Johnny Simmons

       

I saw The Last Station so long after the fact that it never managed to get a mention in my year end musings on 2009 – which were already late to begin with. I like the film, and its strongest moments came when the eldest thespians Mirren and Plummer were on screen together. Helen Mirren is, admittedly, a handful and Plummer is a perfect match for her. Though I do like Robbie Turner, I wish the film’s focus was more on the aging couple.

        

Speaking of which, I’d have preferred The Notebook if it focused more on Gena and James and less on Rachel and Ryan. It’s ironic, of the young lovers I’m least enchanted by McAdams’ performance but with the aging couples I’m absolutely smitten with Gena Rowlands (best in show for me). Any emotion that exudes from The Notebook is too often a result of emotional manipulation but the connection between Garner and Rowlands is too beautiful to ignore.

          

This was another couple struck with Alzheimer’s. For obvious reasons they needed to be apart just as much as they were together, and of course Julie Christie being her luminous self always managed to garner the majority of our attention. For all it’s plot though, Away From Her was at its best in those finite moments where the two would just take up the screen doing the most mundane of tasks. Perhaps it wasn’t life changing cinema – but it was beautiful to watch.

         

The drive to the ice-cream parlour will always remain as my favourite scene in a long list of favourite scenes in this one. Do they have an unfair advantage? Probably. Still, all real life couples don’t exist so beautifully on screen and they’re just so nice together it’s beyond words. I’ll ignore the annoying precociousness of Katharine Houghton (Really, that’s what Kate and Spence’s daughter would be like?) and just enjoy the moments where Christina is willing to bend to her husband’s whim…not because she must, but just because she likes humouring him.

Incidentally, this couple waited decades before they ever met each other. Yes, they’re two of their generation’s greatest so we shouldn’t shirk at how good they are at pretending to love each other for years, but it still amazes me. On Golden Pond’s cast is all around greatness but no one can match the sincerity (fake or not) in the relationship between the leads. Who knew that talking to birds in a lake could be romantic? Who knew that people over seventy could be romantic?

ometimes, even I’m confused as to why I call some directors my favourites. Case in point – David Lean. Sometimes, I think I’m more besotted with the idea of David Lean that David Lean himself. Granted, I’ve never seen The Bridge on the River Kwai (which is loathsome, I know - stop judging me). Lawrence of Arabia is a technical marvel – but one which I do not love. A Passage to India is an excellent adaptation, but both it and its source leave me confused and Ryan’s Daughter is better left unremembered. It is only the oft forgotten Summertime (the Kate H. vehicle) and his other tale of lost love that I cite as necessities of my cinematic favourites. And yet, even though I would readily mention Doctor Zhivago as a favourite of mine I never feel particularly happy as I watch. Sure, it’s a tragedy – but perhaps it’s the fact that despite its length Doctor Zhivago is steadily on its way to a tragic ending that cannot be averted.

                       

On the DVD for Doctor Zhivago Omar Sharif (what a talented man) spoke of it being one of the last epics from MGM, and it sure is a good way to go out because it certainly is epic. The film is based on Boris Pasternak's novel of the same name about a tale of tragic love in Russia. The scope of the film is daunting and the pace is definitely not rushed. Yet, there is nothing in Doctor Zhivago I’d call extraneous. David Lean is such a personal director; every shot is filled with such intimacy – the man knew how to excel in technicalities. But Doctor Zhivago is not devoid of emotion. In fact, the story’s emotional appeal is probably its ace. True, the basic story is rather simple – a love triangle between Sharif, Julie Christie and Geraldine Chaplin. But it’s not typical in the least. It’s less concerned with the machinations of the triangle and more interested in the fate of the other characters. And it’s a strongpoint of the film. In addition to the excellent threesome, we have Tom Courtenay, Alec Guinness, Rod Steiger and Ralph Richardson. True, with the most screen time Sharif comes across as strongest (what a shame he was ignored by the Academy) but Lean wants everyone to have their time to shine – and with so much time on his hands, he manages to do so.

Most people probably know of Doctor Zhivago through its score, arguably the most popular film score – and really it is that good. It accents the film with a bittersweet tone that runs throughout, and it’s the same way with the actual film. If I really sit down and ponder on it, Doctor Zhivago is really quite depressing – two important deaths occur within the space of five minutes (one is not even on screen) and the thing we love called closure is never really forthcoming. In fact, after three hours of waiting I can understand why some would be less than pleased at the outcome of the "romance". But Lean is not as interested in giving us a “movie” as much as he wants to give us glimpses into the lives of people he treats with such honesty I wouldn’t deny them as authentic humans despite their obvious artificiality (they are literary characters, alone). I’m rarely moved to watch it in its entirety (though doing so last Friday was quite satisfying). But, like I remember it in spots, I think of lovely moments within the tragedy of Doctor Zhivago and I’m content. Like Julie Christie’s loveliness in a red dress, Omar Sharif’s son in a small role, an adlibbed slap from Rod Steiger, or a look of happiness as Sharif spots someone important while on a train. True – everything is leading up to that inevitable decisive tragedy – but I still think of Doctor Zhivago as a near perfect piece of art. It’s not any less worthy because it’s not pleasing on first glance. Below the surface there’s much to appreciate. It appears at #25 on my list of favourite films, for though it confuses me at the end of the day I know "...it is a gift..."

Listen to a sample of the score...