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Reviews
Shag (1988)
Shaggin'
Contrary to British bawdy-speak, the Shag is a dance that is a smooth cross between the Jitterbug and the 50's Bop. One can Shag only to the beat of "old school" rhythm and blues music, referred to in the Carolinas, Virginia and parts of Georgia as "Beach Music". It is not an easy dance to master, although like riding a bicycle once you learn how, you never forget.
I was a regular visitor to Myrtle Beach during the 70s and 80s when Beach Music had progressed from a hometown tradition to a potential new fad with marketing potential. "New" Beach Music bands and songs were becoming popular (with acts like The Band of Oz and the Fantastic Shakers making popular tunes like "Ocean Boulevard", "Myrtle Beach Days" and "Shaggin"; even the old-school Embers wrote a new song, "I Love Beach Music"). I spent much of the summer at Myrtle Beach when this movie, Shag, was being filmed at Atlantic Beach. I even saw Phoebe Cates and Bridgette Fonda at the After Deck (nightclub) one night.
I recently bought the DVD of Shag and found it was better than I remembered. It is full of fun and silliness and in general the story is pretty true to life if not a little more sedate than my years at the beach. The movie does a good job of demonstrating the appeal of the beach. It was always about getting out of our small southern home-towns and meeting some new faces, having some fun and hopefully finding true love, at least for a few days. The music and the dancing became integral to the process. Today that music is still loved my many southerners who came of age at the Carolina beach towns from the 50s through the 80s.
I recently toured Myrtle Beach for the first time in about 12 years. It has changed more in that time than it ever did from my first memories of it from the late 50s until I was last there in the early 90s. Shag gives an accurate snapshot of what it was like there in its glory days in the 60s. The music, the dancing, the fun and friendships new and old were what it was all about. Those were days that brought songs like Billy Stewart's definitive version of "Summertime", or the Catalina's "Summertime's Calling Me" into reality. While those tunes aren't on the soundtrack of the movie, "Shag" does of good job of preserving the essence of that lifestyle.
IF you're not from the southeastern US, you can get a fairly accurate picture of what growing up was like for many Baby Boomers from that area. If you are a southerner and love Beach Music, the movie is about the best we have available at picturing that happy time.
Flyboys (2006)
Beautiful picture of the Great War
This is a movie that could have been made in the 1950's or 60's. Nobility of the individual spirit is showcased here, not some cynical anti-war hand-wring. It demonstrates how flawed men are refined into better human beings in the crucible of war. At the same time, it shows men who were not as depraved as some cynics assume all men who go to war to be. The air warriors of WWI considered themselves gentlemen, in the best sense of the word. They fought with courage, integrity and honor. And it remains so with the best of our fighting men today.
This is a beautiful movie. The incredible flying footage is as good as it gets. There were historical errors, such as Fokker Triplanes fighting Nieuport 17s in 1916. Yes, the "Red Baron" had the only red Fokker Dr.1, and radial engines did spin with the prop, making them ridiculously difficult to fly. Aeroplane technology during WWI was progressing at breakneck speed, and the difference in the planes from 1914 through 1918 was enormous. But none of the historical errors hurt the movie.
The love story was poignant and realistic. Maybe there was a little overblown daring-do, but that is what people want to see in a movie. Not all movies can be "Wild Strawberries", full of nuanced introspection and insightful self-discovery. "Fly Boys" is a family movie that is worthy of a "10" rating because it is so beautiful and entertaining. Yes, it is a little on the Gary Cooper, High Noon side. So what? We need more positive movies today. We've had enough "horrors of war and mankind" films. We see that everyday on the news. I took my wife and 13 year-old son to see Fly Boys. We sat near the front of the theater, ate popcorn and my wife cried. My "too cool" football player son even said he "loved it". So did I. I will own the DVD (when it is released) and enjoy this one for years to come. But the film should be seen on the big screen. A wonderful experience!
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)
Lewis' missionary effort
Jack Lewis wrote the Narnia Chronicles intended as an inoffensive effort of proselytizing his readers; not just the children but the adults who read to the kids. Now that Disney has bought the franchise and scored big on the first of the installment, Lewis' dream will come to fruition with world-wide impact. The more agnostic reviewers want to diminish the "religious" component, but that is just unlearned spin. The film version of Lion, Witch & Wardrobe is a clear allegorical presentation of the Gospel of Christ.
