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Wonderland

21:09 / 09.03.02

Anybody see it last night? Gorgeous film. An eventful week in the life of London family.
The strongest part for me is the portrayal of masculinity. You have several characters - the old disappointed father, the feckless absent father, the harried father to be, the seducing romeo and the depressed overteen.
They each seem to present different aspects of masculinity through a lifetime. Different possibilities, seen through one week with an extended family.
And the old mother has to be one of the greatest cinematic villain creations ever.

21:17 / 09.03.02

Wow, I was just about to post on this, Buk! Always meant to see it when it came out in the cinema but never did; finally caught up with it last night.

I agree on the masculinity thing, but what I enjoyed most was the series of 'wonderland' pieces where individual characters wandered alone through scenes of London nightlife, accompanied by that beautifully poignant score.

For a (relatively) hard-edged film, it was also quite upbeat, particularly towards the end as plotlines tied themselves up and a satisfying degree of closure was reached (Dad fixes his car, Alice is born, Molly and Eddie reunited, Darren 'phones home, etc.) One might even have (optimistically) assumed that, now she'd got rid of the dog (which seemed to embody her anger and bitterness), the Medea-Mother might herself find some tranquility...

But yeah, gorgeous.

[ 10-03-2002: Message edited by: Ganesh v4.2 ]

10:31 / 10.03.02

I first saw it at The Cameo in Edinburgh. The scene where Jack is in the police station made me cry. Not sure why. It was just such a touching portrait. The little boy, the victim, sitting calmly, innocently resigned as his parents and the police whirl around him like a storm. It seemed so natural, so understandable, so commonplace yet so horrible.
I had no idea this was on last night, actually. I got home from seeing oceans 11 at the cinema and there it was. What a contrast.
Gorgeous.

18:34 / 10.03.02

What a gem of film-making it was. Agree agree agree with all of the above. I liked the recurrent Wonderland theme, that these lives shown with a fair degree of verisimilitude were all ordinary, bumpy, very recognisable stories but there was, throughout, the underlying feeling that there is always Wonder about us, if you stop and look at it. Except for the emotionally dead Mother figure, too bitter to connect with anything.

The only niggle for me was that the poignant theme music seemed like a slowed down version of Queen's We Are The Champions.

And, entirely unrelated thought, when I move to London I am so going to miss the Cameo. Must be similar in London, no?

The Return Of Rothkoid

13:39 / 11.03.02

ZoCher: the music was Michael Nyman, IIRC, so I think that probably explains yer niggle.

I only caught about an hour of that - from the girl catching the bus home, crying, up until the baby was born - but was impressed as hell with it. Did anyone tape it? It was a bit like Mike Leigh, but with more fly-on-the-wall feel. Just superb.

Of course, if it was a Mike Leigh film, I'll just look like an arse now...

Goodness Gracious Meme

15:18 / 11.03.02

Michael Winterbotton, Rothkoid, so yer safe.

*So* pleased that people like this film, think I raved about it here when I saw it....Think it covers alot of different bases really well, is touching, funny, utterly tragic in places

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The scene where Gina McKee finally gets to sleep with the cute guy who then gets dressed and sets dinner for one is heartbreaking...

END SPOILERS

See, agree about the masculinity but think also portrays sister/sibling relationships really well, but for me it was the thing of it being a city film and a film about their lives playing out across London that really got me... And although there are upbeat, hopeful suggestions at the end, it's never pat or twee.

The scenes of Gina Mckee getting the nightbus across town, the way characters cross the different 'worlds' of the city. Wonderful.

Haven't seen this for ages, gonna have to rent it now...

15:39 / 11.03.02

i saw it and agree with most of the comments, but i have to say the treatment of the character played by john simm made me incredibly angry. this bloke screws up royally, walks off in a huff and disappears because he can't handle his guilt, and the sympathy i felt was directed totally at him, even tho he's left his heavily pregnant partner so stressed out she goes into labour.

other than that, i thought it was a very good film. and nyman's score was wonderful.

15:42 / 11.03.02

I guess a) it wasn't a morality play, b) it was about how we connect despite/because of our flaws, and c) I'm not sure that he walked off in a huff exactly. Seemed more like 'mind-goes-blank' panic to me...

