STRANGERS IN GOOD COMPANY
A film review by Myra Van Inwegen
Copyright 1991 Myra Van Inwegen
Today I saw, in a matinee, STRANGERS IN GOOD COMPANY (directed by ?, sorry, I forgot to write it down; it's a woman, and the film is sponsored by the National Film Board of Canada). This time last week I saw EATING, directed by Henry Jaglom [reviewed in a separate article]. EATING is about a bunch of mostly beautiful, rich, well-dressed, successful women gathered for a triple birthday party. STRANGERS IN GOOD COMPANY is about seven very ordinary women, six of whom are senior citizens, who have gotten stranded by a broken-down bus. Neither film has any male characters in it (except for a very brief glimpse of a male at the very end of STRANGERS IN GOOD COMPANY), and neither film is missing anything by not having them.
STRANGERS IN GOOD COMPANY is about a group of women getting to know each other and learning to take care of themselves. All the women (except one, the bus driver) are old, about half of them are fat, only one uses makeup, and they wear ordinary clothing. They talk about their lives, and as the movie progresses we get to know their strengths: what keeps them going and optimistic in the face of their troubles. These are very resourceful women. They try various techniques of getting food, attracting attention, and getting themselves out. Some methods succeed, some don't, but these women (except for one) never give up hope.
These women, unlike their counterparts in EATING, are slow and natural, like the countryside in which they are trapped. Yet, despite their fear and desires to get back to civilization, they never resent their surroundings nor each other, and they are sorry to go when they are finally rescued. And despite their lack of physical beauty, we grow to love and respect them. It is very reassuring to see ordinary people in a movie, where usually all the lead actors look like they've stepped out of GLAMOUR or GQ.
I recommend this movie to people who don't define the goodness of a movie by the number of dead left in the gutters and the number of car chases.
-Myra myra@saul.cis.upenn.edu
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