Monday, May 25, 2009

Watching Last Chance Harvey on the flight

I haven’t seen most of the non-Hindi film releases of the past few months, and haven’t been too clued in about them either, so I had only vaguely heard of the Dustin Hoffman-Emma Thompson starrer Last Chance Harvey. But on the flight to Munich I sank happily into this low-key romantic film about two misfits – an elderly American jingle writer named Harvey and a middle-aged British spinster named Kate – whose paths cross. It’s been a while since I’ve encountered a movie that’s driven mainly by characters and conversation, and this one was mostly a delight.

Its success owes almost entirely to Joel Hopkins’ sensitive screenplay and what the two leads do with it. Emma Thompson was one of my favourite actors back in the days when she was working prolifically in films (the Carrington/Remains of the Day/Dead Again/Much Ado about Nothing phase) and watching her endearing, self-conscious klutziness was like catching up with an old friend. But I was especially impressed by Hoffman, an actor whom I had slotted in the De Niro/Nicholson category of onetime greats who have become victims of their own stature so that it’s impossible now to watch them in a film without thinking primarily of the actor rather than the character. Working with naturalistic dialogue and a strong script that allows him to play a (relatively) normal guy, Hoffman is excellent as Harvey, whose growing despondency in the film’s first half hour is very believably done.

In London for the wedding of his daughter (who is closer now to her step-father than to him), Harvey checks in at the hotel he is supposed to go to, expecting the entire wedding party to be guests there, but then finds that everyone else is staying at a house rented by his ex-wife. At a pre-wedding dinner he is clearly out of his depth in the presence of sharply dressed youngsters who engage in social conversation and business talk; his daughter and son-in-law, though affectionate in a superficial sort of way, don’t make an extra effort to make him feel like part of the family. In these scenes, the writing and Hoffman’s performance creates a powerful dual effect: on the one hand we cringe for Harvey (anyone who's ever known social awkwardness will sympathise with him in these early scenes), but on the other hand it’s possible to see why this man estranges people and makes them uncomfortable, and to realise that he was probably a less-than-ideal husband and father. This brings a certain urgency to his relationship with Kate, whom he meets at an airport bar where he’s brooding about his misfortunes. (The “last chance” of the title refers to an assignment that might salvage Harvey’s teetering career, but his meeting with Kate gives the words a second meaning.)

I thought the film’s first half was outstanding, the second half slightly less so as it started reflexively drawing on the clichés of romantic films: a missed rendezvous (a la Love Affair and An Affair to Remember), second thoughts, a reconciliation. There was also a subplot about Kate’s paranoid mother and her next-door neighbour that was superfluous at best. But these things didn’t much matter given the Hoffman-Thompson chemistry. It’s wonderful to see two performers of this caliber in such good form, and playing off each other so well, especially given that one of them is in his seventies and the other doesn’t do much movie work these days.

(Also watched on the flight: The Reader, which I had heard mixed things about but which I liked a great deal. Maybe planes are the new multiplexes.)

10 comments:

  1. Seems you were more lucky this time, Meg Ryan was not inflicted on you.

    But yes your view on observing actors (as opposed to characters)when played by De Niro/Nicholson/Hoffman has led to much thought since I never really paid much attention to it before and now that you have mentioned it, it does seem to be true...

    Talking about movies in flights, I really wanted to watch Vicky Christina Barcelona which was being shown on an onward flight and yours truly promptly went to sleep thinking I will catch it on the return. Funnily enough get an upgrade on the way back and guess which movie was NOT being shown in Business class!!!

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  3. an actor whom I had slotted in the De Niro/Nicholson category of onetime greats who have become victims of their own stature so that it’s impossible now to watch them in a film without thinking primarily of the actor rather than the character. Interesting you say that in reference to the likes of De Niro and Hoffman who're supposed to be exemplary "method" actors, adept at getting into the skin of the character.

    The more I watch De Niro, I increasingly feel that his success has a lot to do with his star persona as opposed to his mastery of the "method".

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  4. More power to you for (1) getting through an airplane movie, and (2) enjoying it! Airplanes have some sort of grumpy-inducing effect on me that means a number of great movies are inevitably ruined.

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  5. Great post, Jabberwock. But I am curious, did they show The Reader, uncensored, on the flight? If so, wow!

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  6. By the way, have you seen Stranger Than Fiction, which also stars Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson? Wonderful movie, and a wonderful central idea, although that is not the only thing that drives it. Hoffman says that it is one of the three or four films in his career that he is really proud of. And you can see why. And this has so much to do with what you said about Hoffman having progressed as an actor.

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  7. shrikanth: when an actor has played a number of iconic lead roles and has become a familiar name among moviegoers, I think the star persona effect sets in regardless of whether or not he's a Method actor. And in most cases you can't blame the actor for this - it's something that arises from audience perceptions and it's inevitable.

    For me as a viewer, there's often a dual effect in place. I can admire the craft of a famous actor and remain engrossed by the portrayal without ever once "forgetting" who is playing the role. I suppose it works that way for many viewers.

    Also, as I think we've discussed before, I'm not really convinced that a good Method actor is better at getting under the skin of his character than a good non-Method actor is.

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  8. Niranjan: The Reader was censored alright but it didn't much affect the viewing experience. And yes, I recently heard about Stranger than Fiction and look forward to seeing it sometime...

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  9. I was hoping for more dialogue and less panned out walks. I saw this soon after watching The Wrestler and couldn't help comparing the two here.

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  10. I so so so enjoyed Thompson's Brit accent. Somehow that was the highpoint for me in the movie, because I was returning after a month long stay in California and was desperately longing for a closer-home English. And yeah, saw the movie on the flight too!

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