Shall We Dance?

Ah – You can’t beat a good bit of chick flick fluff. Well, you can, but on the right occasion, chick flick fluff ticks all the boxes. On this occasion boxes needing to be ticked included a bit of romance (check), music (check) a bit of humour (check) and a feel-good story (check). Bonuses include chocolate (already eaten it – damn) and chardonnay (check).

Shall We Dance certainly met my criteria (apart from not being made of chocolate). It is based on a Japanese movie of the same name, which was originally released in 1996. As far as I can tell, they haven’t really changed the story. John Clark (Richard Gere) is a successful lawyer who deals with people’s wills and estates; he has a nice house and life with his beautiful, successful wife Beverley (Susan Sarandon) and two happy, well-adjusted teen-adult children. However there is something missing from John’s life that he can’t put his finger on. On his train journey home he keeps seeing a beautiful woman looking out the window of Miss Mitzi’s dance studio.

Quite what triggers his impulsive decision to learn to dance is not really clear. There seems no unforeseen latent desire to waltz, and the attraction to the aloof, beautiful woman, Paulina (Jennifer Lopez), seems fairly superficial, especially when Susan Sarandon is looking so good, and has less of an attitude. However, we go with the flow here as John enrolls at Miss Mitzi’s beginners’ class, and meets two other men. Chic (Bobby Cannavale) is going because all ladies love a man who can dance and the chunky Vern (Omar Miller) is trying to lose weight and impress his fiancé. The charms of the three men seem to alarm any potential lady students so they are on their own. Their teacher Miss Mitzi (Anita Gillette) is a bit of a lush but is very enthusiastic and the guys get stuck in.

The enigma that is Paulina remains somewhat in the background, working in another room, or occasionally helping out, and it is obvious that John is intrigued by her. He is too embarrassed to tell his family (including his wife) or friends about dancing but discovers that his colleague Link (Stanley Tucci) is also a keen dancer and concealing it. Also practicing at Miss Mitzi’s is brassy Bobbie (Lisa Ann Walter). With no tact or taste, Bobbie is loud and OTT and is nicknamed the Bobbinator by the men, who are all too scared to dance with her.

Once, when Paulina was upset because Bobbie had spilt spaghetti on her coat, John offered to take her for a Chinese. Paulina made it clear she didn’t socialize with students and that if he was coming to class to get with her he was mistaken. Taken aback, and John decides to stop going, but then realises that he enjoys dancing and the company of his friends that he has made there. The film continues on with some excellent dance scenes, some comedy ‘buddy’ scenes and the friendship grows with Paulina, who realises she misjudged John. Meanwhile, Beverley thinks her husband maybe having an affair and hires a private detective…

The cast are all good; although Sarandon and Tucci are under used for their talents they give great performances. Lopez is acceptable, but is not as big a role as I imagined, she is not challenged. Gere heads up the movie very well, Cannavale, Gillette and Miller do some good comic turns although they, and indeed most of the cast, are upstaged by Walter’s Bobbie. Director Peter Chelsom does a good job as far as I can see; I would be interested to see the original Japanese version as I suspect this may have a little bit more charm than the re-make.

The music is, of course, ballroom and Latin style numbers. No one piece really stands out.

I really enjoyed this film, it is light, fun and has that all important feel-good factor, and made an hour and three-quarters fly by. I would think this is one of the better films of its genre, although a passing interest in dancing would probably help, it obviously isn’t going to appeal to everybody. The film got a 12 certificate in the UK; there is no violence, sex or bad language.

Top 10 Love Songs

Top 10 Love Songs/Ballads I have played on iTunes

1. Paul Weller - You Do Something To Me
2. Rufus & Chaka Khan - Ain'y Nobody
3. Neville Brothers - In the Still of the Night
4. Eric Clapton - Wonderful Tonight
5. Robert Cray - Right Next Door
6. Madonna - Crazy For You
7. Annie Lennox - Waiting in Vain
8. Wet Wet Wet - If I Never See You Again
9. Sad Cafe - Everyday Hurts
10. Robert Palmer - Mercy Mercy Me/I Want You

Wimbledon

Tennis is one sport that Hollywood seems to have ignored in their vast repertoire of sporting films. Technically this isn’t a Hollywood film however, made as it is by Working Title responsible for Notting Hill, Love Actually and Bridget Jones. As a fan of the sport (strictly armchair level) and being rather partial to Paul Bettany I decided to settle in one evening to watch this.

This is a romantic comedy and makes no apology for the fact; the film is light and bright, even during rain scenes and instantly gives an uplifting feeling with a pop soundtrack featuring artists such as David Gray and the Sugababes. The premise is about an English tennis player Peter Colt (Bettany) playing in his final Wimbledon of his career. Currently ranked 119^th in the world, he was formerly number 11 (as he likes to remind everyone) and has accepted a Tennis Director’s position at the local country club in preparation for his professional retirement. This year at Wimbledon it is a bit different, and he gets caught up in a romance with America’s enfant terrible of tennis, Lizzie Bradbury (Kirsten Dunst) with her McEnroe style tantrums, playing her first Wimbledon tournament. Lizzie is young, competitive and driven. Her father Dennis (Sam Neill) is also driven in his ambition for his daughter, although he clearly loves her. This is no will they-won’t they style romance, our hero and heroine dive straight into ‘fooling around’ right after their first round matches. Both players are superstitious and don’t want to break their routine, but whilst Peter’s luck, as a Brit doing well at Wimbledon, (I did say this was a comedy) is going strong, Lizzie is struggling and her father tries to persuade them to end the relationship (who’d have seen that coming, eh?!) as he fears the ‘fooling around’ is becoming serious for Lizzie and he doesn’t want her hurt, or to lose the tournament.

