If Ballroom is out of the theaters, you (or more likely, your wife) might like Ladies in Lavender. Maybe. It's very slow-paced, just like the elderly British sisters who are the main characters. The sisters are in the throes of old age, and the longing and loneliness that accompanies it. Then a young man -- an accomplished Polish violinist, it turns out -- is inexplicably washed up on the beach, laying unconscious, and the ladies find him and take him in to nurse him back to health. I liked this movie, but I can't say why since it's chock-full of cliches, from Ursula dropping her tea-cup when she hears upsetting news, to keeping a lock of Andrea's (the violinist's) hair. Maybe the cliches work because the themes are subtle. I don't know. But my daughter liked it, too. It's not as good as Whales of August (same genre), but it does capture that moment just before the outbreak of WWII; the calm before the storm. The audience knows what is about to hit, but the sisters don't.
If you prefer action, adventure, and drama, though, don't bother with this movie. In fact, it's so lacking in drama that it doesn't even explain how or why the violinist came to be washed up on shore, which is the only element of mystery in the movie.
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lindyhopper
I saw that listed at the local theater here, but didn't see it. Spellbound was great. Maybe we will make go see this one too.
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laleo
If Ballroom is out of the theaters, you (or more likely, your wife) might like Ladies in Lavender. Maybe. It's very slow-paced, just like the elderly British sisters who are the main characters. The sisters are in the throes of old age, and the longing and loneliness that accompanies it. Then a young man -- an accomplished Polish violinist, it turns out -- is inexplicably washed up on the beach, laying unconscious, and the ladies find him and take him in to nurse him back to health. I liked this movie, but I can't say why since it's chock-full of cliches, from Ursula dropping her tea-cup when she hears upsetting news, to keeping a lock of Andrea's (the violinist's) hair. Maybe the cliches work because the themes are subtle. I don't know. But my daughter liked it, too. It's not as good as Whales of August (same genre), but it does capture that moment just before the outbreak of WWII; the calm before the storm. The audience knows what is about to hit, but the sisters don't.
If you prefer action, adventure, and drama, though, don't bother with this movie. In fact, it's so lacking in drama that it doesn't even explain how or why the violinist came to be washed up on shore, which is the only element of mystery in the movie.
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