The film features 8 women and 1 man. It is in essence a social study of women, women from different generations and with different social status. The characters are well rounded, each of them making decisions that fit so well with their personality that you forget they are on the screen and you feel you are at a meal watching your family or your friends.

If you aren’t familiar with french cinema, you won’t recognise all the names but Catherine Deneuve and Virgine Ledoyen should be familiar to you. However, even though they have both crossed over to Hollywood, do not get mistaken - this film is resolutely french, in all its culture and sense of humour.

For a start, the film includes popular french songs, as a way to both push forward the plot and bring a bit of reprieve to the seriousness of the situation they find themselves in. This device had a revival in France in the late 90s with films such as “on connait la chanson” (1997).

While the use of songs might be lost on people not knowing french popular music culture, the characters, so well defined and reminding us of various women we all know, easily build the bridge with other cultures. The 8 women are portrayed neither in negative nor in positive light. Simply, between them, this is a great study not only of women but of human beings, with emotions ranging from jealousy to protection, from freedom to fear.

As these women are meant to represent women, you won’t be surprised to know that lesbianism is included. It’s both a big deal for some of the characters and not a big deal for other characters; again, this is the sort of mixed reaction one often gets when coming out to the whole family, with family members from various ages and social backgrounds. However, considering that the film is set in the 50s, this is rather unheard of to not only mention lesbianism but also have a lesbian kiss scene. Mind you, Catherine Deneuve has some experience in lesbian kisses (”The Hunger”, “Les voleurs” etc)…

8 women. 8 great french actresses. a great study of women and human beings. lesbianism in the 50s. a hot lesbian kiss with Catherine Deneuve. Do you need more reasons to watch it? Recommended.

Links:
Catherine Deneuve Interview with The Advocate, 25th July 1995 - this webpage is a reproduction of the interview
Les Voleurs, IMDb
Francois Ozon, official website, in english

So far so good… until she opens her mouth. The man looking after the bookshop has a beard and a typical alternative intellectual look, and Poppy bombards him with questions and half thought out interjections. He doesn’t warm up to her at all so she becomes sarcastic. Then she gets back to her bike - and horror, it’s been stolen!

So far, I’m already not liking the way she interacts with people. I don’t think she really tried to bring the best out of the shop manager, or tried to make him smile; to me, it seemed like she was criticising him for not smiling, when in fact she doesn’t know him.

But this isn’t the worst by all means. The film is supposed to show us a happy character and how it is easier to live with a smile. But the character is a parody of such a character, and yet very inconsistent. Why do you do if you are a smiling and happy person and your bike gets stolen? Take it in your stride? No, apparently, it’s a good enough reason to learn how to drive, even though she lives five minutes walk from a tube station (she shares a flat on the corner of Finsbury Park Road) and every non-comformist person in London either rides a bike or uses public transport. So why does she want to drive? Ah, the answer is The Plot. Comes in the crazy driving instructor… How convenient…

Other problems with the film include a 10 minutes long scene with a homeless person. This scene doesn’t fit in with the plot at all. Also, relationships between the characters aren’t really shown in depth. We know she’s been living with her flatmate for 10 years and they are both teachers; we know they are good friends, but we don’t know how they met, or how close they are (her flatmate clearly gets annoyed when Poppy gets a boyfriend but we’re not sure why).

Poppy meets a guy, a social worker helping one of her pupils dealing with abuse at home. This shows promise, except that it doesn’t get solved, and we still don’t know what happens to the kid. We also have the classic family argument - three sisters, 1 of them very different from the others.

This film accumulates cliche after cliche. This is why it is a departure from Mike Leigh’s style. In the past, he has delivered us films with first class characters, people that seemed so real on the screen that we couldn’t help but cry and laugh and cry with them. On the contrary, “Happy go lucky” is full of cardboard characters. Happy-not-so-lucky for Mike…

The only good thing about this film is its use of London locations. Most of the locations are in North London, which in itself is quite a cliche too, but still, it’s fun to spot them. Not recommended.

Links:
Sally Hawkins interview, IndieLondon
A Film Four interview with Mike Leigh and Sally Hawkins about “Happy-Go-Lucky”

As not only is there a very likeable lesbian character, but there is also an AIDS sufferer. No, not a gay man, but a straight woman. Sure, in the mid 90s, people knew that AIDS wasn’t a “gay disease” but most films focusing on the subject featured gay or bisexual male sufferers.

The film follows three women, three very different women, who are all running away from something. The film is the story of their friendship, a story of survival, a story of hope that laughter and friendship can solve everything.

The three actresses give outstanding performances and you cannot help yourself but empathise with all three characters. You laugh with them and you cry with them.

Did I mention that the soundtrack is a who’s who of the great female artists of the 70s, 80s and 90s? Annie Lennox, Sheryl Crow, The Pretenders, Joan Armatrading etc

Sadly, the film is only available on Region 1 DVD (= USA). I am shocked that it isn’t available as Region 2 DVD (= Europe) as well because this film was groundbreaking in its day, and still groundbreaking today. Highly recommended.

Links:
Boys on the side, fan page
Ellen Page and Drew Barrymore find their sisters in skates, AfterEllen - Drew’s new film project

However, this is where the greatness of this film stops. It seems like they have spent more time focusing on the locations than on character development and they ask us to care about the relationship between 2 cardboard characters; frankly, I can’t care.

