WCBE 90.5 FM: "The Lives of Others," "Miss Potter," "Zodiac"

WCBE 90.5 FM:
It's Movie Time: "The Lives of Others," "Miss Potter," "Zodiac"
Co-hosts, writers & producers: John DeSando & Clay Lowe
Air Time: Friday, 3:01 pm and 8:01 pm, March 9, 2007
Streaming live on the web and on-demand at http://www.wcbe.org

Clay

"The Lives of Others" might have been better called "The Listener" . . .

John

"Miss Potter" is a celebration of Beatrix’s gifts . . .

Clay

"Zodiac" is CSI on steroids . . .

HIT MUSIC (STAR WARS THEME), THEN UP THEN UNDER FOR:

Richelle

"It's Movie Time" in Columbus with John DeSando and Clay Lowe . . .

MUSIC UP THEN SLOWLY DOWN AND OUT

John

I'm John DeSando . . .

Clay

And I'm Clay Lowe . . .

John ("The Lives of Others")

Clay, when I saw 2006’s Oscar winning The Departed, I was satisfied it could be the best picture of the year; then I saw Lives of Others, the best foreign film, and I knew it was the world’s best film of the year.

Clay

You've got it. The Departed is great craft, The Lives of Others is great drama . . .

John

It has interesting characters, thrilling plot, superb acting, and thematic weight. It’s East Berlin, 1984, still feeling the tremors of Nazism, in this case the Stasi, a government agency similar to the SS. A coldly efficient information gatherer surreptitiously watches a playwright and his actress girlfriend to get compromising details that would damn him and open the romantic way for the culture minister.

Clay

Bad for him.

John

Few other films could mine as well the rich conflict between the loyalties of friends and lovers and the crushing exigency of survival.

Here’s looking at you, best film of the year

Clay ("The Lives of Others")

Folks, "The Lives of Others" is also about conflicts INTERNAL.

Sure the movie's playwright refuses to write things that might upset the
East German government. But he also discovers his own guilt when his colleague is blacklisted for being more courageous and less cautious than he is.

And sure, the playwright's girlfriend loves him, but she must decide whether or not to betray him in order to save herself.

Finally, the listener, who has them under surveillance, must decide if he should turn state's evidence against them. For, it would seem, his eavesdropping has, ironically, caused him to respect them.

Beautifully acted, written, and directed, "The Lives of Others" is not only a deeply moving film, it is also far more relevant than it should be.

John ("Miss Potter")

Here's a lady who will always be relevant for kids.

As I said a while ago, in Miss Potter, Beatrix (Renee Zellweger) says, "There is something delicious about writing the first words of a story." Yes, it’s a sentimental but endearing biography of the creator of Peter Rabbit. Although we never really get to know the depths of Potter’s genius, Zellweger gives her a sunny optimism that is unusual in our cynical times.

Clay

She would have loved Katie Couric.

John

Potter’s romance with her publisher, deftly underplayed by Ewan McGregor, is about the only dramatic conflict in the story, which tends to imitate its benign little world of rabbits, ducks, and frogs. The touches of magic realism reinforce the romantic aura.

This film deserves praise for gently supporting a proto-feminist writer who resisted the social convenience of marriage in favor of her creative gifts.

Clay ("Zodiac")

Well, John, the social convenience of marriage was a drag on Jake Gyllenhal's character, who was obsessed with the Zodiac killer. Just check out his frustrated wife (Chloe Sevigny), who spends most of the movie trying to hold back her anger.

Praised by current San Francisco film critic, Mick LaSalle, because of the filmmaker's accurate adherence to detail; LaSalle also criticizes that detail when it gets in the way of the drama.

The movie's best performance is turned in by Robert Downey Jr. who plays the Chronicle reporter who originally covered the story. Tormented by his own demons, you begin to suspect that he might just turn out to be the killer.

Who knows, because we never find out.

John

Oh, no.

Clay

A bit of a comedown, eh, after 2 1/2 hours?

But enough of tormented journalists, governmental snoopers, and furry little bunnies, John, because it's grading time.

John

Holy Hares, Hooray!

HIT DRUMS THEN UNDER FOR

John (Cont.)

"The Lives of Others" earns an “A” for ASTOUNDING filmmaking from a first-time director . . .

Clay

"The Lives of Others" gets an "A" because it's ALL ABOUT learning how to live with yourself . . .

John

"Miss Potter" earns a “B” because BEATRIX was BORN to love BEASTS . . .

Clay

"Zodiac" gets a "B" because some BEASTS are more allusive than their hunters . . .

John

Clay, we're not above spying ourselves, me observing the absurdities of government officials and you the welfare of beautiful young women.

There is a difference.

I'm outta here.

Clay

John, a little spying goes a long way, and sticking your nose into somebody else's business can have its downsides.

I'm outta here too.

See you at the movies, folks.

HIT CLOSING THEME MUSIC (AIN'T WE GOT FUN), THEN UNDER FOR

Richelle

It's Movie Time with John DeSando and Clay Lowe is written and produced by John
DeSando and Clay Lowe in conjunction with 90.5 FM, WCBE in Columbus, Ohio.

MUSIC UP, THEN DOWN AND OUT

Copyright 2007 John DeSando & Clay Lowe