Friday, 1 September 2023

September 1st 2023

Past Lives
Ego: The Michael Gudinski Story
My Sailor My Love

It's another week for highly recommended films. The gorgeous Past Lives will have me pondering for days, while the story of iconic entrepreneur Michael Gudinski captures an Aussie musical legend. And with Seniors Week upon us, my third film is a poignant story of love in the twilight of life. 
 
Past Lives
Dir: Celine Song
Length: 105 mins
© Studio Canal / A24 - Can't help but reflect
upon the poem The Road Not Taken. 
Three people sit side by side in a New York bar. Nora (Greta Lee) is flanked by two men - Arthur (John Magaro) and Hae Sung (Teo Yoo). An anonymous voice-over speculates on the relationship of these three to each other. Maybe a love triangle or . . . ? Suddenly we are thrust back 23 years earlier. 12-year old Na Young (Seung Ah Moon) is with her childhood friend, young Hae Sung (Leem Seung-Min), and it's obvious there is a deep bond between them. But Na Young's family are emigrating to America, and it is 12 years later when she (now renamed Nora) reconnects over social media with her childhood friend. Finally, another 12 years on, Nora, now a writer, is married to fellow writer Arthur. Hae Sung decides finally to make a visit to New York. This delicate, sublime (and much awarded) film is nothing like you would expect from its trailer. It goes nowhere predictable. Rather is a deeply profound look at life, one's choices, the people one ends up with, and the people we once were and become as a result of those choices. It is exquisitely shot, with scenes, for example, of water and  reflections, somehow representing the ebb and flow of life. The haunting musical score captures the existential sadness of the irreversibility of life, and those roads taken that perhaps were not the optimum (but maybe they were?) It's the three leads who capture the depths of emotion of their utterly relateable characters: essentially kind and good people who are simply there, in the moment; no histrionics or melodrama, with all the frailties and strengths needed to accept that they both love the same woman. One loved the girl she was and he is part of her Korean identity and childhood story; the other loves her now and knows there are parts of her he will never know. I'm sure many of us have defining life moments that will be reflected in this infinitely poignant and beautiful film which takes acceptance and love to another level, and with a director who knows the meaning of subtlety. 
4.5 - wholeheartedly recommended

Ego: The Michael Gudinski Story
Dir: Paul Goldman
Length: 111 mins
© Mushroom Studios - Gudinski: a legend of the 
Aussie music industry
I love a good music film - performers, producers, composers - they are all infinitely entertaining and fascinating to me. Now here's a uniquely Aussie film about a man who made the biggest impact not only upon the Australian music scene, but worldwide. "Good Jewish boy" Gudinski was kicked out of home at a young age, and from there he didn't look back, heading into dance promotions, and then founding Mushroom Records in 1972. As they say, the rest is history, and this film dishes up that history in a lively fashion, with rarely seen archival footage, and interviews galore, not only with Gudinski but also the plethora of artists he promoted, who still love him and are eternally grateful to him. People like Elton John, Sting, Jimmy Barnes, Kylie Minogue, Bruce Springsteen and more all come out to reminisce and pay tribute to the man who was so instrumental in putting them on the Aussie stage. Many of the old clips are scarily nostalgia-inducing, as the film spans the entire 50 years of Gudinski's career. We also get a strong sense of Michael the man - his pushiness, his energy, his eccentricity, and his appeal. Work and family seem to have been his two biggest drivers, and everyone attests to the way he made them feel included. Director Goldman is a music video maker, so the film powers along, employing a brisk editing style, along with a few wham-bam effects. Content and style combine to make a great viewing experience about a unique man. 
4 - highly recommended

My Sailor My Love
Dir: Klaus Haro
Length: 130 mins
© Kismet - love later in life is not
always straightforward
Howard (James Cosmo) is a retired sea captain living alone. His daughter Grace (Catherine Walker) visits and tends to him, but there is obviously a lot of baggage between them. Grace decides her father needs a dedicated housekeeper and hires local woman Annie (Brid Brennan). At first Howard resents Annie's presence but he gradually thaws and a romance springs up between them. How will Grace handle her father's new relationship and how will Annie cope with the obvious tensions between father and daughter? This gentle film has won several audience awards at various festivals and I see why. It handles the subject of older love beautifully, eschewing sentimentality and feeling always real, even though at first we have a fair idea where it is heading. But then the film gradually exposes issues from the past and just why Howard and Grace are at odds with each other.The underlying complexities of Grace's damaged psyche, her feelings of rejection and her marital difficulties are beautifully captured in Walker's performance. Cosmo and Brennan have a sympatico together in a film that will move you and take you in unexpected directions to areas so many of us can relate to.
4 - highly recommended


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