Posts tagged Kristin Scott Thomas
“Salmon Fishing in the Yemen” Makes the Impossible Possible
Apr 7th
“Making the Impossible Possible”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen is a love story, and I don’t mean the love that fishermen have for fishing, although there is also that.
On the other hand, Steven Wright says in his act, “There is a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore looking like an idiot.”
In this movie, the comment is made that the only thing that fishermen care about is fish, and that they are patient and virtuous.
The fishermen, of course, are patient and virtuous, not the fish.
No, we should remember that fish are so dumb that they can’t tell the difference between a real fly and an artificial fly with a hook in it at the end of a fishing line.
Emily Blunt plays Harriet Chetwode-Talbot, and she has a client who is an avid fisherman, Sheik Muhammed from Yemen, who wants to introduce salmon fishing in his desert country.
So, Harriet contacts the salmon expert in the British Fisheries, Dr. Alfred Jones, played by Ewan McGregor, to ask for his help in fulfilling the dream of the sheik, who naturally has enough money to make it happen.
Dr. Jones turns down Harriet’s request, telling her that the project is fundamentally infeasible.
In the meantime, however, Patricia Maxwell, who is the press secretary for the Prime Minister and who is played by Kristin Scott Thomas, tells her people, “We need a good news story from the Middle East and a big one. We need it now.”
So, with pressure from the top of the government, Dr. Jones is practically blackmailed into working with Harriet to make Sheik Muhammed’s dream come true.
And with two attractive people working closely together, romantic sparks are bound to fly, right?
Not so fast, Dear Audience, because Dr. Jones is married, and Harriet has a serious boyfriend.
Dr. Jones changes his assessment of the project’s success from fundamentally infeasible to theoretically possible, the sheik is willing to pay 50 million pounds, and so the problem now is to make it all happen.
Did I mention that there are dissidents in Yemen who believe that the sheik’s dream of building a river in the desert and stocking it with fish is insulting to Allah?
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen makes the impossible possible in so many different ways, and not just in fishing.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen – Movie Trailer
Apr 4th
When Britain’s leading fisheries expert (Ewan McGregor) is approached by a consultant (Emily Blunt) to help realize a sheikh’s (Amr Waked) vision of bringing the sport of fly-fishing to the desert, he immediately thinks the project is both absurd and unachievable. But when the Prime Minister’s overzealous press secretary (Kristin Scott Thomas) latches on to it as a “good will” story, this unlikely team will put it all on the line and embark on an upstream journey of faith and fish to prove the impossible, possible.
“Nowhere Boy” A Bit Like You and Me
Oct 21st
“A Bit Like You and Me”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
NOWHERE BOY is the haunting story of John Lennon’s troubled teenage years from when he learned some important secrets about his family that had been kept from him since he was five years old to just before the Beatles were formed and the lads from Liverpool made rock ‘n’ roll history.
The story begins about 1956 when John is 16, and he is always getting into trouble in school. One day while he is being disciplined, John is told, “You’re going nowhere,” and John responds in his quick, witty, and irreverent fashion, “There’s nowhere for the geniuses, Sir.”
Then John’s life takes the first of many sudden and drastic changes. He is living with his Uncle George and Aunt Mimi, and Uncle George dies suddenly, leaving John alone with Aunt Mimi, who is a very strict disciplinarian and who constantly tells John to wear his glasses whenever he leaves the house.
Uncle George was more than just an uncle to John, and at the funeral we see a red-haired woman whom John has known as Aunt Julia. Now John is told that he should call the red-haired woman “Mum.”
A friend knows where Julia lives, and he and John go to visit her, which is within walking distance of Aunt Mimi’s. Julia has two little girls, and they all go to Blackpool for a day of fun, where Julia gets a little wild from the excitement.
At the end of the day when John is going back home to Aunt Mimi’s, Julia tells him, “Don’t tell Mimi. Please. This is our secret.” And then she adds, “I love you. You’re my dream. Don’t forget that.”
John slowly begins to learn more of the details behind this complicated relationship, and it is about this time he becomes aware of Elvis Presley and fascinated with the success and popularity of the American singer.
So, Johns asks Aunt Mimi to buy him a guitar, gets some of his mates to join him in forming a rock ‘n’ roll band, and calls the neophyte band “The Quarrymen.”
A friend of a friend named Paul shows up, he knows how to play his left-handed quitar better than John does, teaches John some new chords, and, well, you know the rest.
NOWHERE BOY is, like the song says, a bit like you and me.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
