Belle !!!

This is the first time I've felt compelled to RAVE about one of the films I've chosen for the Movie Club. Some of us saw Belle yesterday and I still can't stop thinking about how wonderful it is - a treat for the eye, ear, heart and brain and a wonderful history lesson about something that led to what might be called the beginning of the end of slavery in Britain - all based on real events.

So if you haven't already seen Belle, this is my strong recommendation that you do so. Below is an outline of the plot plus a Wikipedia listing regarding the film's historical basis. As you'll see, Belle was inspired by this painting:

Plot: Dido Belle, the illegitimate mixed-race daughter of a Royal Navy officer, is brought to England by her father and left in the care of his uncle, Lord Mansfield, the Lord Chief Justice, at his estate of Kenwood House. Though the social mores of the time make her an outsider, Dido is raised by Mansfield as an aristocrat alongside her cousin Elizabeth. Dido's burgeoning relationship with a young lawyer, John Davinier, meets with the disapproval of Mansfield who considers the match beneath her. At the same time Mansfield is deliberating on a slavery case that will advance the cause of the Abolitionists.

The film is inspired by the 1779 painting of Dido Elizabeth Belle beside her cousin Lady Elizabeth Murray. Commissioned by William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield, then Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, the portrait of his two nieces hung in England's Kenwood House, until 1922. The painting,^[14] once thought to be by Zoffany and now attributed to an unknown artist, hangs at Scotland's Scone Palace. It was one of the first portraits to portray a black subject on an equal eye-line with a white aristocrat.

Very little is known about Dido Belle's life in the Mansfield home. The film centers on Dido's relationship with an aspiring young lawyer and is set at a time of legal significance as the potential ramifications of the Zong massacre become apparent. Lord Mansfield's ruling on this infamous case, in England's Court of King's Bench, became an important step in bringing an end to slavery in England.

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     Terry

Belle on May 13

Now that the new movie listings are out, I can tell you all where and when Movie Club members will be seeing Belle: Tuesday, May 13, at the Varsity Cinema (Bay/Bloor) for the 1:30 screening. Let's meet in front of the box office about 15 minutes earlier.

I know that this is not great timing for those of you who've asked me to choose later screenings. But we're committed to matinees with a snack or meal afterward. In the case of Belle, the next screening isn't until 4:10, which would mean not leaving for home until 7:00 or later for those who choose to eat after the film.

Speaking of which, everyone who went to the Bloor Street Diner (one floor down from the cinema) last month liked it. So let's go there. And if you plan to do so, please EMAIL ME NO LATER THAN NOON on MONDAY, MAY 12, to say so, so I can make a reservation for the correct number of noshers.

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Terry

Next Movie Club Outing: May 13

We're going to see if the SECOND Tuesday of each month works out better than the first one has done lately, in terms of movie releases that are likely to interest us. So mark your calendar for May 13.

The film that strikes me as arguably the best scheduled to arrive by then is Belle. Check out the synopsis and trailer below and let me know if you agree. Or, if you have other suggestions, I'd love to hear them.

Belle Storyline

Amma Asante's Belle is like a Jane Austen novel spiked with an extra shot of social conscience. It's based on the true story of a mixed-race 18th-century woman named Dido Elizabeth Belle who was raised in upper-crust British society but never able to fully enter it. Beautifully played by Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Dido is the illegitimate daughter of a slave woman and a Royal Navy admiral who leaves her in the care of her aristocratic great-uncle (Tom Wilkinson) and his wife (Emily Watson). They raise her as an equal — or as much of one as the era permits. While she's doted on by her family, Dido's not allowed to dine with company, who regard her as scandalously exotic. Or, as Miranda Richardson's catty Lady Ashford remarks, ''I had no idea she'd be so...black.''

As Dido and her impetuous cousin Elizabeth (Sarah Gadon) blossom into young women, they're put on the marriage market. And the message is clear: Women during this time were, like slaves, property to be auctioned off, making Dido doubly powerless. The added irony is that although she has a sizable inheritance, she's considered less marriageable than her penniless white cousin. Who will love her? She meets a commoner — a dreamy vicar's son (Sam Reid) — who's so fired up about slavery and Dido herself that he always seems on the verge of tears, or perhaps auditioning for the role of Mr. Darcy. Like Downton Abbey but with corsets, culottes, and tricorn hats, Belle subtly skewers the absurd rules and hypocrisies of class. But the real takeaway is Mbatha-Raw. She makes a case for why she ought to be a star.

