BEFORE: Ian McKellen carries over from "All Is True", that's another actor who appears in "Cats", and still I'm refusing to watch it. OK, passing instead of refusing, because maybe I will watch it one day, but mentally, I'm just not there. Plus it's going to throw my count off if I watch it - I got everything lined up with St. Patrick's Day and Easter, and I don't want to mess with that.
Today's Women's History milestones - Anna Atkins, considered to be the first person to publish a book illustrated with photographic images, was born on March 16, 1799. Rosa Bonheur, French painter and sculptor, was born March 16, 1822. Rebecca Cole, the second African-American woman to become a doctor in the U.S., was born March 16, 1846. And First Lady Pat Nixon was born March 16, 1912.
FOLLOW-UP TO: "The Dresser" (1983) (Movie #3,530)
THE PLOT: A drama, based on a successful play, about an aging actor and his personal assistant.
AFTER: There's very little point in reviewing the 2015 version of "The Dresser", because it's so damn similar to the 1983 version, which I watched almost a year ago. Of course, they're both based on the same play, so why fix it if it's not broken? But if you've seen the original with Albert Finney and Tom Courtenay, I'm not sure why you'd bother to watch the remake, except perhaps to watch Ian McKellan and Anthony Hopkins interact, like if you're a big fan of one of them, or both. That's the big selling point here, I suppose.
For me it's a nice tie-in because I just watched "All Is True", which is about Shakespeare, and the Bard gets name-checked here quite a bit, as the famous actor (just called "Sir") is performing the lead in "King Lear", despite suffering from senility, dementia and perhaps irrelevance. He constantly asks how the play begins, which is a bit worrisome since he's supposed to have the whole play memorized. Once this play begins, he can't really stop to refresh his memory, now, can he? But once his assistant reminds him how the play starts, it all starts to come back to him. Mostly.
Norman, the assistant, has to do many other tasks, besides dressing Sir, making sure he puts on the right make-up for the right play (when left unattended, Sir puts on the blackface required for "Othello", and it has to be removed so they can start again, properly). Norman also runs the sound effects and wind machine for the storm scene, and then during the intermission he's got to cover up for Sir's wandering hands when visited by the young ingenue. Of course, this is very timely because of all the sexual harassment charges made in the last few years, but this film is also timely because the NYC mayor just announced TODAY that "Shakespeare in the Park" performances will be returning this summer. Another sign that we're making progress in fighting the pandemic, that some theater plans are being made - can Broadway shows be far behind?
There are plenty of other behind-the-scenes problems to deal with - the actor playing the Fool is miscast, another won't assist with the storm sound effects, and Sir's wife (called Her Ladyship at times, but called "Pussy" by Sir) wants him to retire from the stage ideally right away, but she'll settle for the end of the week.
There's particular unplanned relevance for me, watching such a film this week after spending three days at my parents' house. They're both going to turn 80 this year, and like most people, they've been housebound for the last 12 months. Not that they went too many places before the pandemic, but at least they had the option to do so. It's been tough on them, having to cancel Thanksgiving and Christmas and not physically going to church each Sunday, but watching it on TV instead. My wife and I drove up to visit as soon as we were vaccinated, of course they got their shots in February, eligible in Massachusetts due to their age.
For a while there, they were considering some kind of move to assisted living, but then of course nursing homes suddenly became not such a great place to be. So they hunkered down at home in their own bubble, my cousin also lives with them, so it's a great relief that all his comings and goings didn't bring COVID into their house. We tried to help them out around the house, picking up take-out too - we're comfortable going back to restaurants, but they're not quite there yet. And helping my mother with the newspaper crossword puzzle, it's plain that her mind is slowly starting to go - she kept returning to clues that she'd just read a minute ago, tried to move on when she didn't know the answer, I had to keep pointing out new clues to try, different parts of the puzzle she hadn't finished yet. And my father's had to take over her medication schedule, because she can't keep track of it all. Even worse, she couldn't remember if she'd seen all of the "Hobbit" movies, and those are her favorite recent films - I told her there were three "Hobbit" films, and she claimed there was only one.
So now I'm worried, I had to come back to New York, as I can't stay and watch my parents and help them out 24/7. They've got all their affairs in order, should they need to move into assisted living, it's already covered, but that would be a huge change for them, perhaps too abrupt for my mother to handle. Plus, then what would happen to all the stuff they've acquired over the years? That's probably going to be my problem to deal with, no matter what happens in the future. But I'm at least glad that they're still comfortable together in their own house, for now. I guess I'll worry about the future when it happens.
As for this version of "The Dresser", meh, I'm not that excited about it, nothing really ticked me off either, it was just more of the same. But I did need it for sure, for linking purposes - this gets me straight to where I need to be for an Ireland-based film for tomorrow.
Also starring Anthony Hopkins (last seen in "RockNRolla"), Emily Watson (last seen in "Kingsman: The Golden Circle"), Vanessa Kirby (last seen in "Mission: Impossible - Fallout"), Sarah Lancashire, Edward Fox (last seen in "The Dresser" (1983)), Tom Brooke (last seen in "The Young Victoria"), Matthew Cottle, Ian Conningham, Helen Bradbury, John Ashton, Annalisa Rossi, Carl Sanderson
RATING: 5 out of 10 air raid sirens
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