Tag: Downton Abbey

Movie Time in Manhattan

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When in New York, we often take advantage of the wide range of films being shown. This visit is no exception as we’ve managed to get to three movies this week, at least one of which won’t be shown at home.

The Farewell

Set in New York and Beijing, The Farewell is a touching story about an extended Chinese family’s long goodbye to their matriarch.  Granddaughter Billi is extremely close to her grandmother, Nai Nai, and somewhat removed from her parents, particularly her mother.  Struggling to jumpstart her career and seeming to have few friends, Billi is devastated when she learns of Nai Nai’s cancer diagnosis and upset that no one wants to tell her that.  Billi surprises the family in Beijing where they have gone ostensibly just to celebrate a cousin’s wedding.  

I enjoyed this movie both for its portrayal of Chinese culture, particularly the meals, and for the loving and supportive relationship between Billi and her grandmother. Poignant with flashes of humor. (~JWFarrington)

Mr. Klein

Released in 1976, Mr. Klein by Joseph Losey, was playing at the Film Forum.  It is compelling and powerful, ending with a punch to the gut.  Art collector and bon vivant, Robert Klein lives the high life in German-occupied France. The year is 1942 and he goes about his comfortable life mostly oblivious to the hardship around him.  He haggles over the price he’s willing to pay for a painting offered by a Jew in desperate straits.  But, when someone assumes he’s also Jewish and he learns that there is another Robert Klein, he goes to great lengths to try to correct that false assumption and to ferret out the other Klein.  

Mr. Klein (forward.com)

What grabs the viewer is that the French authorities are actively collaborating with the Nazis and rounding up their own people and transporting them. When freedom is slowly chiseled away, one risks not paying enough attention until it’s too late.  Relevant given today’s fraught political climate.   (~JWFarrington)

Downton Abbey

This much anticipated film opened yesterday and we were there in the morning for the first showing!  If you’ve been in Downton/Crawley family withdrawal these past four years, then prepare to be entertained. The entire cast of favorites is present. Everyone from Lady Edith and Lady Mary and their parents and spouses; Tom Branson, looking more handsome than ever; the always outspoken Daisy; stalwart Mrs. Patmore, dedicated Mr. and Mrs. Bates; and elder statesman Mr. Carson, just waiting to be asked to participate.  Couple that with the quips and barbs traded by the Dowager Countess (Maggie Smith) and Isobel Crawley (Penelope Wilton), add in the excitable Mr. Molesley, and be a part of planning for a visit from the king and queen, and you have lots of good fun. 

Downton cast members (thelist.com)

 The house is featured more than in the TV series and there are expansive scenes of the grounds and all the preparations for the royal visit.  Is it a great film?  No, but if you’re a fan, then it’s a wonderful way to spend an afternoon!  And there are enough loose ends to make a sequel. (~JWFarrington)

Note: Text ©JWFarrington.

Tidy Tidbits: Mothers & Meals

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NOVEL PAIRING

The Expatriates by Janice Y. K. Lee

I really enjoyed Lee’s first novel, The Piano Teacher, and so approached her new one with enthusiasm.  It too is wonderful, but in a different way.  Set in the present rather than the past, it details the daily lives over the course of a year of three expatriate women living in Hong Kong.  Like Anne Beattie, whose own stories delineate the fine structure of daily life, Lee knows this turf and her novel is rich with references to specific shops, clubs, and neighborhoods.  Two of these women are acquainted at the start (Mercy had worked for Margaret), but by the end all three, Mercy, Margaret, and Hilary, have intersected.

It is a novel mostly about motherhood—the angst of wanting a child, the tentativeness of trying out a child on loan, and the pain of losing a child coupled with, in Margaret’s case, the joys of cuddling and cosseting one’s existing children.  But it’s also a depiction of being an outsider in a culture, even if, like Mercy, you are half Asian.  I felt that Lee kept the reader at a distance from her characters; you knew their lives and habits, but you didn’t inhabit them.

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

Like Lee, Celeste Ng is a mother as well as a writer.  This first novel, winner of several awards, is a poignant story about a mixed race family in Ohio in the late 1970’s.  Husband James is Chinese American and wife Marilyn, a Caucasian from Virginia.  James and their three children stick out in small town Middlewood and each must deal with being singled out and looking different.  Sixteen year old Lydia bears the heavy weight of unrealistic parental expectations and when she goes missing, the family implodes.  It’s a book that makes one reflect on the sometimes unspoken demands we place on our children to their detriment.  Sobering and yet believable.  Marilyn is something of a Tiger mother.

SARASOTA SAMPLER

Expanding our local dining forays, but, we hope, not our waistlines, we tried two new restaurants this past week.

Yume in downtown Sarasota is a perfect choice for a Japanese lunch.  Among the four of us, we enjoyed several lunch specials:   chicken teriyaki and the eel, accompanied by rice and stir fried vegetables plus a small green salad or miso soup, and the spicy tuna roll with a side of seaweed salad.  Prices are very reasonable and the restaurant was not crowded.  Their longer menu also includes some Thai dishes.

Mozaic.  This is one of Sarasota’s fine dining restaurants (read a bit more expensive) and we ate here before the opera.  The menu is more creative than some other places, and we were pleased with what we ordered.  I thought the sautéed shrimp over lemon risotto was very tasty, and my spouse loved the crab cake salad and his side of lamb merguez sausage.

SMALL SCREEN SCRIBBLES

Mercy Street.  So far, I’d give this series a B, maybe a B+, but not an A.  It’s PBS’s first attempt at this kind of historical series and they just haven’t done it like the Brits do.  I’ve now watched the first three episodes.

Downton Abbey.  I’m mourning the end of Downton Abbey and the finale is still 24 hours away! I thought last week’s episode was one of the best and was particularly struck by the scene between Mary and her grandmother.  The dowager duchess opines about love and its importance in one’s life and then gives her granddaughter a hug.  Hugs are seldom seen between these folks, and I found this one touching and somehow very right.