A tepid autumnal dramedy aimed at aging boomer fans of arthouse fare like The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Mao’s Last Dancer and The Full Monty, Quartet represents Dustin Hoffman‘s directorial debut, but it’s shot through with so little in terms of conflict, stakes or even passion as to leave one questioning the very reason for its existence, let alone the legendary actor’s attachment to the material. Though rooted in a true story, the thinly sketched Quartet fails to ignite either much excitement of imagination or identification, resulting in an amiable bore.
The film unfolds at Beecham House, a special British retirement home exclusively for elderly musicians. Under the care of Dr. Lucy Cogan (Sheridan Smith), Cedric Livingstone (Michael Gambon, sporting a series of drapes with sleeves) holds court with his old, renowned colleagues, including genius composer/arranger Reggie Paget (Tom Courtenay), the rascally Wilfred Bond (Billy Connolly) and the ever-hospitable Cissy Robson (Pauline Collins). Their memories and bodies may be variously failing them by degrees, but they find solace in one another’s company. However, the arrival of superstar soprano soloist Jean Horton (Maggie Smith), Reggie’s ex-wife, throws their peaceful and ordered world into disarray. They try to recruit Jean into a staging of one of their more memorable works for a gala fundraising concert that will benefit Beecham House, but she remains stubbornly resistant until her old competitive instincts are finally re-awakened.
Adapted by Ronald Harwood from his own late-1990s stageplay, Quartet unfolds with a respectful and respectable, well-heeled polish, seeming to believe that its admittedly wonderful cast lends it an automatic sophistication which inoculates it against charges of tedium. Cinematographer John de Borman delivers warmly hued scenes that complement the on-screen bonds, and Hoffman’s location staging takes nice advantage of the grounds of Buckinghamshire’s Hedsor House.
The film, though, doesn’t offer much in even the way of programmatic uplift. Mannered to its core, Quartet is meant to be the cinematic equivalent of a refined, mid-afternoon snack of tea and biscuits (no small wonder, then, that Leonard Maltin dubbed it “as easy to take as a freshly baked scone with Devonshire cream”). But its characters are so direct in their emotional reactions, and of a piece in their articulations, that the film takes on the swift, no-nonsense narrative qualities of a small screen serial, absent any sort of life-and-death stakes. There’s some talk about the Beecham House needing money to stay in business, but there is no face of antagonistic opposition given to this loosely defined threat — and in short, no layered motivations or engaging subtleties at all. Quartet offers up a bunch of characters in service to an empty story. For the full, original review, from ShockYa, click here. (Weinstein Company, PG-13, 97 minutes)
Daily Archives: January 16, 2013
Ike & Tina: On the Road 1971-72
Concert doc meets engaging travelogue in the form of Ike & Tina: On the Road 1971-72, a nonfiction snapshot of musical duo Ike and Tina Turner as told from the perspective of legendary rock ‘n’ roll photographer Bob Gruen and his wife Nadya, who toured with them early during the decade that fashion forgot. In addition to awesome renditions of many of Ike and Tina’s best known tunes, this brisk but captivating movie also affords viewers a glimpse of the group at work in the recording studio, practicing their dance routines, goofing around in airports and even primping their ‘dos.
The complete track listing, for those interested, charts “River Deep, Mountain High,” “Pick Me Up (Take Me Where Your Home Is),” “Oh Devil,” “Gulf Coast Blues,” a wild version of “Shake a Tail Feather,” “There Was a Time,” “Heard It Through the Grapevine,” “Respect” (which now seems more than a little ironic in duet), “A Love Like Yours (Don’t Come Knockin’ Every Day)” (ditto), “Under the Weather,” “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long,” “Walking the Dog,” “You’ve Got to Get That Feeling,” “Try a Little Tenderness,” a characteristically rollicking “Proud Mary,” “I Smell Trouble,” “Shine” and “I Want To Take You Higher.”
Housed in a regular plastic Amaray case, Ike & Tina: On the Road 1971-72 comes to DVD on a region-free disc. Lacking supplemental features, there’s no grand contextualization here for Turner newbies, unfortunately — nor a honest reckoning about the spousal battering that would explode their union. This is still a nice showcase for the music itself, however. To purchase the DVD via Amazon, click here. B (Movie) C- (Disc)
The Baytown Outlaws
A deeply but pleasantly weird sort of Southern Gothic battle royale, The Baytown Outlaws is a boisterous, sweat-soaked mash-up of The Boondock Saints, Smokin’ Aces, Wild Things and Sucker Punch (minus the latter’s material excess). While stipulating that at its core it’s fairly slight — and also constructed of prefabricated parts and characters who, despite their colorful nature, are basically kind of hoary clichés — it’s also hard to deny that director Barry Battles’ zonked-out genre romp, starring Billy Bob Thornton, Eva Longoria and a couple lesser known faces, is an awful lot of fun.
The film reaches a certain point of diminishing return, particularly as it tries to pivot in its third act, and deliver a more reasoned, grounded moment of emotional growth for its titular brothers. The Baytown Outlaws is more successful when it’s just wheeling and dealing, in batshit-insane fashion, through oddball set-ups and gnarly, knotted retribution. Still, the originality on display makes this energetic crime comedy curio worth a look for fans of the actors, certainly, and low-budget genre enthusiasts to boot. For the full, original review, from ShockYa, click here. (Phase 4 Films, R, 98 minutes)