15:48 / 11.03.02

ganesh - i think it hit a bit of a sore point with me, that's all. it was a good film.

the woman going crazy over the dog barking was the most powerful character, for me. and maybe that's because i nearly used rat poison on someone once....

15:53 / 11.03.02

I think there are two perhaps three villains in the film. All related to the idea of responsibility.
You've got the mother. Miserable, bitter, spiteful constantly harassing and undermining the downtrodden, quintessentially nice father figure. I'd disagree with the idea that killing the dog is going to solve her problems and make her a better person. I think the anger against the dog was just a symptom of her problems. It seems her bitterness stems from an empty nest syndrome. She mournfully flicks through the faded family album as the bustling, chattering, barking family next door noisily go about family life. She doesn't really seem to do much, the only activity we see is a souless trip to a depressing bingo hall. Without a family to look after there is no real meaning.
One of the most heartbreaking scenes is the father forgetting his keys and visiting a neighbour. As they dance there is the heavy suggestion that they might kiss. In that implied kiss you sense a sort of 'it doesn't have to be this way'. A sense of the joy that could be. Soon stamped out by the bitter woman at home.
The other villain is the suave romeo figure. Working through the charming pickup and cold drop one night stand.
There is two sides to the theme of responsibilty here. One the aged mother, having lived through and presumably found fulfillment in responsability finds live empty without it. When she and her husband have a chance to enjoy life without responsibility, to drink rum and dance, her weakness holds them back. She lets herself become a villain by refusing to embrace freedom.
The romeo figure however becomes a villain by refusing responsibility. Disappointing the hopes placed in him.
The other villain of course is the absent, feckless father. He comes across as quite loveable although he probably is the biggest culprit when it comes to denial of responsibility.
Come to think of it, the theme of responsibilty and denial of it runs to the father to be quitting the job he hates. Big theme.

I could talk about this film all day.

15:59 / 11.03.02

SFD: I think the father-to-be who walks off is a sort of everyman figure. A reflection of a certain facet of masculinity/humanity. The dilemma of responsibility versus freedom. The kind of dilemma that everyone faces at times in their life.
I think there is a theme of male v female tension in the film. The role of responsibilty is key and which sex picks it up, voluntarily or not?

16:12 / 11.03.02

I didn't think anyone in the film was a "villain" - and I thought the 'empty nest' arose because Mother was so embittered (Disappointed Dad pulls the 'that's why Darren left' thing at one point).

I thought she needed a hefty dose of SSRI antidepressant, but that's just me...

16:30 / 11.03.02

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I thought the picture of the bitter Mother and the half-shut Father, ever tinkering under his bonnet, was very powerful: two people who are trapped in a life together which gives neither any love or comfort any more.

The "Classifieds" daughter comes to visit the father a couple of times. Connects privately when she doesn't have to deal with the mother, yet the father always tries to encourage her to give something of herself to the mother.

He's still trying to give to the world, trying to take care of his family, and the mother is reduced to killing the dog, refusing to share in her daughter's joy as she shows off her love nest, finding no role and no purpose. She has a chance when new-mother and new-father have their metaphorical wheelchair meeting but she blows it by overplaying her hand, trying to control. It was pitiless in showing the mother's estrangement from the world the rest inhabit.

I thought it was majestic in the way it allowed all of this unfold in front of you without any fanfare and left the viewer to take from it what they wanted.

Buk: I think there is a theme of male v female tension in the film.

I agree and I really liked that about it. A man makes a film and the principals, undoubedtedly, are the three sisters. I can't tell, not being female, but that rang so true when I look at the relationships between my sisters. The rivalry and the support. They laugh at the pregnant sister when she bitches about her hard life because she seems to have it made but then, the pregnant sister goes to her sister for hairdressing when she can barely walk or get out of the house.

A wonderful piece of work.

And I haven't mentioned the volcanic teenage angst of lovely Franklyn, tormenting himself in his bedroom, raging at his mother, then just sharing the pavement and a chat with his fantasy lover and experiencing such joy in the encounter. It was all astonishingly accomplished: directing, acting, cinematography, even the bloody Nyman score did the job...

[ 11-03-2002: Message edited by: ZoCher ]