Paul Bettany plays Peter Colt, a player ranked 119th, who was given a wild card to play Wimbledon and who is expected to lose in the first round. Kirsten Dunst plays Lizzie Bradbury, a young american player, tipped to be the next winner. And the end? I bet you could come up with an endind much better and original than what they came up with…

The film might be worth a look if you like tennis (I do and was impressed by the shots) or if you want to see some London locations, including the Dorchester Hotel, but expect nothing from the story. Not recommended.

Links:
Kirsten Dunst fansite
Paul Bettany official site
James McAvoy interview, Premiere magazine

It’s a film that will lift your mood and put a smile on your face. It’s unpretentious and because it is unpretentious, it actually achieves quite a lot in terms of empowering the viewer. Have you ever been worried about coming out to your family or colleagues? Well, watch this and I promise you’ll be that little step closer to doing it.

As for the cast, I have my favourite (Lynn Chen - did I mention her already?!) but objectively, I have to say they are all good. Wil (Michelle Krusiec) delivers many funny lines and Michelle’s timing is perfect. Vivian (Lynn) is more confident in her sexuality and you’d believe Lynn is gay (I’ve checked - alas she’s not). As for Ma (Joan Chen), she is both scared and strong, and Joan makes a great job of conveying this.

Recommended watching.

Links:
Michelle Krusiec, official website
Lynn Chen, official website
Joan Chen talks about “saving face”
Lynn Chen’s band, YPOK2 MySpace page - my favourite song is “nerd potion”

Entertainment Weekly isn’t a magazine that I read. Yet, somehow, I have become aware of their “new classics” list, namely because it was discussed on www.AfterEllen.com, my favourite website to check out lesbian related content.

The original Entertainment Weekly list of the new classic novels mostly makes sense to me, except for the fact that Zadie Smith’s “On Beauty” is at No 19, whereas her debut novel “White Teeth” didn’t even make the list! Also, my favourite writer Paul Auster didn’t make the list!

So I couldn’t help myself but make up a list of what I consider to be the Top 5 new classic novels.

Brooklyn Follies by Paul Auster

Bridget Jone’s Diary by Helen Fielding

White Teeth by Zadie Smith

Tipping The Velvet by Sarah Waters

Prozac Nation by Elizabeth Wurtzel

What’s your list?

Links:
Entertainment Weekly Top 100 new classic books
AfterEllen’s StuntDouble’s Top 5 New classic novels
Paul Auster - The Definitive website
 

Living in a refugee camp isn’t easy for anyone, and Fariba’s circumstances make it even more complicated. And what happens if you fall in love with a local woman?

Fariba will go through highs and downs for her freedom, and her love for a woman.

The film is a powerful story that reminds us that life doesn’t always end like a Hollywood film, and that not all people in the world enjoy the freedom to be who they are. It is also a good insight into Germany’s small town culture, as well as Iran of course. Well worth a look.

NB: this film isn’t connected to 1994’s “Unveiled” by William Cole featuring Lisa Zane, or the forthcoming 2009’s “Unveiled” by Bill Bannerman.

Links:
Official website for the film, in german
Jasmin Tabatabai official website, in english
“Vivere” (2007) by Angelina Maccarone, official website, in english
Interview with Angelina Maccarone, Women & Hollywood - the interview focuses on “Vivere”

The film paints faithfully the lifestyle of a working class family in a small Yorkshire town in the 1950s. Victor’s father isn’t a bad man, but simply a working class man who doesn’t think his son stands a chance as an artist due to his social background.

While at times the film is slow and suffers from slighly wonky dialogues, I found it beautiful and I could relate with both Victor and Ellen. Well worth a look.

NB: this film has nothing to do with 1986’s “Between Two Women” TV film featuring Farrah Fawcett, or 1945’s “Between Two Women” film featuring Lionel Barrymore, or 1937’s “Between Two Women” film featuring Maureen O’Sullivan.

Link:
Between Two Women, at the British Film Catalogue

If you only visit one museum in London, I suggest you head over to the London Tranport Museum.

Conveniently located in Covent Garden, the museum saw a major refurbishement, completed in November 2007. It’s packed with buses, trams and train carriageways from all the decades. You can climb in some of them and you can also drive a tube train on the Jubilee Line.

Not content with displaying the history of public transport in London, it also adresses problems and potential solutions for the future.

For a mere £10, you will spend the best part of an afternoon in there and feel that you understand London, and how to get around, better. I’m usually not a fan of museums but this one is worth seeing, as it marries the past, the present and the future. Recommended.

While some “chance” meetings between the characters are a bit of a stretch of the imagination, the viewer becomes part of Allegra (Elizabeth Reaser), wondering if this triangle love situation is a good thing.

Grace (Gretchen Mol) is charming and Philip (Justin Kirk) is both annoying and witty.

While a few plot holes means that I could only get 90% into the story, this film is worth a look - maybe renting rather than buying?

Links:
Elizabeth Reaser gets new series on CBS, The Clever Cynic
“Commit! Just listen to that word, it’s what they do in insane asylums!”, Feeling Listless - another review of “Puccini for beginners”