From: dmac@julia.math.ucla.edu (saki)
Newsgroups: rec.music.beatles
Subject: "The Hours and Times"
Summary: John and Brian/ The Spanish Holiday
Date: 13 Aug 92 21:44:15 GMT
Organization: UCLA Mathematics Department

edc@evolution.bchs.uh.edu (edward s. chen) says:

>This was passed on to me by a friend, after the film's recent showing 
>in the L.A. area:  (the review is excerpted from the Village Voice by Amy
>Taubin) [as always, reprinted without permission]
>----
>A delicately nuanced film about what might have happened between Brian
>Epstein and John Lennon on a weekend the two spent together in Barcelona
>in 1963, Christopher Munch's "The Hours and the Times" is so far removed from
>biopic, docudrama, or cinema verite as to seem suigeneris.  Visually sparse,
>and emotionally intricate, this elegantly written, black-and-white chamber
>piece has racked up prizes from Sundance to Berlin....

I too was mightily impressed with this film when I saw it several weeks
ago. Perhaps part of that admiration comes from watching the director's
ability to research a topic---about which there are a plethora of questions
and very few facts---and to synthesize that information without doing a
disservice to what we know of the truth. Munch is an "outsider"---not a
born-and-bred Beatlemaniac---but managed to capture the essence of the
point in time (April 1963) when the Fabs were accelerating toward
phenomenology...and when Brian and John were both compelled to act
on a momentary opportunity to explore their reciprocal fascination for 
each other.

Munch's film is deservedly award-winning. The screenplay is superb, eloquent
without excessiveness. On the whole, the black-and-white cinematography is
quite laudable, calling to mind some of the best work of Douglas Slocombe
in British cinema of the sixties. Munch, in an article in the Los Angeles
Times several weeks ago, admitted that his budget was extremely tight---so
small that he declined to reveal exactly how little the film cost to make. In
several spots this paucity of funding is visible---particularly in some rather
dodgy processing (or maybe just misplaced special effects) at the beginning
and end of the short film (around 60 minutes). The body of the work, however,
is very good; the art direction (always a challenge in any period-piece) is
particularly well done.

I found the two lead performances to be quite wonderful. Again, this surprised
me. Dealing with characters who have become somewhat larger than life, actors
can be led astray all too easily. Though clearly playing Epstein and Lennon,
the actors manage to create interpretive performances rather than slavish
impressionist routines. "Brian" is perhaps a bit more suave and self-assured
than I would expect, under the circumstances; "John" a bit more crass and
ingenuous. These are minor concerns; within the context of the film, these
performances are defensible, and they're ultimately convincing.

I have a little trouble with the end of the film, which to my sense lacks
a definitive denouement. Perhaps that's the director's choice; perhaps it
was a question of finances. There is sufficient resolution of the storyline
within previous scenes to satisfy me that Munch knew how to find an end-point;
he merely put it in a different place than I might have done. :-)

Owing to the nature of the subject matter, "The Hours and Times" is not
likely to experience a major release, which means that smaller markets
may never see it. I expect some progressive cable outlets throughout
the country may snap it up (Bravo is likely---though if it appears there
beware of Bravo's propensity to pit its progressiveness against its political-
correctness...they now edit "offensive" phraseology from all their offerings).
I wouldn't be surprised if the film also makes it to a limited-distribution
VHS format, in which case we might be able to rent or buy it. I'd recommend
it in either case to any Beatles fan who's ever been curious about this
oft-mentioned but little-explored "Spanish Holiday".
 
--
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"This is a promising group of young musicians who play music for
all tastes, preferably rock and roll."
---------------------------------------saki (dmac@math.ucla.edu)
Newsgroups: rec.music.beatles