Really Surprised!

Expected more

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Sometimes when something is predictable I'm happy because I like what's predicted. That was the case with Finding Your Feet. Once I knew what the story line would be, many lines and scenes became predictable but who cared! I thoroughly enjoyed watching the film. The acting was excellent, especially by Imelda Staunton and Celia Imre. The characters they played were imminently likeable. They were different but their mutual love and respect for each other made them accept their differences. The film both looked and sounded great: full of color and rhythm. I alternately smiled and had tears. In the end I loved having a film about people my age, that I could relate to, that was both dramatic and ironic. P.S. After watching this film a second time within 24 hours, I loved and realized just how great it is, so changed the title and rating above.

"Finding Your Feet" dragged on too long with a thin plot strung out with poor pacing. Yet, the film exuded good feeling from a fine group of British performers. The goal was to try to inject some gusto in life to the elderly. Due to some good British humor and the ensemble cast, the film largely succeed.The most touching relationship in the film was between the sisters, Sandra and Bif. After a decade-long separation, "Lady" Sandra returns to her humble origins with her sister after her constable husband has betrayed her with another woman. The story then unfolds around the "lust for life" theme embraced by Bif and her friends, who welcome Sandra into the fold.Sandra was a former dancer, once auditioning for a production of "A Chorus Line." She now joins forces with the "Age UK" amateur dancer group. She meets a kindly man, Charlie Glover, whose wife is dying of Alzheimers. The balance of the film tries to sustain the ebb-and-flow in the romantic relationship of Sandra and Charlie. The filmmakers work overtime in trying to develop the "lust for life" theme of the senior citizens. There was a nice character transformation for Sandra, who appears "on her high horse" at the outset, then discovers a new world through the simple things of life, such as genuine conversation, fun at the dance hall, and a reunion with her sister.There was a well-chosen line from Mark Twain spoken in the film by Bif, who subsequently learns that she is dying of lung cancer: "I was dead for billions of years before I was born, and I've not suffered the slightest inconvenience for it." The film succeeds in its theme of letting go of the past. It also unfolds the conflict of whether Sandra will return to the superficial world of her husband or "take a leap" into the unknown with Charlie, who is embarking on a new life in the beautiful Camargue region near Arlès in Southern France.The film really begins to drag when the Age UK group is invited to perform at the Rome Bienele festival. Still, the photography was beautiful in both the English and Italian settings, the scoring was always spot-on for both the dance and incidental music, and the audience remained on pins and needles as to whether Sandra would take her leap.

This is a beautiful film about life and class and adventure and death and arrogance and...oh and all things human really. It's a poignant film with a happy ending, so very akin to a fairy tale with the wicked husband and the prince who rescues the princess and all the forest elves who are friends. It's a very upbeat film about people taking charge of their lives and the performances are exactly what you'd expect from the stellar cast. Fabulous film.

This is the latest British tragi-comedy from the FOUR WEDDINGS school of movie-making. Sandra (Imelda Staunton), the middle-aged wife of a newly knighted police chief in leafy Surrey, discovers he's been cheating on her. She goes to live with her Bohemian sister Bif (Celia Imrie) in a council flat in North London. Bif could not be more different from Sandra: a serial demonstrator, she swims year-roun in Highgate Ponds, drinks too much and smokes pot. She also goes to a dance club for senior citizens. Her best friend Charlie (Timothy Spall) lives on a houseboat in Paddington and daily visits his wife who is in care, so far lost to Alzheimer's that she no longer knows him.Sandra was a dance champion as a child. She reluctantly accompanies her sister to the dance studio and ... You can pretty well guess the rest of the movie. It's extremely predictable and sentimentality is layered on like celebrity tanning oil, but (a big BUT) it's bursting with charm and likeable - lovable - characters. The cast of 'Britpack' stalwarts includes Joanna Lumley and David Hayman. Everybody acts - and dances - effortlessly to win our hearts. And win them they do. There's an episode where the dance group goes to Rome, and - how obvious is this? - Charlie takes Sandra to the Trevi Fountain at night. Totally beguiling!This is very much a 'companion piece to Song for Marion (2012) with grumpy Terence Stamp, ailing Vanessa Redgrave and a singing rather than dancing club for seniors. The matinee audience at my multiplex in Brighton yesterday applauded at the end of FINDING YOUR FEET. Applause was deserved. The feel-good factor dances off the screen. You will feel good!