“Good evening.”
“Hello.”
And just like that, Margaret Pomeranz and David Stratton welcomed us into their cinematic world for the final time. After 28 years on Australian television, the beloved presenters of SBS’ The Movie Show, and later At the Movies on the ABC, have said their long goodbye after announcing their retirement in September.
They sent viewers off in high spirits, with no film reviewed in their hour-long farewell special rating below three-and-a-half stars. Though the reviews were a little more rushed than usual – you could practically hear the fidgeting of distributors and publicists around the country hoping their releases would make the final cut – this last instalment was vintage At the Movies.
It was also an appropriately intimate occasion, forgoing guest appearances or bells and whistles in favour of funny and winsome montages of the duo’s shared history on the small screen. We glimpsed the show’s early opening titles, including adorable claymation figures, a clapperboard, Margaret ribbing David for being “snot-nosed”, and David’s evolving eyewear choices.
We were also treated to some of the hosts’ best bickering and disagreements. David complained about the pony he owned as a child, which used to walk under low-hanging branches to knock him off (and a bemused, “Oh David!” from Margaret after watching the clip). Some other wondrous highlights:
· Margaret defending Vin Diesel and David asking: “He’s your type, is he?”
· Margaret: “Well, sometimes you’re wrong, David.”
· David gravely intoning, “Stuffing the midget in the oven is funny?”
· Margaret powerful response to the Julianne Moore film, Still Alice.
· David: “You know, Margaret, one of the things I’m most looking forward to about my retirement is not ever having to see another Nicholas Sparks movie because they bring out the worst in me.”
· Margaret: “Oh David, I think you’re taking this whole movie business too seriously.”
· Margaret throwing shade at David for complaining about “queasycam”.
In the present, we got to hear Margaret Pomeranz use the phrase “suckin’ on a joint” and complain about stoner conversations in the 70s being “really boring”.
As ever, the pair took the chance to champion Australian cinema. With both Russell Crowe’s The Water Diviner and Robert Connelly’s Paper Planes finding their way into cinemas (on Boxing Day and 15 January 2015), Margaret implored of the latter: “This is an Australian film people are going to enjoy, and I urge you to go and see it.”
Whatever the film and whichever direction At the Movies’ tastes leaned, Margaret and David’s imperative was always to encourage people to go to the cinema and make up their own minds. The show was as much about two people watching movies as those movies themselves, and the vital way shared experiences of art and culture tie us together. But the show also sustained a conversation around film in Australia, and this final episode truly reinforces what a loss the show will be.
While I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting David (I would love to, if only to see the look on his face when I tell him that Lars von Trier’s Dancer in the Dark, which he notoriously awarded zero stars, ranks among my favourite films), I did meet Margaret earlier this year at the inaugural Critics Campus instigated by the Melbourne international film festival.
Over wine – yes, drinking wine with Margaret Pomeranz is as wonderful an experience as it sounds – she told me how much she had loved the festival’s opening night film, Michael and Peter Spierig’s Predestination. Her words rang in my mind when I later watched it. The way its story evolved, the sleekness of the Spierig brothers’ direction, the strength of the performances; it was no surprise to see a film this smart, vivacious and dynamic in her top five films of the year.
Nor was it surprising to see Wes Anderson’s crackling, intelligent, but quietly emotional The Grand Budapest Hotel top David’s favourite films of the year. The films we love beautifully reflect us as people.
As viewers, we’ll remember our connection to these two rare personalities long after we watched them walk off their set, holding hands, for the very last time. It’s been said before but it bears repeating: Margaret and David. Five stars.