BELLE TRAILER
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJ3VUbfJWD0

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Terry 

April Outing: Le Weekend - tomorrow @ 2:15

Several of you have emailed asking why I hadn't yet let you know the time we're meeting to see Le Weekend tomorrow. The answer is simple: Until the weekday screening times are posted on Monday, I cannot let you know. In the past, I've often found that screening times posted or listed in the newspaper before Monday are inaccurate.

So here we go: The only screening that will work for us time-wise is 2:30. The next one, at 4:50, won't work because it gets us home too late if we've chosen to eat after the film.

So let's meet near the box office at the Varsity Cinema (Bay and Bloor) at about 2:15. Afterward, instead of going to Scaccia as usual, some members have asked for a change. So we're going to try the Bloor Street Diner, which is the cafeteria-style spot one floor below the cinema. No need to let me know if you plan to nosh because there's no need to make a reservation.

Hope to see you tomorrow,

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Terry

April Outing: Le Weekend

I know we just saw the March film a few days ago, but April is fast approaching and a movie I think most of us would really enjoy just arrived in Toronto. If you can wait to see it until Tuesday, April 1, please do so.

It is Le Weekend, an English comedy about an empty-next couple who revisit Paris, where they honeymooned long ago. Below are a synopsis and trailer.

Le Weekend is playing at the Varsity, but I'll have to let you know the time to meet later on.

Movie Info

In Mr. Michell's magically buoyant and bittersweet film, Jim Broadbent and Lindsay Duncan play a long-married couple who revisit Paris for a long weekend for the first time since their honeymoon, in hopes of rekindling their relationship-or, perhaps, to bring it to an end. Diffident, wistful Nick (Broadbent) and demanding, take-charge Meg (Duncan) careen from harmony to disharmony to resignation and back again as they take stock and grapple with love, loss, regret and, disappointment, in their own very English way. When Meg and Nick run into their insufferably successful old friend Morgan, an American academic superstar with a fancy Parisian address played with pure delight by Jeff Goldblum, their squabbles rise to a register that's both emotionally rich and very funny. 

Directed By: Roger Michell

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmbbrIe80Fs

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Terry 

March Outing: ANOTHER CHANGE OF PLAN

Sorry to say, once again the Coming Attractions website was incorrect. One Chance did not arrive in Toronto today after all. So once again I had to scramble to find a new film that would appeal to the majority of Movie Club members.

Hope I'm right in choosing The Grand Budapest Hotel, a zany story with a serious underlying theme, as described by its director, Wes Anderson, in an interview in today's Toronto Star: http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/movies/2014/03/13/wes_anderson_shares_secrets_about_making_the_grand_budapest_hotel.html

Here is a synopsis and a link to the trailer:

Synopsis: THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL recounts the adventures of Gustave H., a legendary concierge at a famous European hotel between the wars, and Zero Moustafa, the lobby boy who becomes his most trusted friend. The story involves the theft and recovery of a priceless Renaissance painting and the battle for an enormous family fortune -- all against the back-drop of a suddenly and dramatically changing.

Director:Wes Anderson

Cast:Ralph Fiennes, F. Murray Abraham, Mathieu Amalric, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Harvey Keitel, Jude Law, Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Saoirse Ronan, Jason Schwartzman, Léa Seydoux, Tilda Swinton, Tom Wilkinson, Owen Wilson, Tony Revolori, Larry Pine, Giselda Volodi, Florian Lukas, Karl Markovics, Zack Volker Michalowski, Neal Huff, Bob Balaban, Fisher Stevens

Trailer: http://videos.cineplex.com/All-Videos/2842418703001/The-Grand-Budapest-Hotel-Trailer-1/Video/

If you'd like to see The Grand Budapest Hotel, let's meet near the box office at the Varsity Cinema (Bloor & Bay) about 15 minutes before the 2:30 screening on Tuesday, March 18. Afterwards, those who wish to eat and chat will head downstairs to our usual Italian restaurant. PLEASE TELL ME IF YOU'RE PLANNING TO GO TO SCACCIA BY NO LATER THAN NOON ON MONDAY, MARCH 17, so I can make a reservation for the correct number people.

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Terry

March Outing Will be THIRD Tuesday

Well, fellow Movie Club members, no films with our names on them arrived in time for the second Tuesday of March. Plus, some of us will be busy attending LIFE's March Mingle that day anyway.

So let's make it official. This month's outing will be on March 18 - cinema and time TBA. 

 

What will we see? I polled members about potential interest in seeing One Chance and while not a lot of you responded, the majority of those who did said yes. And one member who already saw it at a film festival says it's terrific. My previous post included a synopsis and trailer for the film.

So there we have it: The Movie Club in Winter, when anything can happen - or not.

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Terry