Customer Reviews

The Lost Language of Cranes

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This film is based on David Leavitt's book of the same name, which takes place entirely in New York City. When the film version was made, with Leavitt's blessing, the scene is switched entirely to London. However, the core lesson of the film, about deep-seeded family secrets and how they erode the facade of a middle class family, stays in tact.

Brian Cox and Eileen Atkins, two of Britain's best character actors, are incredibly good as the parents, Owen and Rose Benjamin. Owen is an Academic, and Rose is a Book Editor. The irony of Rose being in a profession where she needs an eye for detail is not lost as it contrasts to her own life. She has somehow managed to overlook that her husband is a closeted homosexual. In their generation, if a man felt or knew he was gay, he married, procreated, and carried on with life in most cases. The Benjamin's marriage could be like most long-term marriages without passion. Rose has had her affairs, mainly for the physical love she is missing from her husband. Owen wants desperately to explore the side of his life he has been repressing, but, so far, spends a good amount of his free time roaming gay cinemas.

Adding to all of this is that their son, Phillip, a handsome book editor, very well-played by Angus MacFayden, is also gay. He is out to his friends, but not to his parents. He is madly in love with an American graphic artist, Elliott, played by Corey Parker. Phillip's belief that he has found the love of his life leads him to finally come out to his parents. But, he has no idea of the can of worms he has opened in the life and marriage of his parents. Rose would have been content to keep secrets indefinitely. However, Owen's son's admission opens the floodgates and propels Owen toward his new life.

The film is still fairly faithful to the book, which I also recommend very highly. The acting is top-notch, as often seems the case in British-made films. The story is engrossing in its brevity, and strong in its lessons of honesty, betrayal, and the ultimate destruction of long-held secrets.

I sat on the floor of my suburban home watching this movie,40 years old, tears streaming down my cheeks. I could feel the pain the father in this film felt, the life his son had, that he himself had not lived. It was like a great hole in the middle of my being. This was all it took for me to come bursting out of my closet. My life was finally starting!

This film is a textbook example of how difficult it is to translate a book into a movie. Good as it is, as well cast and acted as it is, the movie still cannot get into the interior of the characters the way that David Leavitt's book does. The change of setting from New York to London works well because the basic issues are universal.

For those people struggling with the issues that this movie presents, it is a godsend. There is no sugar coating of the marital issues that Owen and Rose must face. Eileen Atkins is marvelous in her subtle portrayal of the suppressed rage, resentment, frustration and fear mixed with love that she feels towards Owen. Owen's dilemma is well portrayed and his breakdown and reaction to his son's coming out is perfectly on target. One wishes that the episode of the botched phone call were better filled in. In the book it represents a cry for help and an almost blind reaching out that is thwarted by the reality of indifference and mocking irony of the target of a prank. The movie glosses over and changes the situation making the impact much less.

The movie was produced for television by the BBC and WNET and the scale is right for the small screen. The only jarring and inexplicable note are the interludes of the disturbed child and the crane. This is taken directly from the book and is equally jarring in that setting. The author is making a metaphoric point but it eludes me.

That said, definitely see the movie but if you can, please read the book as well. You will find it enlightening, moving, and perhaps life-changing.

Philip comes from a rigid, uptight family whose lives resemble that of a rigid crane. Everyone keeps a happy face but no one is able to share what is going on with them internally. Philip can no longer hide what he is from his family. He decides to become open about his homosexuality to them. He shares this with his lover who also keeps secrets.

Philip's announcement unravels a flood of pain, guilt and anger from his parents. His mother believes some secrets should be kept hidden while his father lingers in a pool of guilt. As an audience we get to see the hypocrisy of a couple in a marriage that is a farce. We witness one young man's inability to be in a relationship all because he wants his past hidden. The explosion of feelings becomes a cartharsis that each character seeks but some of them want to keep up the appearance of everything being okay.

Enter the world of gay bars, one night stands and illicit sex in a revealing movie that forces people to be honest about themselves and their lives. Secrets can kill. Secrets can hurt. The secrets in this movie will force you to confront your own sexuality and ethics. Angus Macfayden does a splendid job as the young man deciding to be honest while his mother (Eileen Atkins) insists on carrying out the farce. Share in these secrets.

The wife and mother, Rose, has one line in this movie that is absolutely priceless: she says that her life is like the punch line to a joke with both her husband and her son being homosexual. The son, Philip, has been living an openly gay life, but he has kept the truth from his parents--when he tells them his mother tells him that she wishes he had kept his mouth shut, and the father, Owen, is thrown into complete turmoil because he has been, denying his homosexual nature for years, and has been frequenting the Gay Porno movie house for who knows how long. When Rose expresses her negative feelings about Philip not continuing to hide the truth he replies: What would you have had me do--get married to a woman so that I can live a lie and look back on my life with regret in thirty years or so. When he says this you can almost feel Owen's heart shatter--and you see the single tear trickle down his cheek. The ending to this movie is left up in the air because some strings have been left dangling in that we are not really sure what is going to happen with Rose and Owen, but this is not a bad thing.

The main point of this movie is that honesty is definitely the best policy even if the truth is hurtful to the other person--it is not worth the pain of hiding your true self from the people you love.

