone1 Reviews

Tickets for the Titanic: Everyone a Winner (1988) Season 2, Episode 3

I can't forget some of the images from this

[10/10 · 29 September 2020]

It was a long time ago since I saw this but certain images remain. It involved a nightmare vision of the future of capitalism. Jonathan Pryce plays a jobbing vicar desperate for trade. He goes to the funeral of a dog. His wife is a sex therapist who offers sex for money. Everyone is competing. People turn up on the Vicar's doorstep offering to empty his bins for less money than the regular binmen. The Vicar's daughter intends to hire herself out as a surrogate womb. His neighbour (Warren Clarke) invites him round for drinks only to propose a deal to dig up his garden to sell the gravel which is apparently good quality. Junk mail comes constantly though the mailbox and is constantly handed to him in large volume as he walks down the street and it is dropped in quantity from helicopters. Jonathan and his wife try to get their children interested in the values they used to believe in and they want them to go to college and get a good education, but their children reject this as they are only interested in making money. These are the values of the time. I wish I could see this again. It's very funny but also horrifying. Perhaps someone could do an update of it.

Anchoress (1993)

Extraordinary and Compelling

[10/10 · 27 January 2020]

This is a fascinating movie. With minimal dialogue it seems to speak volumes and give so much food for thought about life for women, peasants, communities and the church in medieval times and the tensions between these. Visually it is often very beautiful especially in its depiction of nature. It is slow moving as fitting the times but it is absorbing all the same. There are echoes of Joan of Arc among the themes. Toyah Wilcox, better known as a former pop star, gives a surprisingly strong performance. Natalie Morse is compelling in the lead role, and there are also strong performances from Christopher Ecclestone and Pete Postlethwaite.

The Death of Stalin (2017)

History played as Farce without Losing its Darkness

[8/10 · 10 January 2018]

This film describes itself as a "comedy of terrors" and that's an accurate description. There were some farcical true events around the death of Stalin and this film plays upon the comedy of that but without losing the impact of how terrible these times were. This treatment may well attract a wider audience, to discover a period in time they may not have known about, than if it was just presented as a bleak dark history with nothing to relieve the grimness. It's an interesting experiment and it is taking a risk. I imagine it may attract some criticism for this, but I found it very interesting and absorbing. It's not "laugh out loud" humour generally but when I saw it in the cinema, it was full, and I did hear some laughter but mostly the audience seemed absorbed. The trailer plays up the comical farcical elements but the film also packs a serious punch about the horror of Stalin's dictatorial regime. There are some enjoyable performances by some well known actors.

Porterhouse Blue (1987)

Well Written, Well Acted, Very Funny

[10/10 · 17 October 2017]

I saw this on TV when it was first broadcast and loved how well written it was, how skillfully acted, entertaining and very funny. It's bawdy in parts. Writer Tom Sharpe's humour is earthy and can be savage in satirising characters, institutions and authorities. The best acting, in my opinion, is by David Jason as the Porter (so different from his character in "Only Fools and Horses") and John Sessions as the student Zipser.

Far from the Madding Crowd (1967)

A visually beautiful film that encapsulates the good features of the book

[10/10 · 25 July 2009]

I loved this film when I saw it in 1967 and still do love it. It is a feast for the eyes, and encapsulates the enjoyable features of the book very well. The local characters are so well played that they seem like real people at times, rather than actors. The humour and tragedy are well portrayed. There is some lovely singing too. It makes you just want to drop into that landscape, or feel that you are already there. Wonderful performances from Alan Bates, Peter Finch, Julie Christie, Terrence Stamp and many others. Let it wash over you and enjoy it. It's not a Hollywood type film and maybe that's why it's not as well known or lauded as it should be. Epic!

The Outcasts (1982)

A most unusual dreamlike film .

[8/10 · 20 February 2009]

There is something very dreamlike about this film. Reality is seen through the eyes of Maire whom some call mad. There is a sense of magic and the oral traditions of storytelling surviving from ancient times combined with the more materialistic and venal pre-occupations of people struggling to live in difficult circumstances, but beset with prejudice and fear of someone who stands out as different and odd. It's an unusual film, where the characters are influenced by a combination of paganism, Christianity, and brute ignorance. It's beautifully filmed giving a sense of the power of the landscape on the mind, but inevitably there are tragic consequences.