Hello All!
Firstly, a very, very big thank you to Clint for hosting this month’s club Moofie aboard the gorgeous 37ft Cruiser with-no-name from Cabarita Marina. What a spectacular day! What a spectacular, potential love-nest of a boat! I think all of us agree that Clint has bagged his first “Best Location for Club Moofie date” Moscar… (sorry Barbara!) and will potentially be very hard to beat in this category in the future. Thank you also for Clint’s hospitality, providing us with tasty treats after our day out, and to everyone else who also provided nibbles along the way.
Along with beautiful weather, the day was punctuated by visual treats aplenty – up-close viewing of the Baragoola (Sydney’s oldest Manly ferry, no longer in service and moored near Berry Island, remembered fondly by Andy), Cockatoo Island, Darling Harbour, the Harbour Bridge, Sydney Opera House, and a turn around Fort Denison, to name but a few. A quick zoom back towards Cabarita, at which point Clint kindly let a few others take the wheel for a moment or two to experience the rush of handling a boat for the first time (that rocked, Clint, I am hooked!), then stopping of the engine, allowing us to float for a little while in the quiet, all better to hear the soft lapping of the water and to appreciate the sunset.
Once back at the wharf we wrapped up the deck in it’s covers and hunkered down by torchlight for a feast, followed by discussion of our two chosen moofies for September.
It was really interesting to follow the night’s discussion and reaction to the chosen moofies. It does seem that moofies that have ambiguous motives open to interpretation, or moofies that invoke a strong reaction – either positive or negative- provide the best fodder for discussion. What do others feel? Please feel free to comment! This notion came up in the car on the way home, but would be interesting to pursue as a line of conversation at next Club Moofie, and when we select out moofies in future.
Our two moofies were vastly different, yet as pointed out by Beck, did cover unusual forays into love in both.
Our first moofie up for discussion was “State and Main“, directed and written by David Mamet.
A satire on the moofie industry itself, and a rather sweet love story to boot, the moofie did not really provoke much reaction for most of the Club Moofie members. Most agreed that it was a pleasant moofie (clever in it’s concept), but the overall impression was that perhaps most people felt it was a bit unchallenging (would this be an accurate summary? ). I personally really loved this movie, thought the writing and commentary on the industry was great, but then again, I can see how there wasn’t quite enough for the group to really sink their teeth into.
Following are scores for this moofie:
STATE AND MAIN
Beck - 2.5
Wendy - 4
Sylvia - 4
Andy – 2
Paul – 2
Clint – 3.5
Quotes:
On Rebecca Pigeon:
“Umm, like…she was really cute!!!” – Andy
“I thought it was hilarious…but then again, I haven’t been watching much T.V. lately…” – Wendy
Also, for those of you who asked about David Mamet’s other films, here’s a few: “The Winslow Boy”, “Wag the Dog” (this is great!!), “Ronin”, “The Spanish Prisoner”, “The Edge”, “Oleanna”, ”Hoffa”, “Glengarry Glenross”. I do feel I must note that he is has a few films in pre-production at the moment too – one intriguingly titled “Joan of Barc – The Dog that Saved France”…!!!
The other film discussed was Jane Campion’s ” In the Cut”. This film provoked interesting reactions and proved a great film for discussion.
Surrounded by controversy due to Meg Ryan’s departure from her good girl roles, and first foray into nudity and explicit sexual scenes on screen, this rather disturbing and bleak film was interpreted in different ways by the group - as just one example, the main character can be viewed as prey for the many male characters in the film, but at the same time the proliferation of these same male characters can be seen purely as an excess of red herrings. The exploration of sex, loneliness and desire makes the film interesting , yet the violent, thriller story line could also be seen as being at odds with this exploration. Just a few of the points raised in our discussion.
The frank sexuality of the characters was also open to interpretation – the initial sex scene between Frannie and Detective Molloy resonated with some as an honest, un-hollywoodised, portrayal of sex on screen (and actually scores it’s own points), yet some of the scenes between Frannie and her sister rang untrue and forced, with an intentionally ambiguous sensuality.
There’s much more to note about this film, but the consensus did seem to be that it is a deeply flawed film, with glimpses of potential to have been a much better moofie. Once again, feel free to comment!
Scores:
IN THE CUT
Beck - 0, but 4 for the first sex scene between Meg and Mark
Wendy – 2.5
Sylvia - 0
Andy – 1
Paul – 1.5
Clint – 2.5
Quotes:
On the graphic depiction of fellatio at the beginning of the film:
“We were having Vietnamese Spring rolls for dinner whilst watching this film . That’s really not the best meal for that scene…” – Beck
On Meg Ryan’s nudity :
“For all the controversy over the full-frontal shot, I wish it had been better lit. ” – Paulie
On checking that the film for review was “In the Cut”, prior to viewing:
“Is that the one with Jodie Foster?” – Beck
“If I could give this a minus score, I would.” – Sylvia (I have actually given a moofie a minus score before, but i will refrain this time…)
Other films by Jane Campion include: “The Piano”, “Sweetie”, “Holy Smoke”, “The Portrait of A Lady”, “An Angel At My Table”.
Other films viewed and scored by members are as follows:
District 9: 5 out of 5 from Andy
Inglourious Basterds: 5 out of 5 from Andy
Young Victoria: 4 from Andy
Coraline: 4 from Sylvia
Feel free to add more!
See you all at Paulie’s for our next session, with “Kiss of the Spider Woman” and a new release yet to be chosen…
Cheers for now,
SB
