Film Reviews by Swambi

This is a unique film. The Director brilliantly combines a range of genres and a series of stories. Genres include road, romance, mystery and family, whilst the stories include a missing brother, restoring a father and finding a missing mother. The range of scenery, cinematography, story and acting are all of the highest standard. Sound is sensitively handled, and the music is mainly a bluesy steel guitar accompaniment, which is highly appropriate.

The mystery of why a man disappeared into the desert for 4 years is slowly uncovered as the film progresses, and some of the flashbacks and scenes between Travis and his son and wife are particularly moving. Without revealing the ending, although a lot of good things happen, it isn't all happy or simple.

Films of this type rely on good direction, good character development and dialogue and excellent acting. Unfortunately Golden Pond fails on all these counts, despite the 'big name' cast. There was very little development of the minimal story, and the filming was restricted to a cottage and lake. The actors struggled to cope with the stereotyped and contradictory characters they had to play, resulting in 'wooden' acting that failed to engage or convince. The director used several incidents (accident, heart-attack, family conflict/restoration) to try to engage the viewer. I am usually very susceptible to any sort of emotion, but these were mostly so unconvincing that they were almost amusing.

Occasional beatiful shots of the lake, and reasonable acting by young Billy were not enough to make this worth watching. Norman Thayer's central character proved annoyingly unbelievable. At 80, he inconsistently oscillated between being totally confused and 'past it' and engaging in devastatingly erudite and witty repartee. Either extreme might be believable, but the combination was not. I much preferred other films of a similar genre - for example, Homecoming or Paradise.

The story line is very simple, just as shown in the film description. Oliver demonstrates a particular talent for alienating and upsetting others. The acting and filming are only average, and the conversation quite "American", and sometimes rather corny, if you think about it. Does love really mean 'never having to say sorry'? Despite sentimental and emotional scenes, I was not sufficiently moved to shed a single tear (although I am quite soppy)!

If you do watch it, there are some interesting aspects, particularly the few scenes of the couple's interaction with their parents. Jenny's Dad Phil is a Catholic, and there is an interesting inter-play with the couple who say they don't believe in God, and heaven is what we experience here. This makes Jenny's death more depressing, having no future hope. It is also interesting to see the enormous changes since 1970 including social expectations, marriage and family relationships.

All aspects of this unique film are good - acting, scenery, cinematography and music. I am surprised it is not more widely known. However, the tigers steal the show, with the most amazing wild-life filming I have seen. The tiger scenes, particularly of the cubs in the wild are absolutely fascinating, and there is additional material on this which is also well worth watching on the bonus features on the DVD.

The film covers a range of genres, including wildlife, historical, international, comedy and adventure, and is not just a children's film. The story follows the lives of two tigers in the Far East (filmed on location in Cambodia and Thailand) in colonial times, with a wide range of very realistic scenes. Some of the scenes are sad, and the film poses serious questions on how we treat wildlife.

One of the tigers spends time as a pet for the son of a senior colonial official, with hilarious repercussions for family life. The human characters are well depicted with a blend of French humour similar in some ways to that in Amelie, which (unusually) had both me and my wife laughing out loud - particularly in some of the later tiger scenes. This story held our attention right through to the end.