*****

Rocketman

The recent movie, Bohemian Rhapsody, is turning out to be one of the most popular films of last year and we expect that this film will achieve equal acclaim. Although the current movie is a different kind of musical, the director, Dexter Fletcher, also worked on last year’s great hit. In Rocketman, the story of Elton John is told in a fashion of great film musicals with a wonderful ensemble dancing and singing. Elton John is inhabited by Taron Egerton who does all of Elton John’s singing in great voice, which captures the energy and beauty of Rocketman himself.

The story of course is true to life as it traces the great singer’s life from his talent appearing in early childhood, his painful interaction with his parents and his emergence on the musical scene. The story pulls back the curtain and helps the viewer understand how John struggled with his sexuality and with alcohol and drugs, which nearly destroyed him. Particularly poignant is the meaningful relationship he had with his friend and lyricist, Bernie Taupin, magnificently played by Jaimie Bell. Through it all, the main character emerges and can say and gloriously sing, “I’m still standing.” The movie and story feels real and authentic. It is not surprising that the real Elton John is the film’s executive producer. This movie has to be added to your Do Not Miss List. (2019)

**

The Souvenir-sp

This movie is about a young woman filmmaker (Honor Swinton Byrne) who establishes a relationship with a somewhat older man. She appears to fall in love with him and he turns out to be a liar, drug addict, and to be promiscuous in the age of HIV/AIDS.

The storyline keeps returning to the main character’s attempt to make her film. Perhaps the writer/director, Joanne Hogg, is drawing upon her own experiences or observations. The film certainly conveys a negative view of men especially in the treatment and demeaning of women.

It is interesting that the mother of the main character is actually played by the actress’s real-life mother, the esteemed actress, Tilda Swinton, but there are no real dramatic interactions between them. The main male lead is well done by Tom Burke.

Despite the beautiful photography (by David Raedeker) and excellent acting, we felt that the story line was drawn out and pretentious. We understood the characters and we were looking for a storyline with more depth, more surprises, and even more emotion in our two-hour visit with them, but alas, we didn’t find it. (2019).

**

Diane-sp

Veteran actress, Mary Kay Place takes on very nuanced role as Diane, a cousin to a dying woman, a niece to an elderly aunt, a meaningful friend and most significantly a mother to a son with drug addiction problems, who breaks his habit, finds Jesus and wants to convert her. All of this goes on while the son resents his mother for some complicated past deeds.

This film is the brainchild of writer/director, Kent Jones who appears to have written a script that must have been meaningful to him. Ms. Kay Place in a post-screening discussion revealed how she worked hard to understand her character and the back story. She elaborated how she filled in the blanks with her own imagination so the character who is on screen just about all the time, would be real and meaningful to the actress. The problem is, that despite her superb acting, and good directing by Mr. Jones (although perhaps a little too much car driving scenes on country roads), the story wasn’t meaningful to us. Even though, there was an excellent supporting cast which included Estelle Parsons, Andrea Martin, Deirdre O’Connell, Joyce Van Patten and Jake Lacy, there wasn’t much of a thread bringing the story together and in the end the storyline did not move us nor did it enlighten us or stimulate our thinking. The potential may have been there, but it didn’t work for these reviewers. (2019)

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