I don’t want to reveal the plot for you, it is not particularly strong or original, but it is entertaining. A lot of this is down to the sterling supporting cast, not just Sam Neill but Peter’s squabbling parents (played by Bernard Hill and Eleanor Born), his chancer brother Carl (Shameless’ James McAvoy) who figures he can either make money at the bookies if his brother loses or get laid if he wins. Add to this Jon Favreau as the mobile phone addicted agent and Nickolaj Coster-Waldau as Peter’s handsome best friend and practice partner, and you have a lovely, typical summer Brit-Flick. Most people will probably recognize Chris Evert and John McEnroe in cameo roles, as well as John Barrett, the eponymous voice of Wimbledon commentary for the last million years. Oh, and the voices of Chris Moyles and Danny Baker on the radio. British stalwarts Celia Imrie and Robert Lindsay also crop up.

The DVD has a number of Extras but they are all of the ‘Making Of’ variety. The first is ‘Welcome to the Club’, which is 3 minutes long, and talks to director Richard Loncraine, the cast and some key Wimbledon bods as to the atmosphere surrounding the tournament and Centre Court. ‘Ball Control’ explains the CGI effects needed to make the rallies look realistic between the actors and their opponents, who were often professionals. This lasts for 5 minutes. ‘Coach A Rising Star’ is a three minute look at Pat Cash coaching the cast to make them look like they knew what they were doing. Slightly longer is ‘Wimbledon – A Look Inside’ which is yet another making of type mini-documentary. Personally I think they could have put these together for one twenty minute Making Of documentary rather than breaking them up. As well as these little films, there is the commentary with Richard Loncraine and Paul Bettany (unique, I suspect, in that the actors do not normally contribute to such things, but then I don’t normally watch/listen to them) and some trailers of Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, the Terminal, Vanity Fair and bizarrely the musical stage production of Billy Elliot.

I liked this film because it was light and bright and entertaining. I don’t think you need to be a fan of tennis to enjoy it; there are some factual details that would be quite annoying to fans. For example the men’s and ladies’ semi-finals are played at the same time (which would not normally happen unless there was a huge rain backlog – which wasn’t the case) and there was a male semi final on an outside court which would never happen, because if for some reason Centre Court was not available, play would move to Court One. The finalists also seemed to be a match short. That said, Richard Loncraine did an effective directing job and there were some fabulous special effects, which are not actually obvious in the film (which is why they were so good). I would recommend this film for the pure piece of light entertainment that it is.

The film has a 12 certificate.

Highgate Cemetary

Highgate east 5
Originally uploaded by Essexgirl.

East Cemetary. June 2006

Life and Death in Shanghai

Over the years I have read many autobiographies written by Chinese women about their lives prior to, during and since communism and the Cultural Revolution. For the most part they have been interesting, moving and informative with the odd exception. Having felt I had overdosed on the genre I left them alone for a while until I spotted this book languishing on my step-dad’s bookshelf. He couldn’t remember if it was any good or not, so I thought I’d find out for myself.

Nien was relatively fortunate in her early years having studied and lived abroad. Her late husband had been a senior director for Shell in their Shanghai office and initially the communist government had been pleased to keep the company and the income it generated. After her husband’s death Nien also took a senior position with Shell, which subsequently relocated to Hong Kong, while Nien stayed behind. The book begins with Nien enjoying a comfortable and privileged life with a cook and servants and regularly having friends over to dine. She seems keen for us to know about all she had, such as her valuable antiques and collectors’ pieces. Her constant reference to serving tea English style and European food made it seem that she thought she was somehow better than her fellow Chinese.

Once the Red Guards come to her house you feel sorry for her, as anyone familiar with that part of Chinese history will be aware, there was a dreadful culture of hysteria, and bullying that was legitimised under the guise of the Cultural Revolution. If you were unfortunate enough to have been educated to university standards, had a little bit of money or have a job that could label you an intellectual or a capitalist then you faced persecution. Eventually she was taken to a detention centre where she was kept in solitary confinement for months before questioning and constant requests to confess to her supposed crimes against the Communist Party, which believed she had spied for the British whilst at Shell. Cheng endured some harsh conditions and ill health but nothing was ever resolved, despite several rounds of interrogations and attempts to force her to confess. She was quite fortunate to have not been executed like some of prisoners who had refused to confess, even though former colleagues and even her brother said she was a spy (under duress, it is assumed).

Eventually she is released to discover that her daughter has allegedly committed suicide, although a cover up is suspected and her journey does not end as she understandably wants to find out the truth, and her alleged capitalist spy past remains a constant stigma.

Her comfy life at the beginning of the book seems a bit bragging; but there is no doubt that she did suffer under the Red Guards and other revolutionary groups. Cheng does re-create the period with startling accuracy and with great detail. Anyone with a modicum of knowledge about this period in China will realize how futile her position was and it is certainly admirable of her to fight back and protest her innocence for as long as she did.

Most Chinese women’s autobiographies do not include prison and the struggle meetings that Cheng experienced and I would recommend it for people who are interested in China during the period and fans of non-celebrity autobiographies but be warned, as the book is not a light read. Cheng’s writing style is easy to follow however, and she tries to remain positive for the most part. You do not get bogged down in the depths of despair even in the darkest times that she experienced in prison as the story flows well and keeps moving on.

Life and Death in Shanghai is not the best of its genre (see To the Edge of the Sky by Anhua Gao), nor is it the worst (see Red Azalea by Anchee Min), but it is certainly one of the darkest that I have read.

As far as I can tell, at the end of last year Mrs. Cheng was still alive and well and living a quite life in the USA. This is her only book and was first published in 1988 (the edition I read), and again in 1995, which is the edition found at most online shops.

Tampon Crafts

Some people have too much time on their hands!
See here.