Ramblin' with Roger

Movie review: Eleanor the Great

June Squibb stars in ScarJo’s directorial premiere

My wife and I saw the movie Eleanor the Great at a recent Saturday matinee at the Spectrum Theatre in Albany. We were not disappointed. The IMDb noted, “After a devastating loss, witty and proudly troublesome Eleanor Morgenstein, 94, tells a tale that takes on its own dangerous life.”

Eleanor (June Squibb) lived with her long-time friend Bessie (Rita Zohar), a pair of widows, for over a decade. Bessie was a Holocaust survivor who shared harrowing details with her friend.

After Bessie’s death, Eleanor moved to Manhattan to live with her daughter Lisa (Jessica Hecht) and her grandson Max (Will Price). Eleanor and Lisa have a tricky relationship.

To fill her mom’s day, Lisa recommended that Eleanor go to an event at the Jewish Community Center. It turns out that it’s a Holocaust survivor’s group, and Eleanor is not a survivor. But she knows another’s story quite well. The group is entranced, especially college student Lisa (Erin Kellyman), who wants to write about Eleanor for her class.

Lisa, too, has experienced loss and is having a tough time connecting with her father, local newsman Roger Davis (Chiwetel Ejiofor).

Critics

Eleanor the Great is Scarlett Johansson’s directorial debut. We liked the film a lot. An interesting device was having a flashback serve as the last scene.

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film received 67% positive reviews from critics and 93% from the audience. I believe the majority of the negative comments the film either addressed or wasn’t saying.

“Dull portrait of friendship”? Meh.

“This comedy/drama is problematic because it tries to make dishonesty and rudeness from an old person look cute.” The dishonesty wasn’t cute; she fell into it, much to our discomfort. And Eleanor WAS a bit rude. I hope I’m that rude at 94.

Tara McNamera noted: “Plenty will see this film about sidestepping the truth as standard fare—cute enough, maybe even a little thought-provoking—but they’ll be missing the bigger picture. In fact, Scarlett Johansson‘s feature directing debut is remarkable. The story of Eleanor the Great is powerful… It’s a very personal story, with shocking details about Nazi cruelty and the lasting trauma inflicted on the survivors of their hatred.”

I liked June Squibb in Nebraska and Thelma, and I loved her in Eleanor the Great.

The Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address

NOW OUR MINDS ARE ONE

As noted, this spring, I attended a book review of Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, delivered by Elaine Garrett. What I didn’t mention, because I wanted to save it for today, is the Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address.

“Kimmerer… was repeatedly told by Haudenosaunee (pronounced: who-DIN-oh-show-nee; also known as the Iroquois) people that the words of the Thanksgiving Address are their gift to the world, and are meant to be shared. This address is also known as The Words That Come Before All Else, as it is traditionally spoken to greet the day, start a meeting, or before starting negotiations with other nations.

“The Onondaga (“Hill Place”) people are one of the original five constituent nations of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy in northeast North America. When Kimmerer asked the Onondaga Faithkeeper Oren Lyons about sharing the Thanksgiving Address in her book, he said, ‘Of course you should write about it. It’s supposed to be shared; otherwise, how can it work? We’ve been waiting for five hundred years for people to listen. If they’d understood the Thanksgiving, then we wouldn’t be in this mess.’

“So as we read it together, feel the gratitude in your heart for all of the life around us that gives us so much and allows us to live.”

Mindfulness

From Akwesasne Travel: “This beautiful greeting finds its origins in a traditional Mohawk and Haudenosaunee religious ceremony and has been adopted in settings outside of the longhouse, like business meetings and social gatherings. Some might say it serves as a general mindfulness practice for living in harmony with nature. The spirit of the Thanksgiving Address can be felt throughout Akwesasne in how people live their lives, interact with each other, and conduct business.”

From Mountain Heritage: “In Haudenosaunee tradition, being grateful & giving thanks is a regular practice in both everyday life & at special occasions. The Thanksgiving Address, or “The Words that Come Before All Else,” is delivered in Native Haudenosaunee languages at both the beginning & the end of social gatherings, celebrations, and council meetings; and it is recited each morning at the beginning of the school day. The Thanksgiving Address is not a prayer, but rather an offering of greetings & thanks to the natural world. Each part of Creation is acknowledged & thanked for the ways in which it contributes to life on Earth.”

