Our teen sons are off on their annual week of sailing with their grandparents, so Ken and I are enjoying a quiet week to ourselves. We indulged in a couple of movies this weekend - one that was wonderful and the other - well, not so much.
First, we watched Saving Mr. Banks, a Disney movie about the making of Mary Poppins that is warm, touching, and funny. Full disclosure: I have been a huge fan of both the Mary Poppins movie and the original book since I was a little girl! In this movie, Walt Disney, played perfectly by Tom Hanks, tries to convince grumpy author P.L. Travers, played by Emma Thompson, to sell him the movie rights to her famous nanny. He invites her to Hollywood for two weeks, and attempts to woo her with all that Disney stands for, not realizing that she is not only immune to Disney's charms, she is downright disdainful of them. Interspersed with these scenes set in 1961 Hollywood are scenes from Travers' childhood in the wilds of Australia that show the origin of much of the basis for Mary Poppins' characters, including a painful though loving relationship with her father. The parts about her childhood are heart-warming as well as heart-breaking and also illuminating for Mary Poppins fans. And the Disney scenes of the writing and composing of the movie are clever and funny, filled with familiar lines and iconic songs you've known since you were a kid. The movie is based in part on actual tapes made of P.L. Travers' sessions at Disney (which she insisted on to ensure her wishes were not ignored). All in all, it is a delightful, touching two hours. Watch Disney's Mary Poppins first (unless, like me, you know it by heart) and then watch Saving Mr. Banks to get the most out of it (though it would even be enjoyable to those who've never seen the movie - are there such people??). I guarantee your next stop will be the library for the original book.
Last might, we watched Enemy, the complete opposite of Saving Mr. Banks! Jake Gyllenhaal plays two roles in this dark, creepy, very confusing movie. When the movie opens, he is playing Adam, a reclusive, shy, depressed history professor. When a colleague from work convinces Adam to watch a cheery DVD, Adam notices something that changes his life: he spots a bit actor in one scene who is his exact double. He does some digging online and finds the actor's agent and then his home address and tracks him down (yes, all a bit stalkerish). Once the two men meet face to face, the movie becomes very confusing. We often asked each other, "Wait, which one is this? The actor or the history teacher?" The whole thing is filmed with a sort of yellowish cast to the scenes, and much of the film moves at a slow pace, but with oddly discordant creepy music playing in the background the whole time. So, although it seems like not much is happening on the screen, the music makes you feel tense and full of dread. When the last scene came onto the screen, Ken and I simultaneously yelled, "What??" Then we spent the next 30 minutes trying to figure out what on earth really happened in the movie. Many online reviews suggested that if we didn't get it, it was because we weren't smart or sophisticated enough, and that it becomes much clearer on subsequent viewings. Not much chance of us watching it again! Though, it definitely did get under our skins and into our minds. For the past 24 hours, one of us keeps suddenly saying to the other, "OK, in that movie, why on earth...?" A lot of things just didn't make sense...and still don't! If you do decide to watch the movie, don't read online reviews first - there were lots of spoilers there.Have you seen any good movies lately?
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