Rendez-vous chez Max's

Let me start out first with a bit of a disclaimer: I am disabled, so I was either going to love this movie or hate it, depending on how real things seemed to me. So my comments have to be seen in that light. Here goes:

This is a very good film, with a good cast, some excellent performances and I love the script. But the thing that impresses me the most about this film is its portrayal of the disabled. They come across as average, normal people-sometimes they're jerks, like most people and sometimes they're nice folks, like most people. There is nothing inherently heroic about being disabled. Conversely, the disabled should not be hermetically sealed off from society for their protection (or yours). All too often, peole make assumptions about people and far too many are made about the disabled. End of sermon.

The other thing I like about this film, although it is admittedly a bit too pat, is the ending of a couple of plot threads. Suffice it to say that Several of the characters get what they deserve, good and bad. I love the poetic justice (or karma, if you prefer) at the end, in the basketball arena. Most recommended.

It's been many years since I've seen this film, but I've never forgotten it. There's little I can offer in terms of praise that hasn't already been posted here by other commentators.

It's a film about adversity, finding friendship, and finding the inner strength to rebuild and embrace life for what it is. It's a film that shows people with physical disabilities in a very normal light, showing them to be neither noble-handicaps nor pitiful cripples, but as normal everyday folks with all the faults and good points of humanity. It's a film about coping with one's own decisions, and overcoming life's challenges.

There's some mild profanity, and references to adult situations, as well as some violence, so be warned ahead of time. It's a film the likes of which I have not seen since, and am hopeful that it'll see a DVD release someday. Until then we'll just have to wait :-(

In the meantime if you get a chance to view it, then do so :-)

I don't remember a lot from this movie, but I do remember that a main character played for the Golden State Warriors, part of it was filmed at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum arena, and that some of the Warriors on the team at that time appeared in the movie. It also looked like it was filmed in the Oakland/Berkeley area (I wonder if the bar in the movie is in that area today It was cool to see a movie that had a real team back then, rather than the Pittsburgh Pipers, NY Knights, North Dallas Bulls, etc. It is also cool that it was not not a popular team like the Bulls, Lakers, Cowboys, Yankees and whatnot. I hope I can catch it on cable some time for I doubt that is available on DVD.

Detailing the plot of this film would lead the unsuspecting to assume they were in for an hour and a half of depression - but quite the opposite. The acting was spot on, the script razor sharp, and the storyline genuinely different and inspiring. I've not seen a copy on video or dvd for years, and for some reason it's never been on terrestrial tv in the UK, and I have to admit I'm baffled as to why. In the genre, it's quite simply one of the best films ever made.

"Inside Moves" was marketed in Japan as "San Francisco Monogatari"

which means "San Francisco Story." ("To Kill a Mockingbird" is known

in Japan as "Alabama Monogatari".) "Inside Moves" is another little

movie that when I saw it in a cheap theater in Japan, I thought,

"Great. I am going to enjoy seeing this many times"; only to find

myself waiting for decades for it to resurface. It's a film which

examines the essence of humanity: heart, mind, and body. It's about

finding yourself through helping others; something that in the Thai

language is called, "Nam Jai" which means "water from the heart."

Sometimes we find it and sometimes we lose it. My favorite line is

John Savage's, "You don't have to come around anymore. We don't need

your kind of cripple" to indicate the sorry lot of those who have lost

the joy of giving and the value of camaraderie. But "Inside Moves"

gives it back again.