Meisjes / over the hill band .. and For the Love of Movies

sunday august 30, 2009

the morning's first film for me started at a reasoable 10:40 a.m., so i had time to get a

second load of laundry going before leaving home for the theatre ..

meisjes/les filles/ over the hill band

the director, a few members of the crew, and the 3 women who make up the "band" were

on hand to greet the audience prior to the screening .. a film in flemish with french sub-titles ..

a newly widowed woman in her late sixties ,who once-upon-a-teenage sang in a band, decides

to get her former group together again with the help of her good-for-nothing never-made-it

musician son, all this much to the distress of her solid-citizen family-man other son ..

her friends go along with the plan, and eventually, the group, which has to "update" their mode

of singing, tempo, lyrics, end up on a talent show .. i wasn't expecting the ending .. though in

certain respects, it was foreshadowed .. so i was teary-eyed for myself and my personal situation ..

 

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my next film started half an hour after, at 1pm, and was across the hall .. so no need to rush ...

from the documentary section, For the love of movies: the story of american film criticism

the director, himself a film critic, was present to greet the audience .. and did a q and a after

the screening, which i didn't stay for ..

the best thing about this montage of interview segments was that, whenever a scene from a movie

was discussed .. often the one scene that most influenced or affected the interviewee during his/her

formative years, ... that scene was the visual while the person spoke .. this made the film so much

more than talking heads .. and i caught the titles of films i'd never heard of .. such as The Boy with

green hair .. and Two Thousand Maniacs! .. neither of which I'd particularly want to see

one little thing that irritates me in documentaries is the "vintage" clip .. which is identified in the

credits .. but at the moment i'm seeing it, I really wish they'd discretely indicate the year and venue

of the clip .. (like a young Woody Allen being interviewed? when?)

the structure was chronological, with present-day critics discussing their earlier 20th c. predecessors

with knowledge and respect .. it is more people-focused than idea focused ..  and reminds me of the travel

film, if it's tuesday, this must be belgium: visit 10 countries in a week: land in four, fly low over six ..

but it'll play on some tv network that likes documentaries ..

 

cinemoo in montreal