February Pick: The Lady in the Van

Maggie Smith. Those two words suffice as a green light to most of our members. If she's starring in a movie, we want to see it. Right? 

Well, we're in luck because The Lady in the Van arrived in time for this month's outing, which will be on Tuesday, February 9, at the Varsity Cinema (ManuLife Centre, Bloor & Bay). Screen time is 2:25, so let's try to meet near the box office about 20 minutes earlier. As always, if you don't see me or other club members, just go in and we'll meet up near the escalators after the film. Then those who wish to have a bite and a natter will go down to our usual spot, Scaccia.

The Lady in the Van is based on the true-life relationship of an eccentric woman down on her luck and prolific writer/playwright Alan Bennett, who rescued her from homelessness by allowing her to park her van the driveway of his London home. The arrangement was meant to be temporary, but stretched to 15 years and gave Bennett a book, a play and now a movie.

Those are the bare bones of the story, but NOW Magazine's Susan G. Cole, who gave the movie a good review, made these intriguing remarks: "This is a piece as much about a writer's ethics as it is about a high-born woman reduced to living in a van... Along the way, the film looks at ambivalence, timidity and a writer so intent on avoiding an emotional life that he has only his alter ego as a partner." 

TRAILER: http://www.cinemaclock.com/ont/toronto/movies/the-lady-in-the-van-2015/videos/200817