BREEZY: when Frank was 55 it was a very good year

It's a bit of a mystery why Clint Eastwood chose BREEZY as his third film as director.
He'd made an impressive debut behind the camera two years earlier with 'Play Misty For Me' and followed that with 'High Plains Drifter' in 1973. Then came BREEZY.

Where the first two films are stylish, memorable and clearly the product of a director with talent, BREEZY is bland and anonymous. If it wasn't for some nudity on the part of co-star Kay Lenz, the film could easily pass for yet another in the seemingly endless torrent of made-for-tv movies churned out by US television in the 1970s which offered safe harbour to faded film stars.
In this case it's William Holden, playing Frank Harmon, a middle-aged LA real estate agent living a self-imposed lonely life in a funky (in a 70s kind of way) glass walled house buried at the end of a dead end street in the Hollywood Hills.
When we first meet him he's bidding an awkward goodbye to a one-night stand and fending off her not so subtle hints for a sign of commitment. He's been burned by a costly and bitter divorce and has no interest in getting involved with anyone else.
By this point the film's already introduced us to the title character played by Lenz. BREEZY is a 19 year old free spirit filled with naive notions of love and peace, and newly arrived in Los Angeles with nothing more than the clothes on her back and a guitar slung over her shoulder. BREEZY is also saying (a much less awkward) goodbye to a young man with whom she's spent the night. It's Eastwood's not so subtle way of telling us that despite the age and socio-economic gap between these two characters they're really not so different.
But of course Frank and BREEZY haven't seen the film so things are far from smooth when they first meet after she invites herself into his house. He rightly surmises she's looking for a handout but her childish innocence and expressions of genuine affection for him are soon starting to crack the crusty old codger's heart, and before long they're locked in an embrace.
Eastwood has nothing new to say about the May - December romance story that unfolds, but he covers familiar ground competently enough and there's a certain pleasure to be had watching former matinee idol Holden play the kind of part that would have been a total no-no for a Hollywood leading man less than 20 years earlier. Frank gets totally hung-up on the age difference, and Eastwood emphasizes it with several very unflattering shots which pick out every line and crag on Holden's well-worn face. I wonder if he ever imagined, 23 years earlier while playing the handsome, desirable young buck lusted after by a grotesque and aging former film star in 'Sunset Boulevard' that one day his career would bring him full circle and he'd be playing the Norma Desmond role.
The counter-culture aspect of the story is now terribly dated and I'm not convinced Eastwood's depiction of hippies was particularly accurate even in 1973. BREEZY herself is little more than a collection of flower child cliches that are more grating than endearing, and it's interesting to speculate on just how long she and Frank would last as a couple before the novelty of her youth and sweetness wore off leaving just an annoying, needy woman-child behind.
Despite the flaws I can't bring myself to dislike this film. With a lesser star than Holden this could have been a rather tedious trudge through tiresomely familiar territory, but his world weary charm and talent won me over and kept me watching. And heck, he even had me hoping for the predictable happy ending!

BEGINNERS: love, life and the whole damn thing beautifully explored

This offbeat 2010 drama-comedy-romance is something of a hidden gem. Not quite an Elizabeth Taylor sized diamond but not a worthless chunk of diamonique either.
BEGINNERS delivered more than I was expecting and with more wit and style than I'd anticipated. The end result is it's stuck with me for the last couple of days, long after I'm struggling to remember the title of some other films I've seen recently.

