Quirky and quite wonderful....

The great thing about watching movies is that every now and again a film comes at you from left field that is so unusual that when you’ve turned off the DVD player you find yourself sitting back quietly and mulling over what you’ve just seen. It’s when you feel that warm glow beginning to spread up from your toes and you find there’s a daft smile on your face that you know you’ve just seen something rather special.

Dean Spanley’s one of those, but I guarantee if you tried to explain the plot to anyone they’d think you were several sandwiches short of a picnic.

I’ll have a go, though….

Set in 1904, it revolves around the relationship between the long suffering Henslowe Fisk (Jeremy Northam) and his ailing, crusty curmudgeon of a father played effortlessly by Peter O’Toole. Every Thursday, a duty bound Fisk Junior visits his dad and in a futile attempt to maintain an ever weakening bond of affection, the two of them trundle off to art galleries and lectures. It’s when Fisk Junior sees an advertisement for a talk on the transmogrification of souls (that’s reincarnation to you and me) by an Indian swami and they meet fellow audience member, clergyman Dean Spanley (Sam Neill) that their lives are changed for ever.

And if you think I’m gonna try and fill out the rest of it, you’ve got a another think coming.

Memo to whom it may concern – as if anyone should need reminding - : There should be a Preservation Order slapped on Peter O’Toole with immediate effect. Like the old pro he is, he walks away with every damned scene, but that’s not to detract in any way from the rest of the small (but beautifully formed) cast who clearly had the time of their lives. How the director Toa Fraser managed to gather players of this quality together (for I’m guessing not a lot of dosh) should be required study at any film school. Sam Neill’s performance as the Dean who, when plied with ever increasing tipples of Imperial Tokay (the bottles of which were once opened only by royal decree…!), begins to expand on what he pertains to be his past life is also a standout.

Whimsical is the adjective that springs to mind and indeed it’s the one most used by the cast in the interviews in the Special Features. It’s also poignant and in many ways rather topical. It is also very, very funny.

So if you’re looking for something a little different, take a look. Indulge yourself…you’ve earned it.

Oh, and one last thing; if the final scene with Peter O’Toole doesn’t make your heart skip a beat, you have no soul…