Miscellaneous Pictures

"The Journey of Natty Gann"

THE JOURNEY OF NATTY GANN

This movie, made in 1985 and released by Walt Disney, is the story of a young girl who, being left behind by her father when he finds a job (in very similar circumstances to conditions here in the UK at the moment) in another state of America, decides that she will follow him.

A young Meredith Salenger (I would say about 12-13 years old - but attractive even at that age - and that is not meant to be a perverse statement) stars in the title role as 'Natty Gann', alongside John Cusack (a friend she meets while on her journey) and Ray Wise (who plays her father).

After finding out that her father has dumped her, Natty goes in search of him, riding trains, walking through woods, learning to cook in the open air, dodging rainstorms as they come on her long quest. She meets some strange people on her journey who (I think) try to take the mickey out of her - such as a group of young kids who Natty met in the main street of a town she visited briefly.

Natty, however, does not go on this long journey alone. On her first leg of her journey, she attended a 'fight' between a wolf and a Rottweiler dog. The wolf killed the Rottweiler no sweat, but, after Natty had let him out of the hot room where the fight was held, came back to find her, first on a train, and then in the woods later on during the film.

The film has a happy ending, where Natty and her father are reunited - they both live, apparently, happy ever after.

One thing.....Natty's father did not leave intentionally. After hearing details about the new job, he had been trying to find Natty all that day - and ended up missing her.

The film is, I feel, superb. It is also recommended for stocking by all video shops in the towns and cities of the world - it is one film that does NOT contain scenes of sex or violence - and yet is still an excellent movie.

Full credit goes to everyone involved.

"The Kiss"

THE KISS (of death)

For those of you who didn't see the first review of 'The Kiss' on the Joanna Pacula page in a recent issue of MAGGIE, here it is again, very much modified, but now rewritten to look at the film from Meredith Salenger's direction.

'The Kiss' stars, along with Meredith Salenger, Joanna Pacula, Sabrina Boudot, Nicholas Kilbertus, Mimi Kuzyk and Jan Rubes.

Amy (Meredith Salenger) is a young teenage girl who is still in high school. She lives with her father Jack Halloran (Nicholas Kilbertus) and her mother Hilary in a lovely house in one of the plush suburbs of New York.

About 25 years before Amy was born, her mother, Hilary, was in Africa (the Belgian Congo) with her sister Felice. While Hilary managed to keep out of the black magic that was going on there at the time - Felice was trapped in the middle of it - and something horrible happened to Felice which turned her into a completely weird being - ordinary to you or me but who had an incredibly dark secret.

Hilary left Africa for America to get married and to start a new life with her husband Jack - while Felice travelled away on the train to Europe - with her Aunt - who - after trying to strangle Felice on the train journey, infected Felice with a parasite, before dying.

So, 25 years later, Amy was at her Christian conformation day, with her parents, Jack and Hilary, along with the next-door neighbour Brenda (Mimi Kuzyk) watching the ceremony.

While they are celebrating Amy's new 'life', Hilary receives a disturbing phone call - from her sister Felice - who she hadn't seen for more than 25 years. Because Hilary thought that Felice was threatening something over the phone, she went to a local gunsmiths shop to buy a small gun. While she is there, an accident occurs (a van smashes straight into the gunsmith's shop) badly injuring Hilary in the process. Hilary died later in hospital - and the funeral as shown on the film is very sad.

During her mother's funeral, Amy sees a strange figure among the trees who walks away into the wilderness at the other side of the churchyard. Shortly after this, one day, when Amy and Jack were visiting Hilary's grave, they bump into Felice - Hilary's sister.

However, Amy has a nagging doubt in her mind about Felice - and this is realised even further when her friend Heather has an accident involving an escalator in the shopping mall. More of these 'accidents' also happen to other people such as the local Reverend, Father Joe, and even to Amy herself, with an excellent sequence involving a model of a heart and lungs system (you will have seen these in biology at school) but where the heart starts beating - a truly excellent piece of film.

Amy's boyfriend Terry - who worked in the cake shop in the shopping mall - was worried about Amy, after the meeting they had where Amy told all her fears to him i.e, about Felice, about the strange things that had happened since she had arrived, etc. Terry promptly went to the hotel where Felice was staying - and, as a result of her extraordinary powers - was killed.

All this boils to a head when Brenda takes a jumper to the local hospital (the 'vampire's lair' blood-testing section) and learns the truth about Felice - ending up with Jack, Amy and Brenda at home, with the result that - again during a fantastic sequence - Felice died in the swimming pool, after being stabbed by Amy with an electric saw.

So, there, the film ends. A fantastic performance by Meredith Salenger, Joanna Pacula, Nicholas Kilbertus and the rest of the cast and crew - all who, incidentally, are best of friends in real life.