When Judi Dench is in a movie, no matter the size of the part, it's worth taking in just to see the eventual tongue lashing that someone's going to get. Never has a septuagenarian taken more relish in her ability to annihilate with a word or the flick of an eyebrow ( she even gives Elaine Stritch a run for the money ) . To hear her toss off a phrase like 'Buzz off' is to encounter comedic timing of the highest degree. Dench says that—and much more besides—in the delightful and not terribly taxing Mrs. Henderson Presents.
Based on a true story, the film opens in 1937 at the funeral of Mrs. Henderson's husband—a man of wealth and respect. But the no-nonsense Mrs. Henderson ( Dench ) is already bored with widowhood and confides to her best friend Lady Conway ( Thelma Barlow ) that she's at a loss about what to do next. She tries Lady Conway's two suggestions—embroidery and charity work—and finds both impossibly dull. Then during an afternoon drive she spots a shuttered theater and her imagination takes hold.
Soon, she's bought the theater, dubbed it The Windmill and hired an irascible manager, Vivian Van Damm ( Bob Hoskins ) . Van Damm insists on complete creative control and though Mrs. Henderson agrees, it's only Van Damm, apparently, who believes that she'll keep to her word. She's constantly about, offering up opinions on everything and sitting in on auditions for the vaudeville revue that Van Damm wants to stage. After initial success, however, business at the Windmill quickly falls off. Mrs. Henderson, in all seriousness, suggests that they stage a revue in the nude. She lunches with Lord Cromer ( a droll Christopher Guest in a straight part ) and gets him to agree to the outlandish idea. But the catch is that the performers must stand stock still—as if in an artistic 'tableau.' Then it's time to find the young, innocent ladies that will agree to bare all.
If this sounds like a vintage version of Calendar Girls or a variation on The Full Monty it should. It's the story of an aging rebel who finally comes into her own ( thanks to a lot of money and a strong will ) and a charming period piece to boot. When England enters the war, the Windmill, with its underground theater, becomes a safe haven for the soldiers and Londoners and suddenly the shows take on a deeper meaning for all involved—both on and offstage. By the fadeout we know that the nosy Mrs. Henderson will have learned from her mistakes, the bossy Mr. Van Damm will have learned tolerance, the stiff Lord Cromer will have relented in his opposition to the nudie girls, and Mrs. Henderson will explain the importance of all of this ( as Dench does in a beautiful last speech that acts as a proper curtain call ) .
This is the first high-profile feature director Stephen Frears has made since the terrific John Cusack comedy High Fidelity in 2000. Mrs. Henderson Presents is another feather in the cap of this chameleon-like director whose films were hotly anticipated throughout the latter half of the '80s ( The Grifters, Dangerous Liaisons and My Beautiful Laundrette ) but less so after several missteps in the '90s. A light comedy of this nature requires a delicate, assured touch and Frears provides it. As do Dench and Hoskins.
That's not really surprising. For actors with as much technique at their disposal as these two, elevating a slight nostalgia piece like this must have seemed like a bracing walk in the park. But that's not to dismiss the pleasures of a light entertainment like this or Calendar Girls and The Full Monty. Mrs. Henderson Presents is the right film to perk up a dreary winter afternoon—an easily overlooked but wonderful achievement.
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I am not a sports movie enthusiast and admittedly fall into the stereotype when it comes to them. I'm a gay man who prefers melodramatic star vehicles, comedies, musicals, biopics, and camp above all else. If I'm going to watch a movie with a group of men dressed in uniforms playing sports you can be assured that those uniforms are going to come off at some point and the dialogue and situations are going to get suggestive.
So, it was with trepidation that I sat down to watch Glory Road, the true story of the first college basketball team to integrate and introduce Black players to the NCAA. Within moments, however, I found myself engrossed in this amazing story and the struggles that real-life college coach Don Haskins ( Josh Lucas ) had in putting this team together in 1966. It's very much a root for the underdog kind of picture—once Haskins gets over the hurdle of convincing the Black players to come down to Texas and join his team, there are many more to come. But against the odds, the team begins to pile up victories until it finally ends up in the playoffs against a team led by the arrogant and transparently bigoted coach, Adolph Rupp ( Jon Voight ) .
I am told that this is very much a by-the-numbers sports picture, similar in nature to Hoosiers, Miracle and many others. But I found it intensely dramatic and moving and enthralling. At the film's conclusion I turned to my partner to find him also wiping away a tear. I can't say that we'll be adding many titles from the 'Sports' category to our Netflix Queue, but familiar or not, if a sports movie can make two middle-aged gay men cry, it's worth seeing.
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'Dyke Delicious,' the popular monthly film and social event series presented by Chicago Filmmakers, returns Saturday, Jan. 14. And what could be a more appropriate start to this series than a documentary titled The Clitoris: Forbidden Pleasure? This film by directors Stephen Firmin and Variety Moszynski is being touted as 'provocative and often humorous' in its exploration of what is literally the most responsive organ ( with 8,000 nerve endings at its tip ) in the human body ( female anyway ) . A social hour ( now with karaoke! ) kicks off at 7 with an 8 p.m. screening and 'after show' mingling to follow. Chicago Filmmakers, 5243 N. Clar, 773-293-1447, www.chicagofilmmakers.org .
