Zsofi

We watched this movie last night, eagerly awaiting an entertaining and thoughtful piece, based on the plot summary on the DVD box and on past work of the lead actress and the executive producer, Atom Egoyan, one of the best contemporary directors in Canada if not in the world.

Were we ever disappointed! The plot is predictable and boring, presenting a terribly simplistic view of Canada and its Christian and Muslim people. The acting was consistently bad as the actors stumbled from one stereotypical cliché (the lead Christian character is a carpenter (!) whose workshop is full of more large crosses than there are Christian churches in Toronto) to another as the director tried to deliver her pedantic message about how "appropriate" inter-ethnic relationships will magically resolve all our problems overnight, be it social, political, economic, health-related, intellectual, existential... even environmental I'm sure!

At least one Canadian cliché was left out (perhaps accidentally forgotten) - the movie takes place in the summer rather than the winter. Alas, the lovely summer shots of parks presented just a small relief in an otherwise wasted 1.5 hrs.

This documentary presents a fascinating portrait of an outstanding contemporary manouche guitarist, Jimmy Rosenberg and his family. Jimmy starts out as a child prodigy, touring national and international stages at age 8 or 9 with his brothers, playing his guitar with amazing finger technique and a wild passion. He is not only a great player but one of the few who can improvise in this style.

However, life takes a bad turn as he gets addicted to drugs, are in and out of rehab, eventually prison. He is successful, famous, has lots of money then blows it in a few months. Perhaps it is due to his father's imprisonment (who killed his son-in-law in self-defence during a confrontation over the son-in-law who abused his wife and children) and missing his firm guiding hand. Perhaps it is the artistic temperament... Still, Jimmy is not judged by the film makers, but presented as a very talented person who got lost in the heady world of stage success. I am glad that the usual attitudes regarding "gypsy fate" and down-troddenness are not brought into the discussion at all, even though the family, despite all their wealth, continues to live in a small, gypsy-only community in Holland where the houses look like mobile homes...

As a reviewer wrote about his CD entitled "The One and Only": "Jimmy takes the standard repertoire and presents it at an incredible pace with clever twists and an impressive technique." The music is certainly amazing throughout the documentary and has been obviously an anchor and a calming influence for Jimmy. The documentary is fairly recent (2006), I hope that he is back on stage and in the recording studios.

This movie was shown recently in the middle of the night and I must say it was the perfect time of day for viewing. It is a rather gritty piece with a hopeful ending and some truly funny episodes like the one where at the turn of the 21st century the main character's friend reads the description of an East German seaside resort from a travel book that had been printed in the communist era - probably the same volume my family used during our visits to the DDR only to get hopelessly lost every time we tried to use the maps...

While not much happens in this film somehow it still manages to firmly glue you to the screen. I was a bit confused about the job Maria holds, not that it really mattered in the bigger scheme of things, the gloomy, closed-in atmosphere of a seaside resort in the middle of off season was perfectly conveyed.

Unfortunately the sound quality of the copy I saw was pretty bad to the point of me missing some of the dialogue. Still, this is certainly a movie I would watch again.