Directed by: Woody Allen
Cast: Cate Blanchett, Sally Hawkins, Alec Baldwin, Peter Sarsgaard, Bobby Cannavale, Andrew Dice Clay, Louis CK
2013
Cert 12A, 1h 38m
Film £6.
Doors and bar open 7:00pm, Film 7:30pm, Supper £6 9:45pm
Latest bookings 12:00 noon Sunday 13th April – pay at the door.
Bookings: filmnight@rockbournevillagehall.org.uk or phone: Lucy Matthews 01725 518695
As Jasmine, Cate Blanchett gives us one of the finest, Oscar winning, performances of the year in this delightful, touching and humane film. After the ‘crash-bang-wallop’ of Captain Phillips, Blue Jasmine is a gentler, more reflective, and very down- to- earth look at human weakness.
Jasmine was a top-of-the-heap New York socialite, but now returns to her estranged, still workingclass, adoptive sister Ginger in San Francesco after being ruined by her Bernie Madoff-like conman husband’s conviction and imprisonment. Ginger, played by the great British actress Sally Hawkins(‘Made in Dagenham’), gives another outstanding performance.
Jasmine is just about hanging on to her wits. Her husband, a great characterization of a sleazy conman by Alec Baldwin, had got her to help him defraud Ginger’s boyfriend, and from there things go downhill. An unusually sympathetic Bobby Cannavale (Boardwalk Empire) intercedes, supporting Ginger and, in an obvious echo of Streetcar Named Desire, expelling Jasmine. All of which might seem heavy or daunting, but it isn’t at all. Woody Allen’s affection and respect for the protagonists makes this my favourite film of the year, and one that I whole heartedly recommend.
John Crome