Four Last Songs
Never released to theatres in the U.S.,In one scene, as Narcisco plays the piano, one shot shows his hands working upwards on the keys (left to right) while the piano music that is heard clearly moves lower and lower in tone, which could only be accomplished by playing the keys right to left. The next shot finishes the musical phrase correctly.,[last lines]
Dickie: I don't know what happens next.
Sebastian Burrows: What happens next... is two lads build a raft, out of anything they can find, but it's all wood, plastic panels... And they lash 'em together. And in the dead of the night, they creep out of the house, and set off down the stream. And they don't know where they're going. They know that dawn will come, and that they're going on this adventure together.,Disclaimer: I know most of the people on whom the characters are (loosely) based, and the area of the production (the village of Deia on the island of Mallorca), and the house in which it's set. I even happened to meet the director as they were getting ready to shoot the film, so I should have a natural tendency to praise this piece.

On the flip side, I've been a writer and, as a young pup, a movie theater manager, so I see a lot of film and video, which perhaps makes me a bit more, um, particular about film making.

The good stuff: The scenery is glorious, with or without the "homesick factor." The opening shot of the little church atop the mountain, with the several-hundred-year-old terraces of olives and fruit below, makes you want to call Iberia and book the next flight to Spain. The restaurant at the Cala, where you first see Miranda and Larry playing music together, is beautiful (great food, by the way) but looks more glamorous than in real life.

The idea of bringing unheard classical music out of the past into modern ears is a good premise, with plenty of subplots going on to keep things interesting, while the idea of my sister popping up in the middle of all these other complications just adds another layer to the stack of amusing plot devices.

On the flip side: I felt that the story didn't flow quite as well as I'd expected, perhaps because the dialog didn't strike me as quite sharp enough. It seems like the actors weren't quite sure where to go or what to say at times, so some of the story got a little lost. (I learned later they were instructed to ad lib most of their lines.)

Nonetheless, I'd give it good marks for a light comedy, set in an idyllic location, with interesting characters, and a different premise from the usual "two strangers meet and fall in love, with laughs for all" that appears to mark the genre these days.,