Seducing Dr. Lewis (2005)

Small Film Big Quirks

A failing French-Canadian fishing village (population 120) must find a doctor to practice in their town if they are to have any chance at wooing a big company to build a plant in their tiny community.

They succeed in luring a young doctor from Quebec to spend a month to see if he will decide to stay on. Aware of the quirks and foibles and assorted oddities of the village, they set about to change their ways to impress him.

That means these hulky former fisherman who love hockey have to aquire a taste for cricket -- or at least learn enough about it to help seduce Dr. Lewis (David Boutin). Some of those scenes, directed by Jean-François Pouliot, are hysterically funny.

They put the young doctor up in the "best" home in town -- the "modern" home owned by the bank clerk (who is often reminded that he can be replaced by a bank machine from the big city). The bank clerk and his family find other lodging for the month and the village women monitor the doctor's phone calls to his girlfriend and best guy friend to find out what the doctor likes (beef stoganoff) and what he doesn't like so they village people can either make sure he finds things he likes in the village or things are changed to suit him.

It's utterly charming and I highly recommend it! But I'll warn you -- don't take your eyes off the screen because there are so many wonderfully subtle things you don't want to miss.

Since this is a French-Canadian film, the dialague is in French with English subtitles. But it's worth the effort. I promise.

Not rated by MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America).

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viewed May-2006

Last Holiday (2006)

The Thoroughly Engaging Ms. Latifah

This remake of a 1950s Alec Guiness film, brings us a woman instead of a man who is diagnosed with a fatal illness and given only weeks to live.

Georgia Byrd (Queen Latifa) quits her job, liquidates her 401-K, and leaves New Orleans for a huge fling at a posh resort in the mountains of Europe that she'd read about in magazines. There she emerges from her dowdy appearance into a smashingly attractive, self-confident woman, determined to enjoy her last days to the hilt. And she does!

A cute film despite its predictability -- and Queen Latifah is so utterly charming and adorable it's hard to dislike.

Costars include: L. L. Cool J, Alicia Witt, Giancarlo Esposito, Gérard Depardieu, Michael Nouri, Timothy Hutton.

Makes me want to see the original version now.

Directed by Wayne Wang.

Rated PG-13 for some sexual reference.

Capote (2006)

Capote Inhabits Hoffman!

I was bowled over by Philip Seymour Hoffman's portrayal of Capote. He was masterful and had every detail of Truman Capote's quirky mannerisms and fine nuances. He truly deserved his Oscar for this role!

The film covers the seven-year period of Capote's life when he was researching and writing In Cold Blood.

Clifton Collins, Jr. is thoroughly convincing as the disturbed young murderer, Perry Smith, while Chris Cooper plays the role of Alvin Dewey (the Kansas Bureau of Investigation agent who was primarily responsible for breaking the case) with a certain remoteness and sharp eye on Capote's motives.

Catherine Keener is fascinating as Capote's dear friend Harper Lee (whose own novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, is soon to hit the market) as she accompanies Capote on some of his research trips to Kansas and lends him an ear back in NYC.

Directed by Bennett Miller.

Like actor Chris Cooper, this film struck close to me personally as we were both children and teens during this seven-year period and lived in the Kansas City area. We both well remember when the Clutter family was murdered in their farmhouse in rural Kansas, all the news coverage, the capture of the murderers, their trial, appeals, and eventual execution.

Rated R for some violent images and brief strong language.

My personal rating: A.