Travelling North

This is the kind of small film that you keep rooting for, even after it becomes apparent that the movie is not going to be as good as you hoped. Leo McKern (Rumpole of the Bailey) plays an obstreperous retiree named Frank, who grabs his divorcee girlfriend (Julia Blake) and heads north for a lakeside paradise he has discovered. Based on the play by Australian playwright David Williamson, the film suffers from two major drawbacks: 1) the audience is tipped off to Frank's eventual heart attack within the opening minutes, and 2) the film is nearly half over before Frank's conflict with Julia, his doctor, his neighbors, and just about anyone else, begins. By then, most of the audience will be lost--happy home movies about vacations having a fairly limited audience outside the immediate family. Conflict and dialogue are what give a film life, and they are both woefully absent during the first half of the film. The second half picks up considerably, and eventually rewards viewers with a bittersweet comic-tragic autumn romance. The question remains, how many people will stick around? Recommended, with the above reservations. (R. Pitman)