Don’t Look Down

In September we will mark the seventh anniversary of the death of Patrick Swayze. Becoming a powerhouse star of the 1980's and 1990's with classics such as Dirty Dancing, Ghost, Road House, Point Break, among others, the man left an indelible impact on the film industry. So, as a tribute here today, I am going to write about one of his last movie roles that can be found in the small, rarely seen 2005 British comedy Keeping Mum. Directed by Niall Johnson, the story follows a married reverend, Walter Goodfellow, played masterfully by Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean), his wife Gloria, Kristin Scott Thomas (The English Patient), and their two children, as their lives become more and more impacted by their new housekeeper Grace, the endearing Dame Maggie Smith (Professor McGonagall from the Harry Potter franchise).

Tomorrow, the St. Lawrence International Film Festival will be putting on a special gala (in Potsdam, NY) where they are screening the Audience Award winner (for best Narrative Picture) from the Tribeca Film Festival – the dramatic horror movie Here Alone. One of the best little glitches that occurred at last years St. Lawrence International Film Festival was when I sat awaiting the showing of The Corpse of Anna Fritz. Instead of the foreign flick beginning, the projectionist mistakenly began to screen Here Alone director Rod Blackhurst’s 2014 short film Night Swim. Thankfully, the festival worker did not stop the compact flick, allowing it to play out before starting the full length feature.

Words are funny (and I don’t necessarily mean ha ha funny). Let me explain by way of an example: if I were to say, select the highest number between 5 and 8 – half of you would likely say 8, while some others would choose 7 (or 7.9), depending on how you perceive the word between. I use the word perceive, because perception is equally as fickle. Three people witnessing an automobile accident can sometimes see three very different things. Words and perception are used in clever fashion to exhume bloody humour in the 2010 comedy/horror flick Tucker and Dale vs. Evil. Co-writer/director Eli Craig (as well as second co-scribe Morgan Jurgenson) flip our perception of what ‘should be’ from the very beginning. Tucker (Alan Tudyk) and Dale (Tyler Labine) are two, for lack of a better word, hillbillies. . . but not those of horror past who enjoy slaughtering local travellers.

Dealing with the moral quandary of a drone strike, Eye in the Sky captures the complex nature of pulling the trigger when you’re thousands of miles away from your target. Written by Guy Hibbert and directed by Gavin Hood, the story demonstrates the interconnectedness of military decision making in the twenty-first century. Colonel Katherine Powell (Helen Mirren) is running a complicated capture mission from a military base in England. She is attempting to seize high value targets from a terrorist group, including Susan Danford (Lex King) – a British citizen turned terrorist (on the top-ten most wanted list). After many long years, Colonel Powell finally has a bead on the elusive militants – who are making a stop in a safehouse in Nairobi.

I’ll let you in on a little secret. . . The Trouble With Harry is, well, he’s dead. Alfred Hitchcock directs this cheeky black comedy about a number of villagers who discover the body of a deceased man out in the woods in picturesque New England. Though it was an American film, Hitchcock adapts a very British story (after all, it is usually Europeans who can find comedy in death) for the screen. A project he desperately wanted to get made, it finally came to fruition in 1955. The first to stumble upon the body is a little scamp of a child named Arnie Rogers (Jerry Mathers of Leave It to Beaver fame).

Much has been made of Fifty Shades of Grey. The phenomenon (be it the books or the film) has taken the world by storm, creating an ever-growing buzz around the subject of kinky sexual escapades. But, after watching the movie, I must say that it is a cold, clinical production that lacks nuance, emotion, heart, depth or eroticism. For a more engaging portrayal of the themes found in Fifty Shades, I would recommend turning to the 2002 motion picture Secretary. Following in the vein of other erotic flicks like 1972's Last Tango in Paris and 1986's 9½ Weeks (to name just two), director Steven Shainberg (who adapted Mary Gaitskill’s short story along with Erin Cressida Wilson) introduces us to our lead character: the shy, sensitive and socially uncomfortable Lee Holloway (Maggie Gyllenhaal). Dealing with many psychological issues, she is first seen leaving an institution after being caught causing herself harm.