Wonderwall

Well, I just saw a restored print of this at the Screening room. It is a marvelous piece, light and yet moving, filled with wonderful visuals, a great performance by Jack McGowran and a marvelous (and unfortunately out-of-print) score by everyone's favorite Beatle, George. The synopsis above just doesn't do justice to the film. Yes, it's about a daffy old guy who peers in on a lovely young woman living next door, but there's nothing creepy or pathetic about it. In fact, he's actually quite a bit a of a dashing and romantic figure in his own detached, weird way. One of the most notable things about the film is the art direction, done by the band/art collective The Fool. An obscure folk group (sort of a lesser Incredible String Band) they made the most of what was most likely a thin budget by pouring every ounce of energy into creating two amazing sets for the adjacent apartments of the old man and the young model. They are, without a doubt, two of the coolest looking places to live I have ever seen in a movie (I would give my eye-teeth to live in either one of those flats) and they form as much of a part of the main characters as the portrayal by the actors themselves. The old scientist lives in Celtic-Medieval warren, inspired by Pre-Raphaelite design, and the young model lives in a mod Sixties psychedelic/glam environment suffused with overtones of 20's/30's nostalgia. Both apartments then are filled with a yearning for the past and so, the old man becomes no more of a romanticist than the girl, despite his age. He is actually quite dashing in his cape and tuxedo when engaging in some of his later escapades, like some bandit out of a Fantomas picture. No, this movie isn't about a pathetic old guy lusting after a lithe young thing. It's about a few other things more interesting and perhaps more touching, but you'll have to find out for yourself. In any case it's a nice little treat worth finding, if you can.

Every scene could have been cut much shorter with no loss of content or story development. It seemed like they were simply trying to fill a 92 minute time slot.

I hope the Quality Control office of the Water Authority replaced the Professor with automated equipment. I would not trust his analyses.

'Wonderwall' was one of four 'alternative-cinema' films to debut at the newly opened:'CINECENTA' multi-complex off Leicester Square in January 1969. It had previously had its 'World-Premiere' at the Cannes Film Festival in 1968.

The 'George Harrison' Soundtrack of Indian Ragas & etc. are the aural sound-sheet of a truly reprehensible plot with dull stupefyingly mind-numbing 'animated inserts'such as Butterflys escaping from a collectors album.The whole film seems to be a 'screen-test' for Jane Birkin.She wears coloured tights,Indian dresses,Sunglasses,& on & on............Jack MacGowran actually seems out-of-place in his admirable interpretation of a stuffy lonely Zoological Professor. The actual idea of a lonely bachelor peeping through a hole in a wall on his beautiful débutante neighbour is brilliant.The film doesn't make enough on this concept alone. The Film is too chic & it retains no style.Jane Birkin is flamboyant & exotic but she doesn't have a single word of dialogue.(Except some gibberish heard when the Professor eavesdrops).I assume this was intentional BUT a bad decision.Not hearing Jane Birkin speak makes her even more Kewpie-doll & a window-dressed mannequin throughout this movie. The 'Word-Cards' that were inserted should really now come out & the Director should issue a 'Director's Cut' taking out all the period 'animated-inserts' & politely asking MsBirkin to NOW add a voice-over in suitable places.Perhaps any additional footage could be restored because the film doesn't hold a strong enough allure.(Except of course la Birkin in nice poses!).

In the stuffed apartment of a nerdy professor - books, piles of papers, late romanticism murals of wounded knights and bereaved maidens. He only lives for his science, does not have a social life. Until he finds a hole in a wall. He peeks through and discovers a new world. In the next door apartment - fully decorated in day-glo painted furniture and pop art - young Londoners are fully embracing the swinging lifestyle: photographers, models, musicians. Parties take place, wild music is played and boys and girls experience life. By and by the professor gets sucked into this new world next door.

Even though there are some scenes that could be shorter, the director takes the time to let us know, how slowly but inevitably the professor opens up.

I love movies like Blow Up, Magical Mystery Tour, The Magic Christian, Performance, ... This movie is not one of the cult films but has its own zeitgeist charme. It inspired Oasis to do a song with the same title. George Harrison did the soundtrack.

I like George (may his soul play ukulele in heaven), and I like Jane Birkin (may that shadow of Serge Gainsbourg continue to dance with Beck). But to paraphrase Beck, Wonderwall's a loser, baby, why don't you kill it? And, for God's sake what did the pictures of the Beatles at the end have to do with the film? The guy that plays the professor is somewhat humorous in a Charlie Chaplin sort of way (or that guy in silent films who used to hang onto clock towers and things). All in all a tête à tête between Harrison and Birkin on their philosophies of life may have made an interesting movie. Probably much better than My Dinner with Andre. My Dinner with a Dish?