Ewan McGregor stars as Oliver, a thirtysomething illustrator whose world is rocked by the news that his 75 year old recently widowed father Hal (played by Christopher Plummer) is gay and has a much younger boyfriend. The revelation brings the formerly rather distant father and son closer together as Hal reveals the truth behind the facade of his 44 year marriage to Oliver's mother, and the joy he's experiencing at finally being able to be himself.
Simultaneously the film explores Oliver's unexpected and burgeoning relationship with Anna (Melanie Laurent), a vivacious young French woman he meets at a fancy dress party. Oliver's always had commitment issues so this is something new for him - a woman he wants to stay with and share his life with.
While the two relationships are developing side by side on screen they're actually occupying different spaces in time. Oliver first meets Anna a couple of months after his father's death from cancer and although director Mike Mills makes no effort to confuse the issue it's easy to sink into the feeling that everything's happening at the same time. What is clear is that Oliver's increasingly close relationship with his father and the support he gives him during his final illness is helping him to develop a consciousness about himself and why he's the way he is, although it's not so easy to apply the lessons to his relationship with Anna.
I've never been a big fan of McGregor but he is note perfect here and more than complements Plummer's beautiful, Oscar nomination worthy performance as an old man discovering himself and facing up to death. The two interact with an ease that suggests a lifetime of familiarity with one another and a deep rooted affection which, although unspoken for too long, has always been there.
A strong sense of warm understated tenderness and affection permeates the entire film and everyone in it. From Hal to Oliver and Anna to Hal's adorable, scene-stealing dog Arthur (he'll make you want to go straight out and adopt a Jack Russell) these are characters and situations we want to care about and Mills achieves this without resorting to cheap sentimentality or stock scenarios. 
There's not too many films where I've longed to know what happens to the characters after we take our leave of them, but BEGINNERS definitely belongs in that select group.

A MARRIED COUPLE: it's reality but not quite as we know it

If you look up A MARRIED COUPLE on imdb you'll find it described as a documentary. Technically this is correct because the film is a non-fiction study of a real life couple and their collapsing marriage.

But if it were to be released today it would categorised as big screen reality tv because it portrays a heightened version of reality that's not quite real. I'm not too keen on that descriptor though because it suggests A MARRIED COUPLE is something akin to 'Jersey Shore' or 'The Real Housewives of where-ever' which it most definitely is not.
I prefer 'actuality drama' which is the name given to the genre in which director Allan King worked for much of his career. This 1969 film follows Toronto couple Billy and Antoinette Edwards over an unspecified period of time as their marriage comes apart under the pressure of their differences. Almost from the outset it's clear that this is not going to be a standard documentary. King uses camera set-ups which obviously required pre-planning and the co-operation of the subjects to walk into shot at just the right moment, belying the sense of spontaneity and the camera as a fly on the wall, both of which are essential components of the documentary genre. Billy and Antoinette are offered up as a real husband and wife yet it's difficult to shake the feeling that they are - at the very least - playing up to the camera, if not acting. And if they're acting they're acting badly.
Their style of speaking to each other sounds almost declamatory and less than entirely natural. It's as if the director's given them a scenario but no script and instructed them to improvise when he calls action. It's much the same process that John Cassavetes used in making his most personal films ('Husbands', 'Shadows' 'Faces et al) but he had the advantage of working with professional actors. Billy and Antoinette succeed in appearing awkward while having a genuine argument, but after a while they warm up to the task and are able to minimise the distraction caused by having a film crew record some of their most intimate moments. Sadly, these don't involve a great deal of affection, they're mostly arguments over anything and everything from the trivial to the profound. This is a couple in crisis and neither of them knows how to resolve it or end it. Neither of them are completely blameless but Billy comes across particularly badly. He's controlling, opinionated, self-centred and quick to belittle his wife. It's difficult to understand how Antoinette was ever able to put him on the pedestal from which he has now toppled. She's frustrated, apparently unfaithful, and unsure what her options are. Other than a shared belief that any other relationship they could leave this one for is likely to end up the same, the only thing holding them together is their young son, the unfortunately named Bogart.
There's plenty here for any husband and wife to reflect on and learn from, most disturbingly the ease with which married life can become a deep rut whose sides are almost too high to climb out of. Billy and Antoinette are to be admired for their willingness to expose their private issues to the camera's scrutiny and allow themselves to be judged by an audience of strangers. By the end I was desperate to find out what happened next, and also to seek out more of Allan King's unique brand of actuality drama.