It begins:

“Today, we have gathered, and we see that the cycles of life continue. We have been given the duty and responsibility to live in balance and harmony with each other and all living things. So now, we bring our minds together as one as we give our greetings and our thanks to one another as people.

“NOW OUR MINDS ARE ONE”

Fingers crossed

“Words from The Skä•noñh – Great Law of Peace Center, a Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Heritage Center focused on the story of the native peoples of central New York, told through the lens of the Onondaga Nation. You can find a complete version of this inspiring & poetic address on the National Museum of the American Indian website. Each element of the natural world is spoken to & thanked for their contributions to all life. A wonderful read or spoken piece!”

(Note: I’m now nervous about links to the Smithsonian institutions and US governmental sites generally, because of a war on ‘wokeness.’ Thus, there are multiple links throughout the post.)

Sunday Stealing Tunes In

Dick Van Dyke

Welcome to Sunday Stealing. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. Cheers to all of us thieves!

This week we’re stealing from Christina at Call Me Patsy. Back in 2008, she said this was the TV meme “that everyone has been doing.” Well, we don’t like to be left out.

Sunday Stealing Tunes In

1. Name a TV show you’ve seen every episode of.

For sure, The Dick Van Dyke Show; I watched the five seasons on DVD with my daughter. Probably I Love Lucy; ditto. The Twilight Zone, which I have on DVD. MASH.

2. On which device do you do most of your viewing (television, tablet, computer, phone)?

I have never been on the phone. A CBS Mornings anchor said they were watching MOVIES on the phone, and I shuddered. I have no tablet. The only time I’ve used the computer is when my wife wanted to watch TV. So television by a vast margin.

3. Name an actor/actress who would make you less likely to watch a show.

Can’t think of one.

I watched a LOT of TV.

4. When you were a kid, what show did you love?

There was a wide range of programs: Wonderful World of Disney, Andy Griffith Show, JEOPARDY, Password, The Defenders, Perry Mason, Ed Sullivan, Top Cat, The Smothers Brothers, The Wild Wild West, the aforementioned Twilight Zone, and the Dick Van Dyke Show.

5. What show do you recommend everyone watch?

I don’t. But I’ve long been fond of CBS Sunday Morning, a magazine of the air, since it premiered in 1979. Since I learned to use the VHS recorder, I generally record it to watch later.

6. What shows do your friends like, but you don’t?

I don’t really talk to my friends about their TV viewing habits. That said, it would probably be something in the horror genre.

7. When you watch TV, do you also busy yourself with something else (jigsaw puzzle, folding laundry, etc.)?

Not usually.

8. Do you eat a meal or snack while watching TV?

Maybe popcorn.

I love the word “genre”

9. What’s your preferred genre (comedy, drama, reality, etc.)?

Probably drama.

10. Do you prefer mini series (shows that tell their stories in a pre-determined number of episodes) or shows that come back season after season?

There are SO many shows that I have seen zero or one episode of that are on streaming services: Severance, Man On The Inside, The Morning Show, The Pitt, The Studio, English Teacher, Shrinking, Dying for Sex, Your Friends and Neighbors, and Hacks. I might like most of them, but I have no idea whether they’re ongoing or limited series.

Ten years ago, I read that there are more television episodes, excluding news, sports, and reruns, every day than hours in the day.

Hot 100 #1s for 1995

TLC

Here are the Billboard pop Hot 100 #1s for 1995, A nice short list. And the Hot Adult Contemporary is both so short and has so much in common that I will note them here.

One Sweet Day – Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men (Columbia), 16 weeks at #1 pop, 13 weeks at #1 AC, double platinum record. This song was a response on the first episode of JEOPARDY I was on in 1998. SONGS BY THE NUMBERS: This 1995-96 hit by Mariah Carey & Boyz II Men holds the record for the most weeks at No. 1 with 16. (A record that has since been superseded.) I couldn’t think of the song’s name, though I knew it was One [something] Day.

In the next year or two, a very similar question showed up on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire at a very high level, I think $250,000. By that point, of course, I knew!

Fantasy – Mariah Carey (Columbia), eight weeks at #1 pop, double platinum record. I recognize the swipe more than the song.

Waterfalls – TLC (LaFace), seven weeks at #1 pop, platinum record. I also know this from the parody Weird Al Yankovic did, Phony Calls, featuring Bart Simpson.

