Customer Reviews

Turtle Diary

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"Turtle Diary", starring the unexpectedly well matched Glenda Jackson and Ben Kingsley is a real personal favourite of mine and it's off beat, low key charm always fascinates me. In today's cinema where everything has to be instantaneous to keep the attention of jaded movie goers most films would never attempt to spend the time developing characters and situations as slowly and intricately as we find here. In this story that type of methodical approach works beautifully and allows the two lead actors to really flesh out their characters. Glenda Jackson and Ben Kingsley are totally believable as two very different individuals who are fired by a common cause which in this instance is to remove and then release the huge salt water turtles that are kept at the London Zoo into the ocean. The simple story, low key acting and interesting vignettes involving the supporting cast along the way all add up to a most touching story of self realisation and of the joy an individual can feel by moving outside of their comfort zone to achieve unexpected things.

"Turtle Diary", with its low key charm and everyday characters would never be a hit with the majority of modern day audiences so used to startling special effects and non stop action however for those that appreciate well thought out character studies of very indenitifable people then "Turtle Diary", makes highly recommended viewing. In one of her most understated performances Glenda Jackson, who has always been a great favourite on mine, truly shows the great acting range she is capable of in a performance which is light years away from her usual power house characterisations in much better known films. The highly satisfying chemistry that she enjoys on screen with Ben Kingsley in an equally low key performance is what makes "Turtle Diary", work so well and ensures that it be an essential part of any collection or retrospective of this great former actresses work. Try to catch this wonderfully quirky story of two very mismatched individuals united on a single mission as "Turtlenappers", who not only achieve their aim but also learn something about themselves in the process in the beautifully crafted British film "Turtle Diary" soon. You wont regret it.

In LA when I was school teaching in South Central 20 years ago after a very bad week, my then boyfriend and I would hop over to see films where Westwood blended with Beverly Hills. It was a very extreme time in my living... This film was one I so enjoyed. It is a quirky love of life story about a woman (Glenda Jackson who is a marvelous actress) with a terrible haircut, her joyous affection for turtles and a friendship formed with a used bookshop owner, a fellow lover of turtles and literature, and centers on a plot they develop to save some turtles. It is small and intimate and I believe a film my brother in law calls "a nothing really happened" piece. Recently thought of it clearly again sitting at a long horrible funeral for a friend who was a gentle lady, with a bad haircut, and a deep abiding love and kinship with turtles and a special bond with my husband. I realized this film had foreshadowed a bit of my ordinary "nothing happened" existence to me 20 years ago. In life we form friendships and find compassion and connection with people in seemingly random and precious moments. My turtle friend, who worked for my husband for a time, as a secretary in his school-then my school, took care of him , my kids, myself and was very private-revealed something of herself in this love of the turtles she had around her from time to time one of the few things you really knew about her. Real turtles and those collectible. She treated them like cats actually(in the film you are seeing giant sea turtles), these pet turtles responded back as bonded as you can imagine. It was a very unique thing to see a person so vibrantly connected to turtles. I felt that in the film , in the love these individuals had for the species...it seemed to relate to the privacy, shyness, fragility of feeling and yet strength of character, the primitive dignity of my friend, she easily could have been placed into the movies' internal spaces. For me now there she lives freed of earthly connection. So I watched it again this evening after 20 years and grieved deeply losing someone who was very shy and private and who suffered a terrible end of life to cancer spread through her system. To me I see the touching beauty of the friendship between the characters in the movie as so valuable and so meaningful on a personal level-I'm aging with such an awareness of how gentle simpatico with another , how the shared love of turtle, of literature , of something understood really about life , brings a kind of lightening of heart. For my friend her shared relating to my husband was so meaningful/personal to her in ways I could not entirely understand.. and her to him.This was movie core message. It was a lesson to me. I recommend this film to those who value friendship. You know I was also thinking of a film with Anne Bancroft(in New York) and her friend in London in the bookshop-anyway a very similar piece. Maybe it is a phenomenological relationship (whatever that is, no?)....but for me a tender film and now I'll always think of Terri T. and my love for her, turtles and dear warm moments I hold in my heart with friends of the spirit.

What an excellent film. I saw the film for the first time about eight years ago and I am still waiting for it to be released on DVD.

This is a great low key movie about two people who, by freeing two turtles, free their own souls. One of the things I like about this movie is that the two protagonists; Ben Kingsley and Glenda Jackson, didn't wind up sleeping together. Gee, maybe a man and woman can do things together and not have to have sex too.

Turtle Diary is a wonderful human story about isolated people coming together in a situation set in motion by the protagonist (Kingsley) and who discover depths in themselves they hadn't know or had forgotten. There is emotion here, but it is never sentimental and the characters are wonderfully realized by a cast of remarkable actors. It is incomprehensible to me that this film has not been released on DVD. Kingsley gives a very moving performance, as do Glenda Jackson, Michael Gambon and the rest of the cast, in roles their current fans would be surprised to see. I highly recommend this film and also fervently recommend its release on DVD.

This is an old English movie that has not been very popular. It is, therefore, difficult to find. Excellent movie.
Video was used but in viewable condition. Glad to find it.

We saw this movie over 20 years ago, and it STILL tops our top WORST MOVIES list. Do not waste your time on this one. Take our word for it...we know why it hasn't been released on DVD.