LA WEEKLY




Chuck Wilson reviews Cape of Good Hope in the LA Weekly:

"Writer-director Mark Bamford and co-writer Suzanne Kay work hard to finagle happy endings for all these very nice people, but what makes their contortions bearable is the sense that neither the filmmakers nor their characters are naive boobs. Grounded in the easy rhythms of daily life, this charming little film shows unexpected grit in sequences set in the white household where Lindiwe works, a place so oppressive that it suddenly seems way past time for South African movie characters — and their home audience — to experience a dose or two of Hollywood-style wish fulfillment."

http://www.laweekly.com/film/film_results.php?showid=3701



CAPE OF GOOD HOPE

Despite occasionally matching an abandoned dog to a new owner, the workers at Cape Town, South Africa’s animal-rescue center know better than to trust in the goodness of the world. Especially doubtful is mission founder Kate (Debbie Brown), who’s involved with a married man, and so screwed up that she doesn’t see the romantic overtures of a kind widowed veterinarian (Morne Visser) as a healthy development. Meanwhile, Kate’s Muslim receptionist, Sharifa (Juanita Adams), has yet to tell her sweet blowhard of a husband that she’s been going to a fertility clinic, while Jean-Claude (Lumumba star Eriq Ebouaney), a Congolese astronomer working as the center’s handyman, falls for a single mother named Lindiwe (Nthati Moshesh). Writer-director Mark Bamford and co-writer Suzanne Kay work hard to finagle happy endings for all these very nice people, but what makes their contortions bearable is the sense that neither the filmmakers nor their characters are naive boobs. Grounded in the easy rhythms of daily life, this charming little film shows unexpected grit in sequences set in the white household where Lindiwe works, a place so oppressive that it suddenly seems way past time for South African movie characters — and their home audience — to experience a dose or two of Hollywood-style wish fulfillment. (Chuck Wilson)

Posted: Thu - December 15, 2005 at 08:12 AM          

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