Being There
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Movie Reviews of Being There
Movie Review: A Movie That Is More Of An Experience Than Just A Movie
Summary: 5 Stars
My wife and I watched "Being There" last night and found it to be a wonderful movie! I remember hearing about it when it first came out but I just never got around to watching it. Recently I was reading Shirley Maclaine's book "Out On A Limb" and there were several pages regarding Peter Sellars and some extraordinary spiritual experiences he had shared with her during the filming of this movie. That intrigued me enough to want to watch it.
The character played by Peter Sellars, "Chauncey (Chance) Gardiner", is a man who is more like a child. He can't read or write but learns most of what he knows from watching T.V. He is childlike in the best sense, in the way a Zen master would be. Totally present and innocent.
Thru strange circumstance he ends up living in a mansion owned by a dying and good hearted industrialist who becomes enamored with Chauncey's "realness" and takes him in. Not only that Chauncey ends up somehow in a position where people from the President of the United States and others are influenced by his innocent wisdom. Shirley Maclaine as the wife of this industrialist also falls under the spell of this innocent Gardiner (without any effort from him).
This movie is just one that you have to watch to really appreciate it, there's no way I can do justice to this masterpiece in words. It is so well written, acted and produced that you just have to experience it.
Peter Sellars IS Chauncey Gardiner, he is brilliant. Shirley Maclaine and the rest of the cast are right up there with him, they truly became their characters.
This movie is very subtle and strange so you have to just flow with it. It's not a one that will hit you over the head, and yet I found it totally compelling and was drawn into it completely.
Highly recommended!
Movie Review: LAUGHED, AND SO MUCH MORE!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
tHIS is one of the few satires that is actually thought-provoking and flat out funniest as could have POSSIBLy been thought of. The story is somewhat like 15-years'-laters' FORREST GUMP, but is not unecessarily sappy and intentionally hoky...it doesn't judge people, it just makes fun of 'them'. It lets us see a bunch of people who think they've got it all under control, but are really just a bunch of baffoons! It's touching in some ways, to see how innocent Peter Sellers' character is, and how he maintains his stamina (what little he has) throughout the what-must-have-seemed-weird-to-HIM situations he encounters. He doesn't lie, he just doesn't understand the need to contradict the liars (who don't know what kind of lies their weaving!). I actually laughed so hard it hurt to watch anymore of the 135(?) mins of movie this presentation offered (this one being some premium channel via a special offer from Charter Communications...the DVD should be 'very similiar'...anyway). It's that good; I enjoyed it the 1st time VERY much, although it beatus the hellush outta me as to why the MPAA didn't take back it's flip-of-the-coin 'rating' (PG)/(back then it was either PG or R, unless it was DELIBERATELY made for children or went unrated...PG-13 was not around then...). ERotica isn't a myth in this film, it's a full blown passion! It's even got a masturbation scene (which is more absurd than erotic, but you can tell there's heat in the room, although P.S. is so caught up in the TV to notice...)! Perhaps not for children, although I don't think a bit of old-fashioned atmosphere and some hotter-then-heck sexuality will hurt a 5-year-old, but others beg to differ. Mainly, a 5-year-old wouldn't comprehend the philisophical nature of this film...it's a great film, a true comedy, a true masterpiece!!!Movie Review: Sellers' Finest Hour...
