New posts

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Willie Oleson" data-source="post: 440455" data-attributes="member: 8">Letter To Brezhnev (1985)I wanted to rewatch Rita Sue And Bob Too  but the upload wasn't there anymore. Via-via, as it goes on youtube, I was manipulated into the direction of this other British classic.From the very beginning I noticed this was a film with a more realistic "street" speech therefore I decided to watch it with subtitles. Unfortunately, the automatically generated subtitles was the only option and it never works when you need it. It only complicates the experience.I stopped watching and figured it would be better to let it pass. But...that gorgeous soundtrack, I couldn't forget it.So, browse browse, click-buy.[ATTACH=full]59111[/ATTACH]And a blessing in disguise, really, because I'm going to keep it.It is very funny, I love the fight between Elaine and her sister Josie and the mother who's having none of it. Elaine's friend is the raunchy and rascally Teresa who works in the Kirkby Spring Chicken factory. Naturally, this is a bit exaggerated for comical effect.The blossoming romance between Elaine and Russian sailor Peter works because of its simplicity: that intense eye contact just never fails.They dance in slow motion surrounded by DJ fog, the bar music replaced with that beautifully ethereal score.I think every good film has a moment that makes you realise "I'm sold" or "this is going to be better than expected".Elaine projects her romantic fantasy onto Peter but when he responds appropriately she instantly dismisses it, and even looks for reasons to argue.This cynical too-good-to-be-true attitude is a staple of the kitchen-sink drama and precisely what made the finale of The Long Distance Runner   so powerful, in a grim sort of way.The whimsical fantasy aspect of their wholesome time together - "look at that star, it reminds me of home, now it reminds me of you" - juxtaposes the raunchy and gritty realism of Elaine's life in Liverpool. Just like Local Hero, Letter To Brezhnev does it confidently and unabashedly, and maybe that's the only way to get away with it.Once Peter and his friend Sergei (an insatiable sex machine, according to Teresa, which is something I had never associated with Alfred Molina although the facial hair looks good on him) are on the ship back to Mother Russia, the story becomes the quest to reunite Elaine and Peter.We never find out what that actually looks like but the point is that someone dares to make a life-changing decision rather than to succumb to the hopelessness that plagued so many young people in the 1980s, especially the working class.A super-slimy reporter informs Elaine that living in Russia is not going to improve anything and I, the viewer, knows that this is possibly true but I still want her to ignore it because the information comes out of his  nasty mouth.Oh yes, she's IN the news. On the radio, and even the classic spinning newspapers with her approaching commie adventure smeared over the front page. It's so Kevin & Lynn Palmer.In this film it's Liverpool that embodies the hopelessness but it could have been anywhere. And Liverpool has some very lovely sights, btw. I noticed a street that looks like a hodgepodge of various traditional European architectures, I had not expected to find it there.It ends with Teresa making some sort of apology for not being convinced enough to make any drastic and positive changes in her life, but I don't think it was meant to make her look weak.I've started watching the interview with Margi "Teresa" Clarke and it's full of interesting details but it's a bit long so I'll finish it later.What a lucky find. Thank you, Rita & Sue (and Bob too) for being unavailable (I feel another purchase coming up).[MEDIA=youtube]wHylQRVN2Qs[/MEDIA]</blockquote>

Verification: What month follows July?