13/12/05 : Little Miss Sunshine

13/12/05 Little Miss sunshine : Directors : Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris 2006

Little Miss Sunshine is the story of the Hoovers, a fictional dysfunctional family from Albuquerque, New Mexico. The characters are introduced in the opening sequences; Sheryl Hoover, a stressed and over-worked mother of two, picks up her brother Frank at a hospital after the depressed, gay Proust scholar has recovered from a failed suicide attempt. Richard Hoover is a manic go-getter striving to sell his motivational nine-step technique to becoming a winner. Dwayne, Sheryl's son, is an angst-ridden, avowedly mute, Nietzsche-reading teenager who has dedicated his life to joining the Air Force Academy in order to become a test pilot. Richard's father, Edwin, recently evicted from a retirement home for snorting heroin, is shown to have a strong bond with seven-year-old granddaughter Olive, and coaches her to perform in a beauty pageant.

There are plenty of good moments and laughs to had in this film though personally I didn’t feel it quite warranted the Kudos that it has received. I have read so much about this film and it won a 'golden globe' for the best European film of 2006. Straight away im thinking - 'well renaissance is a European film made in 2006 and that was far better' but maybe im being a bit unfair. If I had got this video out from Blockbuster then I would have been pleased with the choice but I suppose for a film club choice it went a little bit too 'feel good factor' at points for me. 7/10

On the same evening we watched a collection of clips from 1982 about the Hulme break dancing crew 'Broken Glass'. It was excellent viewing and I had a slight lump in my throat to be looking back in time at the Manchester where I spent my adolescent years during such an important time in terms of 'youth culture' and general 'times they were a changin!'

These clips should be buried in a tin box and planted underneath the blue peter garden for future generations to look back on a less polished and more exciting Manchester.