Evening (2007)

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After she was gone, there would be no one who knew the whole of her life.
As Ann Lord (Vanessa Redgrave) lays on her deathbed, she recounts the story of her first true love and the events of 50 years ago that defined her life, to her two daughters, Nina Mars (Toni Collette) and Constance Haverford (Natasha Richardson). Much of what Ann tells her daughters is cryptic as Ann sees scenes of her youth and grapples with being called to death.

In flashback, we see the young Ann (Claire Danes) as she arrives at her good friend's family's summer mansion in Newport where her friend Lila Wittenborn (Mamie Gummer) is to be married in a few days. Present are Lila's uptight parents (Glenn Close, Barry Bostwick) and Lila's brother Buddy (Hugh Dancy), who has always been smitten with Ann, has a drinking problem, and is convinced that Lila is marrying the wrong man.

When Ann arrives at the seaside mansion, Buddy introduces her to Lila's first love, Harris Arden (Patrick Wilson), a doctor who the Wittenborn family has known most of his life because he is the son of the Wittenborn's maid. Ann is intrigued and is drawn to Harris, beginning the most passionate romance of her life.

Also in the cast are Meryl Streep as the mature Lila visiting the dying Ann; and Eileen Atkins as the dying Ann's night nurse.

Based on a novel by Susan Minot. Directed by Lajos Koltai.

Run time: 1 hour, 57 minutes.

Rated PG-13 for some thematic elements, sexual material, a brief accident scene and language.

My personal rating: A-

Paris, Je T'Aime Part III

Continued from above . . .

7. Bastille (XIIe arrondissement)
A man (Sergio Castellitto) plans to leave his wife (Miranda Richardson) for his younger lover but when he finds out she has a terminal illness, he decides to stay. By acting like he loves her, he rekindles his affection for her.

Written and directed by Isabel Coixet from Spain.

8. Place des Victoires (IIe arrondissement)
A mother (Juliette Binoche), grieving over the death of her little boy, is comforted by a magical cowboy (Willem Dafoe).

Written and directed by Nobuhiro Suwa from Japan.

9. Tour Eiffel (VIIe arrondissement)
A boy (Dylan Gomong) tells how his parents, both mimes (Paul Putner, Yolande Moreau), meet in prison and fall in love.

Written and directed by French animator Sylvain Chomet.

10. Parc Monceau (XVIIe arrondissement)
An older man (Nick Nolte) and younger woman (Ludivine Sagnier) meet for a "date" but the man keeps reminding the woman that Gaspard might not approve. Eventually Gaspard's identity is revealed.

Filmed in one continuous shot by Mexican writer-director Alfonso Cuarón.

11. Quartier des Enfants Rouges (IIIe arrondissement)
An American actress (Maggie Gyllenhaal) obtaines some exceptionally strong hashish from a dealer (Lionel Dray).

By French writer-director Olivier Assayas.

12. Place des fêtes (XIXe arrondissement)
An African man (Seydou Boro) is dying from a stab wound on the street and asks a woman paramedic (Aïssa Maïga) for a cup of coffee. He realizes that he had fallen in love with her at first sight some time before.

By German writer-director Oliver Schmitz.

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See blog entries below for additional information on the other segments of this film.

Blow Dry (2001)

"Mum! Dad's cutting!"

Once upon a time . . . hairdressers Phil (Alan Rickman) and Shelley (Natasha Richardson) Allen and their hair model Sandra (Rachel Griffiths) battled it out at hair design competitions. But that was long ago and ended when the marriage and their business broke up because Shelley and Sandra became romantically involved.

Now Shelley runs her styling shop with Sandra and Phil runs his barber shop with their son Brian (Josh Hartnett) in the same small English town of Keighley. Shelley and Phil haven't spoken to each other for 10 years, since the breakup, and Shelley has just discovered that her cancer has metastisized.

When Keighley wins the bid to host the spectacular annual British Hairdressing Championship, Phil's old nemesis Ray Robertson (the delightfully evil Bill Nighy) comes to town and baits Phil to drop the barber shears and return to styling for one last time in this competition to prove which one of them is really the best.
Phil resists but Brian urges him to give it a go if Phil can put together a team of stylists and their own hair model.

Can Shelley and Phil drop their distance and come together for their son? Will Sandra resume her part of the team as the hair model? Will Brian escalate his childhood crush on Ray Robertson's daughter Christina (Rachael Leigh Cook)?

Wild times ensue and one wonders if they can pull it off despite the challenges in this charming comedy about love and family and acceptence directed by Paddy Breathnach.

Model Heidi Klumm appears as a hair model. Also appearing are Rosemary Harris and Hugh Bonneville.

Rated R for some language and brief nudity.