This space is dedicated to comments sent to us about the films we show.
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"Kudos to the MNM team for the uniformly great selection of movies for the first half of the 2013/2014 season.
Keep up the good work, we appreciate all the volunteers' efforts.”
-Peter Hardy
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Our Man in Tehran January 2014
-I loved “Our Man in Tehran” last evening. I thought the film’s producer and director had created an atmosphere in which all the participants were eager to share their memories in a very refreshing and vivid way.
I experienced a few flashbacks of my own. I enjoyed seeing Ken Taylor, as I actually met him briefly in London, where he was posted just when I was applying to emigrate to Canada. It was the friendliest and most informal chat ever. He introduced me to Bill Davis, who was visiting that day. I remember confusing all my work colleagues when I went back and told them I had met Premier Davis, as they all thought Trudeau was the Premier.
At the time I was working at a college of advanced technology in West London (like Ryerson I guess). It had a state of the art English as a Foreign Language school and in the early 1970’s we had waves of students from different countries coming through. I was in the Psychology department but shared a workroom with the director of the ESL program. The Iranian students were absolutely loaded with cash, the brand new oil money referred to in the film. They were very young, alone in swinging London and RICH. They bought Jaguar e-types and were done for speeding or crashed them into the Thames, so that there was a lot of visiting police stations and hospitals. They ran off in the middle of the night to get married and so lots of untangling had to be done there. It was quite a lively time. In seminars the students told us personal stories about the Shah’s oppressive regime and the brutality and torture of his secret police. The college was a hotbed of socialism (the lecturers were all straight out of university) and we encouraged the students to “go home and do something about it.” They did!
Incidentally the next wave of students were Mao’s Red China Brigade. They cut classes to go and stare at cherry blossom, or to work in the kitchens, or ride with bus drivers. The ESL director organized a reception at the National Theatre, with Peter Hall. The idea was that they should have champagne and caviar and the chance to chat to Laurence Olivier. They threw the glasses and caviar on the floor and stamped and shouted about running dogs and capitalist lackeys. My colleague was mortified but Peter Hall loved it. He said it gave him a story to dine out on for months.
Thanks for bringing us these great films.
Tina
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Film: The Intouchables Full House
Thank you to all the volunteers at MNM. We look forward to Monday night and seldom see other movies. Yesterday was only a sign of the popularity and success you have engendered.
Esther
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Film: Howl
Please send an extra special ‘thank you’ to whoever selected HOWL!!! for us!
I found it interesting that both Ernie and I thought the movie was terrific.
I, of course, know the poem and am familiar with the ‘beat’ generation, which is my generation. I own a copy of HOWL!!! For which I paid, new, seventy five cents. I reread it before the movie.
Ernie, on the other hand, who is 87 had heard the name Ginsberg, but knew nothing about him, his poetry or the fabulous City Lights Books.
Yet we both concurred on the analysis.
There were 4 layers: the poem, the biography, the court case and ‘the times’. All were pulled together seamlessly.
HOWL is not ‘an easy poem’ and does require an understanding of the times. Some poems can be written anytime any place. Not HOWL. Like all profound poetry, the reader needs to pause periodically to assimilate what s/he has just read. In a movie that is not possible, so the animation did the ‘explaining’.
The animation was terrific, very Chagall- like, which made it more appropriate.
The music was so good that one almost was not aware of it as a separate entity,
This was the time of ‘free love’... that meant making love just to make love. No strings attached. Somewhat like what today is regarded as ‘friends with benefits’. Hence the unembarrassed use of language.
To have captured all of that in so brief a time was superb.
So, again, from Ernie and me , “Thank you!”
Elka Enola
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We just wanted to tell you how much Hart and I enjoyed "Howl". It was a great way to learn about recent social history (I was a little too young to know Ginsberg while he was alive - haha!). The animation was a fascinating addition to the storyline. Great acting.
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We just wanted to tell you how much Hart and I enjoyed "Howl". It was a great way to learn about recent social history (I was a little too young to know Ginsberg while he was alive - haha!). The animation was a fascinating addition to the storyline. Great acting.
Excellent choice of movie!
Thanks,
Daniela and Hart Jansson
