FINDING YOU

 Rose Reid     Jedidiah Goodacre     Katherine McNamara   

Tom Everett Scott     Vanessa Redgrave     Patrick Bergin

 

           Finding You.  I was turned off by the title right away; what does that even mean?  Another rom com?  Then I saw the movie.  Wow!  The number of connotations of the phrase is so artfully blended into the story, I was incredulous by the end.

            Finley Sinclair (Reid) is a high school graduate who, after failing a violin audition, decides she wants to spend a year abroad in Ireland, just as her brother did.  (Her brother is part of the story.)  By happenstance, on the airplane over to Ireland, she meets a famous movie star, Beckett (Goodacre), who tries to charm her with his usual skills, but she is completely turned off and mistrusting.  She had picked up a film rag on the trip and seen his picture plastered all over with all his hysterical fans and adoring leading lady (McNamara).  

            It turns out that her host family in Ireland—the same one that had hosted her brother—has inherited an inn.  And who should Finley meet on her first day there?  Beckett—you guessed it.  All their initial meetings are prickly and verbally combative, so of course you figure they will be entangled.  

            But not in the usual ways, and that is the charm and essence of a story that goes beyond light and cute and instead reflects the real challenges encountered in our modern world, i.e., the power of money and the responsibility it brings for some people, the burdens of fame, the double binds encountered by a parent’s control over his child, and, finally, whom to trust in life.

            Writer-director Brian Baugh, who started out as a cinematographer, but quickly transformed into a writer-director-producer with a commitment to stories that are inspiring and relevant, has created a film that weaves in these concepts into his work that will elate and inspire, as well as produce a chuckle.  “Things are not always as they seem” is one of those adages that stand out loud and clear when a young woman is not sure of a new suitor, a volunteer at an old folk’s home meets a crusty grouchy old woman, (Redgrave)  and a sleeping drunk (Bergin) is being routed off a village bench in the daytime.

            So, Finding You is about Finley finding herself and finding her love, Beckett finding himself and finding his love, Finley’s finding her brother, and an old woman and her estranged sister finding each other.  That’s a tall order for a movie, but it has succeeded here with all the elements necessary.  The acting is superb, especially by Rose Reid, Jeddiah Goodacre, Tom Everett Scott as Beckett’s father/manager, and Vanessa Redgrave (what a thrill to see her again!).

 

One of those good-for-the-soul movies that will still inspire you and make you chuckle.

 

Grade:  A                              By Donna R. Copeland

FILM STARS DON'T DIE IN LIVERPOOL

Annette Bening     Jamie Bell     Julie Walters     Vanessa Redgrave

     I am still waiting (how many years?) for filmmakers to portray the cancer experience in a realistic way.  For some reason (I have no idea why), they tend to romanticize it.  Beyond that, they often reinforce ways of coping that don’t help anyone (e.g., refusing treatment when first diagnosed, not informing family.  That being said, my comments are as follows.

     The film is loosely based on the real life of Gloria Grahame (played here by Annette Bening in a fine performance), an American actress in the ‘40s and ‘50s who was known for her performances in It’s a Wonderful Life, The Bad and the Beautiful, Sudden Fear, Human Desire, and Oklahoma!  This film covers the period when her career is waning and she has concerns about her looks.  Her path crosses that of Peter Turner (Bell), a much younger man who becomes smitten with her.  They meet at his parents’ boarding house and her room is next to his.  Difference in age is not an important factor for him, and he adores her. 

     Gloria is the type of person who has always been adored, including by her mother (Redgrave), so she has a certain amount of self-entitlement and expectation that people around her will attend to her needs.  It’s interesting that when she becomes very ill, she doesn’t want her family to be informed.  Instead, she prefers to be cared for by Peter and his family, with whom she has become very close, perhaps because they are a more loving, helpful group than her own family.  We don’t see her four children, except her son, briefly, at the end.  There is a cameo of her mother played by Vanessa Redgrave and her sister (Frances Barber).  It would have been of value to know more about Gloria’s background and why she would prefer the company of her boyfriend’s family over hers, and more about what happened to her career.

     The film, based on a memoir by the younger co-star, Peter Turner, is directed by Paul McGuigan.  It’s another case where the filmmakers choose to jump back and forth in time—which I’ve come to despise—and which makes it difficult to follow the stages of their relationship and the illness.

     Both Annette Bening and Jamie Bell deliver fine acting performances, and there is believable chemistry between them.  Vanessa Redgrave is stellar in her cameo appearance as Grahame’s mother, quoting Shakespeare while sitting beside her snippy other daughter played by Frances Barber.  Julie Walters as Turner’s mother exudes her usual warmth and wit. 

A famous aging film star on the decline captures the interest of a much younger man, and they make the most of their time together.

Grade:  C                                    By Donna R. Copeland