Take A Bow – Madonna (Maverick /Sire), seven weeks at #1 pop, nine weeks at #1 AC, gold record

This Is How We Do It – Montell Jordan (PMP /RAL), seven weeks at #1 pop, platinum record

Some songs in movies

Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman – Bryan Adams (A&M) five weeks at #1 pop and AC. It was used for the film Don Juan DeMarco, starring Marlon Brando, Johnny Depp, and Faye Dunaway, which I never saw.

Creep – TLC (LaFace), four weeks at #1 pop, platinum record

Gangsta’s Paradise – Coolio featuring LV (MCA Sound), three weeks at #1 pop, triple platinum record. This song was initially rooted in Pastime Paradise by Stevie Wonder from his legendary album, Songs In The Key of Life. Coolio and Weird Al had a bit of a row about Weird Al’s use on Amish Paradise, though it was settled by 2011. The song is taken from Michele Pfeiffer’s movie Dangerous Minds.

One week at #1 pop

Kiss From A Rose – Seal (ZTT/Sire), 12 weeks at #1 AC, gold record, . It was from his second eponymous album (1994), released as a single in July 1994 and included in the film The NeverEnding Story III that year. “The song was re-released a year later as part of the Batman Forever film soundtrack, helping it top the charts in the United States.” I own the latter album, as well as his second album.

Exhale (Shoop Shoop) – Whitney Houston (Arista), platinum record. It was released as the lead single from the Waiting to Exhale soundtrack. The film starred Houston and Angela Bassett.

You Are Not Alone – Michael Jackson (Epic), platinum record

Hot Adult Contemporary #1 for 1995

These are the songs that were NOT #1 pop.

I’ll Be There For You (Theme from Friends) -the Rembrandts, seven weeks at #1 AC, #17 pop. I remember going on a picnic with my future wife. This song played on the radio when we got to the location, and again when we left about four hours later.

As I Lay Me Down – Sophie B. Hawkins, six weeks at #1 AC, #6 pop

In The House Of Stone and Light – Martin Page, four weeks at #1 AC, #14 pop

Love Will Keep Us Alive – Eagles, three weeks at #1 AC, #22 pop

Believe – Elton John, two weeks at #1 AC, #13 pop

Movie review? HamilTEN

cf West Side Story

As our celebration of HamilTEN, the tenth anniversary of the musical Hamilton, my wife and I went to the Spectrum Theater in Albany in late September to see the movie. Well, more correctly, we saw the stage version of Hamilton, which was filmed in 2016, and the original cast was featured before they dispersed.

It was made available on Disney+ in 2020, but I had no streaming service. Moreover, I’m not all that fond of seeing movies on the small screen anyway. So when it came to the cinema in honor of the 10th anniversary of Hamilton (HamilTEN), it was a required visit.

As I’m sure I’ve described, we first learned about Hamilton when our daughter was really hot on this musical. We bought and played the CD in our car whenever we traveled with our daughter. There were rules, including that my wife could not turn off the vehicle until the playing song ended. So, and I’m not exaggerating, we’ve probably listened to Hamilton north of 200 times in three years. Although not 100% historically accurate, our daughter learned who ran in the elections of 1796 and 1800.

A guy named Howard Ho is a scholar of the musical who explains over several videos why the listening and relistening of Hamilton isn’t as repetitive as it might be. Part of it concerns the fact that so many words are packed into a single line. One video suggests the first measure encapsulates the entire musical motif.

In 2019, we saw both the touring company and a parody of Spamilton. We’ve watched the Weird Al Hamilton Polka.

Finally

Still, finally seeing the movie and seeing the staging was magical. Angelica (Renée Elise Goldsberry) performed Satisfied, which was electric. King George (Jonathan Goff) never blinks in his three songs, and after his final song, he remains rollicking on the stage. Thomas Jefferson’s moves (Daveed Diggs) are extraordinary. It is remarkably moving when Eliza (Phillipa Soo) sings Burn. This is fascinating, given our history with the work.

I probably know Hamilton better than any other musical, except possibly West Side Story, which I saw more than 60 years ago, plus subsequent movie and stage presentations.

I can’t review Hamilton. We got more emotional about it than we would have thought. Oh, we were the only people in the theater – it WAS the third week – but it would have been interesting to register audience reaction.

Vaguely related: Did an Enslaved Chocolatier Help Hercules Mulligan Foil a Plot to Assassinate George Washington?