The film is well done and a faithful adaptation from the book. What a joy it is to see this beautiful story done with the professionalism it deserves. This film is an all-time classic on par with the Star Wars and the Wizard of Oz. But better still, it proclaims God's Good News of the hope available to mankind in the finished work of Jesus Christ. Let's hope Disney produces the rest of the Narnia Chronicles with the same quality and integrity of message.
Smultronstället (1957)
Better late than never; tragicomedy ending with hope
This is a film school movie; one of the greatest ever made, or so say the experts. I was told to read the play (The English title is "Wild Strawberries") in a lit class in college and then we were given the chance to see the film. I watched both showings and it changed my thinking about what makes a good movie. This was in the stone age back in '75. I was a wild boy about campus who's taste for films was more action/adventure, western and mystery/suspense. The funny thing about Wild Strawberries is there's a little of all those genre's in it (if you understand what a cowboy Bergmann was at this point in his career).
This is the story about the late-life introspection of an elderly physician. It really appears on the surface to be about as dull a concept for a film as one could ever want to suffer through. But this is a story about facing reality, and reality is rarely dull. The plot moves seamlessly through many phases, but much of it involves a road trip through the Swedish countryside.
I recently bought a DVD of the 70's cult car-chase flick "Vanishing Point"; I hadn't seen it since the drive-in in my college years. I also own a Criterion Collection copy of Wild Strawberries and I've watched both recently. I realized that Wild Strawberries is a car chase flick as well. But Bergmann's Isak is not running from war weariness but from a life of nihilism cloaked in the old-world respectability of a family doctor. The chase is his lifetime of self-certainty, agnosticism and increasing isolation finally catching up to him. He realizes that he has been a walking dead man for much of his life (something he partially inherited from his mother). Getting too far into the details may fall into the category of being a spoiler, although there is enough complexity in this plot to keep literature classes struggling for an A for a long time (note: the stage play script is exactly the same as the screenplay script).
There are a number of notable scenes in the movie that make this day a turning point in the life of the doctor. The ground-breaking dream sequences in the beginning is Hitchcock-like and terrifyingly surreal (or is Hitch being Bergmannesque?). Of great beauty is the reverie scene, where Isak relives some of his childhood while making a stop at his families' deserted summer lake house. The dialog scenes between Isak and his daughter-in-law, and later with the Almans (including another disturbing dream sequence) and with the "children" (hitchhiking college-age kids) are all filled with symbols and conversation pointing to Isak's living-dead existence.
It's interesting that Bergmann himself, at this point in his young career, was much like Isak; agnostic, distant, self-absorbed, incapable of intimacy. Yet his conclusion to Wild Strawberries is much more hopeful than what Bergmann's own life has been.
The turning point of the movie, easy to miss if you're not paying close attention, is the love-promise from the young hitchhiker Sara; a moment of incredible sweetness and innocent passion that is a regeneration, a salvation experience for Isak. Unlike Bergmann, Isak closes his eyes that night with the hope of a life of meaning, of love in service, not just service for maintaining personal dignity and image. Unlike Bergmann, Isak has a hope of seeing God when his death does arrive, and has demonstrated a new life has begun. This is Isak's Today; his day of repentance, of stopping the tortuous task of hardening his heart against the call of life, yielding in submission to love, mercy and grace.
Watch this one several times. Bergmann's troupe of actors are incredible, his cinematography is spartan and overwhelmingly effective; his location shooting in the beautiful Swedish summer is fascinatingly effective in giving a foreign yet "down-home" feeling that's almost Mayberry like, if that's not too extreme a comparison.
This movie shows the dichotomy of living for self versus living for the service of others. Isak thought he lived to serve but discovered that service is only of meaning to the server if it is from the heart. It is ultimately a hopeful picture that we can all learn from if we watch with an open heart. Otherwise, we see the wasted tragedy of existential living with no greater good than one's own dead image. Does YOUR watch have any hands?