Cheap Memoirs of a Survivor (Video) (David Gladwell) Price

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Customer Reviews of Memoirs of a Survivor

Slow, Haunting Dream Film
Though I was more impressed with this movie when it had it's theatrical debut in the early 1980s, I still recommend this mysterious mood piece. The DVD transfer is great and some care went into the menu and chapter selections. The story concerns a quiet middle aged woman (Julie Christie) living alone during some catastrophic breakdown of modern society. Young illiterate kids live like rats in the subways, garbage covers the streets and nomadic people scavenge in aimless traveling groups. The woman is given a young teenage girl (Leonie Mellinger) to take care of and the girl becomes sexually involved with a young man who takes on the task of caring for homeless children (while he simultaneously sleeps with them). Alongside this melancholic tale, there's another dimension revealed when the woman descovers a victorian family living inside a strange membranous wall of her apartment. There are curious psychological parallels between the world in the wall and the goings-on in the woman's other dystopian world. The final scenes are truly wierd and puzzling so if you like your movies straightforward with tidy narratives, this one isn't for you. For those who enjoy the bizarre and challenging, take a look. My only real criticism is the truly awful synth soundtrack (by Mike Thorne-any relation to Ken?) which constantly works against the imagery.

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Decent Enough Lessing Adaptation
Not many Lessing novels make it to the screen, and David Gladwell adpated this one back in 1981. While no one could be better cast than Julie Christie, the film suffers from Gladwell's lacklustre but competent direction and realization. It's one of those novels that is very personal, and plays better in the imagination than on the screen, especially when it comes to depicting the feral children. The electronic score seems misplaced until the last strains, and film remains as oblique as the book, which is good. Watch it for Christie - luminous as always - but read the novel beforehand.

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ambivalent and holding
doris lessing is my favorite author, i turn to her shikasta series when things get really tough and i need to have a long term view. it is my understanding that "memoirs" was written in response to her editors request for an autobiography. i have read the book a number of times and still have to think about the ending. this is why a rating of three stars, i suppose for some people that would be reason for a five star (at least it makes her think)

this film is perfect for the time we live in as her time could become our time, after september 11, ase as we say. in this film there is no sense of safety, there is no sense of continuity, there is no sense. it is the "end of time" for what may be civil society in a small area of england.

i intend to have "viewing parties" for my friends. bleak views can be mitigated in unexpected ways...and, there is re assurance in numbers.

thanks