A few weeks ago a friend mine called me and told that I had to watch a film called Man in the Chair on the Sundance Channel. He said that Christopher Plummer was in it, and that was good enough for me.I had no idea that I was about to experience a film of absolute beauty. The writing, directing, acting, etc are beyond praise.Plummer expertly plays a film gaffer who has not worked since 1968 and becomes involved with a young man attempting to make a student film to enter a competition for a film school scholarship. What ensues is a film about true friendship, elder abuse, animal neglect, and the raising of the human spirit.All of the actors are superb, but special mention must be made of M. Emmet Walsh's performance of a writer who has not worked in decades. Perfection.Actually, perfection sums up this film.Thanks to all involved, especially writer/director Michael Schroeder, for this gift of a film.

I'm glad I saw this film. Because I very nearly didn't. Over here the new films open on Friday so the critics on the daily newspapers file their copy on Thursday/Friday and those that I read more or less dismissed it but one of the Sunday Broadsheets gave it a three-star rating so I decided to give it a whirl and, like I just now told you I'm glad I did. As it turned out it played to an audience of one but, to paraphrase Shakespeare's Henry V the fewer spectators the greater share of happiness. In retrospect this may well be a fantasy. Though it's played down the story takes place at Christmas time lending a Miracle On 34th Street element and in saying that I've emulated one of the elements of Man In The Chair, the referential; old movies are talked about and clips are shown both credited and uncredited. Most serious fans would recognize the uncredited clip from His Girl Friday but some may have trouble with The Angel And The Badman and that in itself could be a coded reference to the perhaps supernatural aspects. The story begins as school is breaking up for the holidays. They will return in three weeks so this can't be the long summer vacation which leaves Easter or Christmas. Because we're in LA there are no obvious signs other than a couple of almost subliminal shots of holly, Santa, etc. Cameron is a troubled teenager unhappy at home with a negative stepfather and consistently over-matches himself against a gang of school bullies. His one escape is the world of 'classic' movies and he has eyes to direct a ten-minute short which carries a prize. In his natural habitat, a re-run movie theatre, he encounters Flash Madden (Christopher Plummer), a senior drunk living in a Retirement Home for Movie Workers plus someone who knows more about old movies than Cameron and doesn't care who knows it. To cut to the chase they form an alliance and with the help of other vets in the Home they make Cameron's movie on the scandal of treatment of the elderly in America which moves the negative stepfather to change his opinion of Cameron making for the fairytale Miracle On 34th St element which is, however, balanced by the death of Flash. Christopher Plummer is outstanding in a role that has Oscar written all over it but all the cast are excellent and at the risk of seeming churlish I'll single out M Emmet Walsh for special mention. I'll be waiting for the DVD.

Despite a compelling theme, some truly sparkling dialogue, and terrific performances by misters Plummer, Wagner, and Walsh, this film comes across rather uneven. The direction is heavy-handed, at times bordering on trite, the production design doesn't contribute much, and the photography is pretentious and annoying -- more appropriate to a music video, than a heartfelt drama. An older, more experienced DP could've made this infinitely more watchable! The script has a lot of potential, but could have, definitely, used another re-write (or two) and a bit of patching of some truly gaping holes, before going into production. The editing is, likewise, uninspired -- most of the shots linger a couple of beats too long, making the overall pace just tedious enough to lose tension.

Saw this film at the Stony Brook Film Festival where my short film preceded it to an audience of about 1000 people! No surprise that it won Audience Favorite for feature films there...the whole theater gave filmmaker Michael Schroeder and actors Christoper Plummer and M. Emmett Walsh a standing ovation! A wonderful film of a crotchety old gaffer living with other retired film people in an LA nursing home for industry people, who comes alive when a young film student enlists him for film-making advice, and then actually making something.I can easily see Christopher Plummer get Oscar and other nominations later this year...and I also hope that M. Emmett Walsh gets noticed for Best Supporting. He lights up the screen when his love for writing in the film gives him a new purpose later in his life.