Wide Blue Yonder

I'm not sure people realize this, but you can actually watch Wide Blue Yonder (2010) for free online at wideblueyonderthemovie.com. I don't know when this site became available, but I streamed the whole movie for free a couple of days ago and all I had to do was basically enter my name and email address.

But why is this movie so hard to find and not available on DVD or anything? I saw it at the Emden Film Festival when I was visiting some friends and keep waiting for it to become available on Netflix here but it never does. I love these kind of quirky indie Euro movies, so this was right up my alley. You will not even believe how crazy Brian Cox looks and acts in this movie! He doesn't usually do comedies like this, so this is a pleasant surprise because he's actually really funny and goofy in the movie. To me, the acting was really good and the writing was sharp so I don't get why people haven't seen or heard about this movie.

For reasons that are not immediately clear, this has only just (in 2019) had a release at cinemas in the UK and to be honest, it isn't really a cinema film. The comedic performances by Brian Cox are all the more appreciable because they are so unlike anything he has done elsewhere; his dancing around in his underwear (and we are not talking Calvin Klein, here!) cannot help but make you smile. Otherwise it is a gentle old-age rebellion film with occasional appearances by Lauren Bacall with James Fox making for a decent, if rather typecast, foil to Cox. Ideal for telly between Christmas and New Year to make you feel good.

Brian Cox presented a spectacular show as a sailor and Lauren Baca was spectacular as always. It was a fun movie.

I almost turned off Wild Blue Yonder (aka All at Sea) which atm is available to watch free with an Amazon Prime membership. It started out unneccessarily slapstick dark humor with very implausible scenes such as illegally appropriating a coffin complete with its deceased occupant and then placing the coffin in the back of a pickup truck and "stealing it" from a already-in-progress cemetery service. There is a need for suspension of disbelief in most movies, and the early scenes were over the top. And yet I stuck with this film mostly because of the unexpected appearance of James Fox early in the film, who happens to be an actor I like, and then also because of Lauren Bacall, and I'm SO GLAD i did stick with this movie.

Alot of the movie continues in this slapstick over the top fashion, but as I am 60 y/o myself, I was able to forgive the slapstick and categorize it as overstated metaphors whether intended or unintended, for the teriible dilemmas of getting old and losing self-determination by degrees, and the way younger people usurp the rights of the "walking-elderly" even when they are still quite lucid and capable, solely because they disapprove of a viewpoint or a conduct. I don't want to overstate that element of the film - it's pretty lighthearted fun really - but there are relevant aging themes of course that are handled quite well through this slapstick yet dramatic mechanism.

Where the movie really shines unexpectedly and very movingly, is in the intermittent and very expressive scenes between Ingrid Bolsø Berdal as "Nina" and her soulmate. Kåre Conradi as Ben. These scenes have a very "Mamma Mia" vignette-type quality to them, and these are actually little "mini-movies" of their own, as they totally independent scenes, not rich in storyline, but bursting with richness in visual imagery, the counterpoint of youth to aged, and the narrative of how some of the young come to the aid of the elderly on the terms of the elderly. This dynamic in the movie does a great job of contrasting those who would suppress the elderly with those who seem to be aware that they too will one day be elderly, and are paying it forward even as they celebrate their youth. I don't want to say too much about the exact details of this other thread about Nina and Ben except to say that it salvage and empower this movie to reclaim a measure of greatness.

The movie imho is metaphorical and allegorical, and if you watch the whole movie, you find that it achieves all of it's goals. The performances of James Fox did not disappoint he was excellent. Lauren Bacall is so talented and charming and she delivered a solid performance as well.

I like this film because it works for me on many levels. The basic story line is that a sailor named Skip has died and wanted to be buried at sea. This is not the done thing this century so the authorities have organized a proper church yard burial. However his life long friend Wally wants the sea burial to happen and stealing the corpse is the way to make this happen.

Writer director Robert Young and his producers have set out to make a little story told well and they have succeeded. It's a sensible use of film funding money which was able to attract Brian Cox , Lauren Bacall and James Fox.

The script has some good laughs and the support characters look and act well.

If given the opportunity this is the sort of film I would like to make.