Last Chance Harvey

I often daydream and in those daydreams I have a reoccurring dream. I dream I meet someone in a foreign land and we spend 24 hours doing everything there is to do in that location and all the while we are talking about everything that could possibly be discussed. We agree and we disagree and we learn everything we could possibly learn about each other because this will be our only time together, so why hold secrets or why pull punches. When the 24 hours are over, we share a good bye kiss and I fly away. I actually fly because these are my dreams after all. Who needs planes in dreams? I was reminded of this dream while watching Last Chance Harvey unfold.

Harvey Shine never(Dustin Hoffman) made it as a Jazz pianist. He wasn't good enough. Instead he writes jingles and scores commercials. He is a sad man, who is going to lose his job, but he has to fly off to London for his daughter's wedding. Kate Walker(Emma Thompson)is a lonely woman with a meddling mother and a bad job. She tries dating but it never works for her. The two people meet briefly in the airport in London, but share only a few rude remarks back and forth. Harvey tells his daughter that he cannot stay for the reception, but will be there for the wedding and in turn his daughter tells him she wants her step-dad to give her away. It is not spoken in this moment, but Harvey and his daughter have issues. As Harvey struggles to get to his flight after the wedding, he is fired. He is out of chances. He is an old man in an industry that is getting younger. Depressed, Harvey goes to the airport bar and starts drinking. It is there he and Kate find each other and strike up a lovely meet-cute. From the airport, Harvey follows Kate to her writing class and then they just walk and talk. They have lovely conversations and serious conversations and in one of those serious ones, Kate convinces Harvey to go back to his daughter's reception, but he will only go if she will. The pair has a blast and promise to meet the next day at noon the next day. Will it happen? Will fate step in?

I am not sure why, but I loved this movie. I am not sure if it was just what I needed today, or something else, but I found myself totally immersed in this slow moving character study of two people finding each other in the most random of circumstances. The movie asks questions about mortality and fate and shows that happiness is possible no matter where you are in life. The performances from Hoffman and Thompson are perfectly whimsical but grounded in a light sense of reality. Hoffman gets a chance to break your heart and Thompson gets to do it as well, in the end. I enjoyed the simple story telling and the classy dialog that aided in moving the story along. The movie is not story driven, but the story is interesting. There is a nice flow to the scenes and to the relationships between everyone. I know Hoffman is at least 20 years older than Thompson, but they had a nice and easy chemistry and it was not hard believing they could find each other and strike up this sort of romantic friendship. I do believe it is friendship above all else. These are two people helping each other into new eras of life and it takes a friend to do such things.

I go back to my daydream and wonder, in this day and age of facebook, texting, twitter and everything else, if something like that is possible. Maybe Last Chance Harvey is there to show me that it doesn't have to end. We can have in depth conversations with almost strangers and still be able to continue on in our lives together. Maybe it is those in depth conversations that strengthen these new bonds. This kind of unknowing trust is the foundation to make big leaps of faith or lead to the winds of change in life. Either way, Last Chance Harvey is a wonderful movie I hope more people find on video.

Final Grade: B+