This month we watched The Last Word, a recent film starring Shirley MacLaine.
Genre: Dramatic comedy
Plot: Harriet is a retired businesswoman who tries to control everything around her. When she decides to write her own obituary, Anne takes up the task of finding out the truth. When Harriet does not like the truth of her life, she sets out to show she is different, resulting in a life-altering friendship between Harriet, Anne and Brenda, an “at risk” coloured girl.
Key Characters: Harriet (Shirley MacLaine), Anne (Amanda Seyfried), Brenda (AnnJewel Lee Dixon)
Review: This involved some superb acting by Shirley MacLaine. At 83 and after over 60 years of acting, she can still portray a great character. Her character was not likable at the beginning, but as she touched the lives of the other two key actors, the depth of her character became apparent. There are many humorous scenes, but overall it has deeper meaning, revolving around a range of relationships: couples, parent/child, work colleagues, mentors. A thoroughly enjoyable movie, which we rated as between 4.5 out of 5.
Further: We are planning to watch the new Murder on the orient Express at BPACC on 5 December at 10:30am. Anyone is welcome to join us. We will be discussing the movie over coffee the following week as our end of year activity.
With all the movies we watch, we look at them as literature – literature in a different medium, the medium of film. This helps to focus the discussion, covering ideas around genre, characters, plot, but also adding the aspects that relate to film, such as cinemascope, music and atmosphere. We are looking forward to welcoming all interested movie goers in 2018.
Joy Shirley
Genre: Dramatic comedy
Plot: Harriet is a retired businesswoman who tries to control everything around her. When she decides to write her own obituary, Anne takes up the task of finding out the truth. When Harriet does not like the truth of her life, she sets out to show she is different, resulting in a life-altering friendship between Harriet, Anne and Brenda, an “at risk” coloured girl.
Key Characters: Harriet (Shirley MacLaine), Anne (Amanda Seyfried), Brenda (AnnJewel Lee Dixon)
Review: This involved some superb acting by Shirley MacLaine. At 83 and after over 60 years of acting, she can still portray a great character. Her character was not likable at the beginning, but as she touched the lives of the other two key actors, the depth of her character became apparent. There are many humorous scenes, but overall it has deeper meaning, revolving around a range of relationships: couples, parent/child, work colleagues, mentors. A thoroughly enjoyable movie, which we rated as between 4.5 out of 5.
Further: We are planning to watch the new Murder on the orient Express at BPACC on 5 December at 10:30am. Anyone is welcome to join us. We will be discussing the movie over coffee the following week as our end of year activity.
With all the movies we watch, we look at them as literature – literature in a different medium, the medium of film. This helps to focus the discussion, covering ideas around genre, characters, plot, but also adding the aspects that relate to film, such as cinemascope, music and atmosphere. We are looking forward to welcoming all interested movie goers in 2018.
Joy Shirley
