Film Review

I have seen many films in the last 30 years or so. But when I look back and try to remember which, the list was hard to compile. Some films I have seen and liked I can no longer recall, not even the title, and certainly not the story line, although some of them may have been Oscar winners in their day.

It was an interesting exercise to rewind that period of my life, pause when I recognise a memorable film, and find out in retrospect how these films affected me.

Shortly after I arrived in Christchurch in 1967, a friend introduced me to Tip Top ice cream, which I would eat by the pint at a time. I quickly increased my waist line from a mere 28 inch to 29 inch. I soon found out I could no longer buy clothes in the children's section of department stores.

The same friend took me to a Sunday matinee one day (It was on a Sunday, from memory!). While eagerly waiting in the queue, trying to finish the pint of Tip Top ice cream, I glanced at the bill board. It read: "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang".

I thought "This must be either a science fiction movie with cars flying in the air, or an action movie with a lot of shooting". Well, it was a good clean movie, and I remember finishing the ice cream before intermission time.

The film introduced me to Dick Van Dyke and I stayed sane by watching Dick on TV for years afterwards, in between other shows like "The Prisoner", "The Avengers" and "The Monkeys". (Strange that these days, hardly any TV shows are given names starting with the most used word in the English language, "The". - Ed.)

Having had a taste of small time science fiction, I was ready some time later to experience "2001: a space odyssey" when it first screened in Christchurch.

It was at the big theatre in Christchurch's City Square. I do not remember the name of the theatre, but for those of you who lived in Christchurch, it had stars and clouds on the ceiling. The effect was quite good as the clouds moved and the stars blinked.

"2001: a space odyssey", which became a classic, made me want to play and work with computers, as I thought it would be good fun to "interact" with something like HAL. I did eventually "do" computers and made a career out of it, "doing" many lunches along the way, and adjusting my waist line as I went.

Not long after "2001: a space odyssey", I and a number of other "mít ta" went to see "The Graduate" at the same theatre. I remember the songs by Simon and Garfunkel, and the young Elaine, daughter of Mrs. Robinson. Just to be doubly sure, I recently went to the video store and borrowed "The Graduate". Yes, Elaine is still what I remember her as, with wide innocent eyes. She was very reckless though, as I wouldn't ride a motorbike wearing a long wedding dress like Elaine did.

"The Graduate" taught me that Love conquers all. I assimilated that new and exciting knowledge, and felt that I was ready to conquer all. Well, almost. The missing ingredient, Love, was elusive. I had to go find it. It was definitely not in Christchurch. More and more "mít non" came to Christchurch, and while they were all good blokes, they wereẨ blokes.

(and still are I hope - Ed)

In my dreams, this booming voice kept shouting "Go North, young man, go North!". It was not practical to go West, as New Zealand is such a "thin" country that going West for any reasonable distance would put you under the sea.

And so, I landed in Wellington where I stayed with a philosopher, an eccentric and a playboy in a house on a hill, looking down the bay. There I absorbed some philosophy, some eccentricity and was given many tips on how to find Love.

More than once we ventured to some seedy ends of town around Cuba Street and asked Carmen where Love might be. But Carmen could only offer Tea, Coffee, or "Me".

During one of these excursions, I saw a "mít gàn" standing under a tree, waiting for Love to come to him. He was hoping that the girl of his dreams would take pity on him, come out from the house opposite and ask him inside. It was reported that he stood there all night, to no avail.

One night we went to see "Five Easy Pieces". I did not understand all of it then, but I instinctively knew that the film was about "The meaning of life". As I was still searching for Love and did not have a life, let alone worry about its meaning, I soon forgot "Five Easy Pieces", but the piano music from the film stayed with me until today still.

Then the friendship I had with this girl turned into something more than friendship, and I finally found what I searched for. Appropriately, we went to see "Love Story". And I wasn't paying any attention to the film. The first half of the film's title was all I cared about.

I found Love, started a life, started work, and fast forward to when we went to see "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest". It was one of those moving films. You would walk out at the end of the film and you would want to walk back in to hopefully see a different ending.

This film showed me two things, that Jack Nicholson and I aged at the same rate since I last saw him in "Five Easy Pieces", and that out there, many film directors were also looking for the answer to "The meaning of life".

Work, family life, and upheavals from our home country occupied most of my time and thoughts during the following years, and very few films were sampled. Color TV also made its debut in New Zealand and I remember eagerly waiting for the Benny Hill show every week while my wife started to become addicted to The Young and the Restless!

In 1977 I had the chance of watching "Star Wars" when it first came out in L.A., at the Chinese Theatre. The special effects were very well done and the audience oooh'ed and aaah'ed at the right moments. The science fiction nature of the film reminded me of my previous encounter of the first kind with "2001: a space odyssey" in Christchurch.

Somehow that famous Chinese Theatre did not have the same atmosphere and impact of the one in Christchurch. It did not have stars and clouds on the ceiling and we were there by ourselves, with no other "mít" around us making noisy remarks in the dark, and I missed my pint of Tip Top ice cream.

Advances in consumer electronics such as the VCR during subsequent years compounded the effect of colour TVs. On top of that, all our spare time was devoted to our young children. There were fewer and fewer sessions at movie theatres in our lives.

Instead, I found myself waiting for a video release and then forgetting to rent it, and so missed a number of "must see" movies. After a while, I found that I didn't miss the "must see" movies which I missed. I knew sooner or later they would appear on free to air TV, and by the fifth rerun, I would certainly catch them.

The children are now older, and we have started to enjoy watching movies in a proper movie theatre again, with the children or by ourselves when they refuse to come with us!

And sometimes, I swear I can hear noisy remarks in the dark, in Vietnamese. But when I look up, there are no stars or clouds on the ceiling.

TXM - New Year 1999



Back to the Future The future has not been written yet. You write it.

Groundhog Day If you do good, you escape this repetitive circle of life and reach Karma.

Forrest Gump The Meaning of Life can be found in a box of Chocolates.

Eat Drink Man Woman Reaffirms men's superiority over women in the (bedroom) kitchen.

La Grande Bouffe The meaning of life is Food?

Once upon a time in China Kung Fu as you imagined it.

ID4 Mac computers are better than PCs.