Summary: 5 Stars
Peter Sellers delivers an astonishing performance in this beautiful film, akin to watching someone like Robin Williams go from comedic mania to a subtle and out of character (or very much 'in' character, due to the great, understated) role, like 'One-Hour Photo', and like Sellers' role as a Gardener named Chance (changed soon, without his reservations, to 'Chauncey Gardiner'). I'm still scractching my head as to why this movie was/is characterized as 'dark comedy'. There are comedic moments, but like many great dramas, this is a film that may stay with you for days after viewing it. I won't go into plot details, as you can read other reviews for this, but it's an overall gorgeous look at a simple man who has been sheltered from the real world for so long that all he can relate to, and relate to others, is what he has seen on TV. The comedic mishaps that result, and the profound statements he makes to the rest of the jaded world (especially in Washington, DC, where the film takes place) are completely unknown to his character. Shirley MacLaine is wonderful in her role as the wife of the bigwig businessman that takes him in, her interplay with Sellers makes both characters take on whole other levels, each adding to the other.The cinematography and film score really complete the mood, and the ending scene, with Sellers walking off into the water, umbrella (earlier a cane) in hand, it seems an ode to Chaplin as 'The Little Tramp', his signature striding off into the distance, with only our imaginations to help us wonder what will happen to this sad, singular fellow.
Brilliant...understated, subdued, and yet with enough emotional force to really make you think about all the subtexts it carries, like the meaning of life, death, truth, and character.
A really lovely film.
Movie Review: Surprisingly poignant, humanistic, and possibly profound...
Summary: 5 Stars
I initially reviewed this film with the title "A prelude to the Bush presidency", and I rallied on how the film has come true with Bush as president. I was wrong. I just saw it again, and I am completely redoing my review.
The 2nd time I saw this film, I saw and felt a poignant undercurrent to it. There's poetry in it, and I'm not so sure that my first impression was correct. Many saw the film (and still do) as a satire on American stupidity and our adoration of television. Many compare (even myself) Chance (Peter Sellers's character) to George W. Bush. It is a false comparison. While Chance seems to be raised on TV, he also comes across almost as a "holy fool" (a term used in Russian literature), a person who is seen by many as an idiot but who is spiritually and morally strong. Many who watch this film think he's an idiot, but there's something poignant, humanistic, and really childlike about the character, as if maybe he is a little more than just an idiot who made good. Someone will tell me that I'm falling for Chance's "folksy wisdom", but I'm not. I'm as jaded and as cynical as anyone. There's a meditative quality about this film, a poetic quality that I don't believe was an accident. Some have said that Sellers is a Christ like character (especially when he walks on water at the end), and others have said it just shows how stupid Chance is at the end by walking on water. I don't know. I found the ending beautiful myself.
Sellers is astoundingly good in his penultimate film here. Melvyn Doughlas (who won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar) and Shirley MacLaine are excellent as well. It's really a special film that many may have interpreted incorrectly. I think people need to see this film again with a different eye.
Movie Review: simple and understated
Summary: 5 Stars
Part Forrest Gump and part Life of Brian, part the fable of The Emperor Has No Clothes and part parody of the story of Christ, Being There leaves a lot of room for meaning in a simple, artful, and seamless script. And the acting is suburb: I consider it to be on par with Dr. Strangelove as Peter Sellers' finest film. Being There is a must-see for anyone who appreciates comic subtlety and dark humor.
My favorite interpretation of the film is that of Mr. Sellers' character -- Chance the gardener, or, later, Chauncey Gardiner -- as a Christ-like figure. The film's magnificent ending supports that take, and subsequent viewings reveal more evidence earlier in the motion picture of Chance as a reluctant savior, an increasingly in vogue interpretation of the Biblical Christ.
From a different view, I guess it's a stretch as a political metaphor. After all, who would believe that such a simple man with such a limited vocabulary and an inability to grasp even moderately complex issues could find a place in the public's political consciousness? Heh heh.
But I think Mr. Sellers, who is best known as the bumbling and hapless Jacques Clouseau in the Pink Panther movies, would warn against taking his work too seriously. Maybe it's best to take the film as it is: a simple and understated story made great by one of the 20th century's acting geniuses.
Regarding the DVD, the film quality is fine but the overall package is a little short on extras. I know that few DVDs of films more than 20 years old carry things like behind-the-scenes filming or director's commentary, but it would have been nice for the producers of the DVD to do a little more to take advantage of the medium besides including the original trailer. But this small caveat is no risk to the five stars I will give the film.