That's what they charge for what I assume are remaindered titles at my local garage, with the selection updated every few weeks, and there are some real gems among the dross. (I won't mention the really crappy titles that have tempted me at this price, which are watched and then discarded). Generally, however, these purchases join the backlog and only surface periodically, but last night's double-bill was a doozy:
The Sleeping Dictionary (2002): I must confess that I had never heard of this movie which, I think, went straight to video/disc, but the cast and premise sounded promising -- and they were. Set in the 1930s, a young Englishman, Hugh Dancy, is sent to Borneo to do his colonial duty at the station run by Bob Hoskins. Part of his job is to learn the local language, and what better method than to take a concubine who will teach him in the bedroom -- such women are referred to as the sleeping dictionaries of the title. He is offered a very luscious Jessica Alba in an early film lead, and his British scruples to remain a virgin until he's married fall to one side as he falls for her. When he wants to marry her, he discovers that pukka blokes don't do such things and they are forcibly separated. When he returns after a year married to Hoskins' daughter, Emily Mortimer, he finds that Alba, 'though married to one of her tribe, has bourne his child and the bond between them is still deep. Minor villain Brenda Blethyn, playing Hoskins' wife, and the wonderful Australian actor Noah Taylor playing a real sadist do their utmost to destroy the love affair and the story built to what I thought would be a miserable ending. But I was wrong; that's good!
Tune in Tomorrow (1990): I had actually seen this one previously, but only remembered it as an overly quirky oddity. So I was unprepared for how amusing I found it the second time around. A very very young and gormless Keanu Reeves falls for his visiting "aunt" (his father's brother's wife's sister) played by a mature Barbara Hershey, who has returned to their New Orleans hometown to hook a rich, old geezer. Set in the 1950s, Reeves works at a local radio station which boasts a popular evening soap opera which has just hired a well-known writer to jazz up their ratings. As played by a very wild and woolly Peter Falk, the writer not only sprinkles the soap with more and more outrageous developments (played out by an over-the-top cameo cast which includes Peter Gallagher, Dan Hedaya, John Larroquette, and Elizabeth McGovern), but also has a fierce line of vitriol against anything and everything to do with Albanians (some 15 years before Borat's diatribes). Falk also sticks his two cents' worth into the Reeves/Hershey romance and manages to complicate everyones' lives. He is responsible for most of the laughs, which are many, as he dresses in outlandish costumes to get the feel of his characters and generally leads the cast into merry mayhem.
All in all a fine evening's entertainment for a fiver, and I won't be throwing away either of these discs.
1 comment:
Doozyeatsoats like mares do. Is not a doozy somethintg to be avoided or is this
another example of different meanings in different countries (or even heads).
Jessica Alba almost got it right as the native beauty and our hero falling for her
was more than understandable. Most of the others were stereotypical and not too well done but it is a very enjoyable little film.
Tune in Tomorrow - Heaven protect us from southern accdents, especially from
people born in the Lebanon (or am I maligning that nation). That apart, again an
enjoyable little film which will bear repeating some time late in the current decade
probably (or whatever)(For the benefit of other readers, the preceding three words are a private joke).
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