A few years ago I reconciled myself to the idea that, since I had a teenaged boy living with me, I was going to spend a lot of time watching movies where stuff blows up. Movies where there are lots of car chases. Not a lot of dialogue.
I like those sorts of movies, up to a point.
Michael and I saw Now You See Me the other day. It's a fun movie. It's like a Brainteaser + an Action Movie. Snappy dialogue - "Always be the smartest guy in the room." A bit of a love story, but no actual kissing or icky stuff except for one very brief [and funny] scene. If you like Fun movies, go see this. Very flashy. Very entertaining.
It's not really the type of movie I prefer, though. Every once in a while, I get to see a movie that's not about stuff blowing up - a film about characters who are human, and who communicate with their voices, and their eyes, and gestures - not with grabbing a gun, or tossing a match and causing an explosion. Such a movie is the delightful film Quartet.
Like The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Quartet is about folks over 60 who are mostly smart and funny and coping with old age.
Even though I am the relatively young age of 51, I feel much more kinship with the seniors in Quartet or Marigold Hotel than I do with the fast-talking youngsters in Now You See Me. I can't really relate to tattoos, miniskirts, and Smartphones and all the other hallmarks of "cool" or "hip" younger people. That's OK. I am really relieved that nobody expects me to be cool any more, and I don't care if I am or not.
I do recall [vaguely] beeing a teenager and being VERY concerned with whether or not I was COOL.
I always think of a wonderful English teacher I had in high school, Ms. Beverly, who wore fashions appropriate to the late 1960's and she taught us in the late 1970's. We all snickered at her behind her back for her outrageously un-hip fashion choices - especially the miniskirts. We liked her, though. I'll never forget her telling my class the first day, "I have a vast vocabulary and I use it. If you don't understand something I say, I suggest you bring a dictionary to class because I won't dumb down my lectures for anyone." Since I was reading years ahead of grade level and loved words, I was delighted.
Ms. Beverly DID.NOT.CARE if we teenagers thought she was un-cool. Now I look back and admire her. She wore what was comfortable and affordable to her, and to hell with fashion.Now, I totally get that.
Anyway, I digressed, as usual.
I was raised by a mother who loved opera and classical music, and I sang a lot of it in my younger years, so most of the music in Quartet [which takes place in a retirement home for musicians and singers] was familiar to me. It's fun music. It's not a drag, even if you don't like classical music or opera.
Dustin Hoffman directed the movie, and he did an amazing job.He is 75 and it's his first film to direct. It's amazing. Watch this little 5 minute interview. If that doesn't make you want to watch the movie, you are just too young. Wait a few years.