A whole lifetime comes crashing down when the son in this story reveals he is gay. This prompts the father, living a lie for as long as he can remember to reveal his own homosexuality to his family. The wife, although made to look a bit badly in the film was the most sypathetic character to me in the movie. She feels like her entire life was a lie her husband made up to hide. A strong sub-plot with the son dating a bit of a player who just wants to drift off gives the movie a sense of unease. I definetly recomend this and then after you might want to watch "Broken Hearts Club" to cheer yourself up.

The film offers two metaphors for the suppression of expression - young twins, who have never been taught an established language, and hence create one of their own; and a neglected child, who's only company is the view it has of a building site with several large cranes from the window: the child begins to imitate the cranes' movements and noises in an attempt to communicate with them. No fear - the symbolism is kept to a minimum.

At the film's core, are three people, all of whom have been suppressing their real feelings ( their real selves) from the others for fear of change - for fear of disrupting the balance of their existence. This lack of expressing themselves in language, causes them to create their own "language of cranes".

They're terrified that the truth will rip apart the world as they know it, which it does. The viewer is left with their loose ends, wondering if honesty really was the best. Everything they feared about honesty comes to pass. The family is torn apart without a way back. The mother is left feeling like the punch line of a bad joke and the father will be left with 30 years of remorse and guilt. But they're free. They're alive and free - and they still have time to take advantage of their second chance at life.

There are no action scenes here, but this film is more suspenseful than a thriller. If you have ever kept a secret from someone you loved - beware - this film might make you feel very uncomfortable.

Bottom line: a wonderful script, excellent acting and well directed on a small budget. A must see (not just for homosexuals).

A very interesting plot which deals with two different generations coming out of the closet. The secret desires of a married man become exposed after the son reveals his own secret. The movie does a great job dealing with the difficulties of coming out as an older man. It was very intersting to see how the two main chatacters in the film go about their own their gay lifes.

I have seen this film two or three times and find that it holds up well in spite of obvious flaws. Based on a novel by David Leavitt by the same name, the movie has a straight forward plot. A young gay Londoner Philip, in love with an American, struggles about how to tell his parents that he is gay. Since the viewer learns in the first few frames of the film that Philip's father is gay also, I'm not giving the plot away. The actors all do credible jobs although I would give an A to Brian Cox who plays the father. I cannot remember how the mother is drawn in the novel; but, unfortunately for her she generates little sympathy in the movie. While her position is not an easy one, it is almost impossible to care much for her since she handles all the family relevations so badly.

The film could certainly have been better filmed, having a dark graininess in a lot of frames. While I understand-- or think I do-- perhaps the reticence of the Brits in filming bedroom scenes-- particularly with those of the same gender-- but did these men always make love in a dark place? Finally, maybe I'm just obtuse; but I would not have known, had I not read the blurb on the video box, that the "rigid, angular movement of construction cranes becomes a metaphor for the destructive sexual hypocrisy that rips at one family," etc., etc.

Having said all that, I still believe this is as honest a film as you will see on a family's dealing with the revelations of gay family members.

The film version of the Lost Language of Cranes is a triumph for its main stars, Brian Cox and Eileen Atkins. It was my first exposure to the work of either, and this film is the root of my immense admiration of their talents.

There has always been some confusion concerning the allegory of the title. In the David Leavitt novel, the narrative is supported by an involved subplot, a tale concerning an "abandoned" child. I agree with the reviewer who complained that the allegory is unfortunately not explained very well in the film, and I had to re-read the book to refresh my understanding of the meaning of the title. In the book, far more detail is devoted to the story of this child, who has been neglected by his drug addicted mother and left to fend for himself in a playpen, without the comfort of human bonding or affection. After spending his first year in the shadow of a giant crane on a construction site outside his window, he compensates for his lack of human companionship by "bonding" with the giant crane, and eventually constructs his own "language" based on its movements, mimicking the crane to express joy, love or affection. However, since he is unable to communicate his feelings outside of the invented language, its exact details and meaning are lost forever.

The story of the Crane Child parallels the failed relationship of Owen and Rose (Cox and Atkins), who long ago have lost the ability to communicate their needs and wants to each other, each sharing only those domestic details that they deem important. The allegory of the child "communicating" with his crane-language is much more fully threshed out in the novel, and the lack of detail in the film makes this portion of the story confusing; the overall effect is that the details concerning the "Crane Child" seem rather forced, and weaken rather than strengthen the narrative.

However, understanding the title is not essential to the main drama. The acting is very good on the part of each of the cast members, and the story is strong enough to survive without a clearer explanation of the title. Although Eileen Atkins has been deservedly praised as the strongest performer, Brian Cox gives a particularly nuanced reading as the closeted father, guarding the secret of his sexuality throughout a troubled marriage, until he fairly explodes in frustration and loneliness. A key scene depicting Owen's reaction to his son's coming out is particularly heartfelt, and a highly effective piece of acting. The film suffers not at all from the change of venue from New York to London; I recall that the American telecast was prefaced by a commentary by Mr. Leavitt, who stated that the location was changed to England simply because it was produced and financed by the BBC.

The DVD release of Lost Language of Cranes is long overdue, and a welcome addition to my video library. I only wish that CBS Fox would just see fit to release a DVD edition of the Boys in the Band, another gay classic they've been sitting on for way too many years.