Kicking Horse Culture will be showing Quartet on March 14 starting at 7:30 p.m. at the Golden Cinema as part of the 2012-2013 Film Kicks series.
Dustin Hoffman’s directorial debut tells the tale of four elderly opera singers who end up living in Beecham House (a home for elderly musicians).
When you go up and down the cast in the film you will find a who’s who of of British stage and screen.
Tom Courtenay (The Golden Compass, Doctor Zhivago), Billy Connolly (The Boondock Saints, The Last Samuri), Pauline Collins (Bleak House, Albert Nobbs) and Maggie Smith (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Harry Potter) all end up living in the home. Michael Gambon also puts on a spirited performance as the man with the great plan in the story.
It is when Smith’s character moves into the house that the home filled with gossip truely takes off.
The film looks at each person’s attempts to not only dealing with where they are but also looking at trying to mend the past.
Can the passage of time heal the wounds of days long ago?
Is the threat of losing something you dearly love or need, enough to make people raise to heights they thought to be impossible to find?
Hoffman gives the team of veteran actors a place to shine and they seem to take control of the story on screen.
Connolly shines, taking his larger than life presence to engage the lighter side of life.
Two-time Academy Award winner Smith steps into the role of an opera diva with a fiery grace that seems all to natural.
Beneath all the pressure the story shares a desire to once again take control of life and step out on the edge where the light burns bright.
In the trailer for the movie Smith’s character looks in a room, and after seeing what is going on states, “This is not a retirement home. This is a madhouse.” Even though this may be true, sometimes in the middle of madness something great can be found.
