fkkemble

I last saw Micheal Caine in 'Flawless' and both he and the movie were brilliant. I don't know what possessed him to star in 'Last Love' and even worse, he speaks with a ghastly American accent; its the opposite equivalent of Dick Van Dyke's terrible cockney accent in Mary Poppins. Not only that but he had to cope with this awful unintelligent and unconvincing dialogue,it's the worst movie I have ever seen him in-poor devil! Gillian Anderson has a powerful screen presence and I loved her as Miss Havisham but she too was fighting a losing battle with a wooden script. In fact the screenplay and dialogue were just plain sentimental and tawdry throughout; all of the main actors obviously struggled. Clemence Poesy is obviously a gutsy and characterful actor and I hope to see her star in other and better made movies. I was so hoping that this would be a fun independent movie and I love to encourage this but sadly, Last Love, just doesn't make the grade and will soon, I am sure, be relegated as another forgotten attempt even with the inclusion of some, at times, quite arresting shots of Paris. Too bad! . .

I love the writings of Charles Dickens and this is one of my favourite stories. I expected a riveting performance but was just plain disappointed. There were lots of great talent, Helena Bonham Carter, David Wallliams, Scottish fellow and Ralph Fiennes among others; some lovely photography but for some reason this just didn't work. I had also watched the version that included David Suchet, Ray Winstone and Gillian Anderson, an unlikely cast and yet it really worked and I was in raptures. Maybe it was because this version was a condensed cinematic version and some of the original story had to be discarded but I had the sense that an intimidating cast list and terrific photography would carry the day but it really didn't. I like all of the actors in this but I really felt that they were utterly miscast. You know, Robbie Coltrane would have been a far better Bumblechook. Helena Bonham Carter just should not have been employed. Too bad- I so wanted this to be good.

What a wonderfully self indulgent director Lindsay Anderson was. This movie was the result of a concept spring boarding from the bowels of the subconscious straight onto the silver screen with precious little intervention from the conscious mind. I also think that he had a wonderfully warped and colourful sense of humour. I loved Artur Lowe and his three wonderful roles, Malcolm Macdowell's characters always seem so much more real and substantial than he is, a true actor I guess. I quite lost my heart to Helen Mirren who is a goddess. I also loved seeing Britain in the early seventies, a country that, at the time, was still uniquely quaint, contrary and individual. Even though I don't live there I found myself hungering to be there at that time. I loved this movie even though it was gorgeously weird.