Coarse language
New Zealand, 2009
Genre: Comedy, drama
Director: Toa Fraser
Cast: Sam Neill, Jeremy Northam,
Parfitt
Running time: 100 minutes
A 1936 novella by Lord Dunsany becomes, under the direction of New Zealand ‘s Toa Fraser, a wondrous journey into the lives of cats and dogs, fathers and sons and the magic to be wrought from a rare bottle of Hungarian Imperial Tokay.
Set in Edwardian England, Henslow Fisk (Jeremy Northam) has become increasingly depressed by his weekly visit to the world-weary and irascible Fisk Senior (played with gusto by Peter O’Toole) and to break the pattern of their battles of will, takes his father to a lecture on incarnation given by eccentric Swami Prash (Art Malik). There they meet clergyman Dean Spanley (Sam Neill) and the roguish “facilitator” Wrather (Bryan Brown). So begins a strange journey into the past life of Dean Spanley, which unfolds when he indulges in his favourite tipple of the expensive and elusive Imperial Tokay. Along the way the riddle of Henslow’s brother’s death and the reasons for his father’s lack of warmth become clear in this whimsical and gently humorous film.
Only the closed mind is certain, opines Dean Spanley, when quizzed about reincarnation after the lecture on the subject. And those with an open mind will enjoy this movie while incongruously learning that fleas have a purpose, the smell of fear is intoxicating and dogs elevate man’s estimation of himself, while cats only diminish it?
The success of the film depends on the interplay of the four main characters as the strange tale slowly unfolds. Beautifully filmed with an economical score and marvellous production design, this is a gentle movie about the human condition examined with great warmth, subtlety and humour.
Sources: The Independent, Urban Cinefile, A Persistent Vision (Vernon Chan)
Compiled by Owen Tilbury