Cast: Meryl Streep, Rick Springfield, Kevin Kline, Mamie Gummer, Audra McDonald, Ben Platt, Joe Vitale, Keala Settle, Joe Toutebon
Director: Jonathan Demme
How to live life? What must we do? These are questions which people in reel and real life usually attempt to answer. Those who don’t go through the motions. In Jonathan (Silence of the Lambs) Demme’s new movie Ricki and the Flash, the titular character played by Meryl Streep abandons her husband and children to pursue her dreams of becoming a rock musician. The American psychologist Abraham Maslow used the term ‘self-actualization” though in Linda/Ricki’s case it seems more like the self-interest theory mooted by my favourite W. Golding. This seems to have brought Ricki (real name Linda Brummell) Rendazzo a modicum of happiness. She makes very little money in a California grocery store but comes into her element when she plays with her band ‘The Flash’, in a small bar patronised by people who love music. Especially her covers of U2 and Springsteen. She also has a solid relationship with lead guitarist Greg (real life musician Rick Springfield) which she doesn’t seem to appreciate until the end of the movie when Diablo (juno) Cody scripts a lovely wedding where she succeeds in reconnecting with her estranged kids.
In Mama Mia, the multiple Oscar winning actres Streep had sung and danced as a single mother whose daughter is attempting to find her real father. Like many other multi-talented actors abroad, (too many to name) Streep now plays a musical instrument (the guitar) and sings her own songs. Streep’s musical (and acting prowess) and the cast make the film a decent watch. It’s interesting how patriotic/nationalist/
Screenwriter Cody also scripts an interesting scene suggesting that people don’t really get over their exes,especially not when they’ve birthed children. “Pete still loves me” Ricki tells her successor in an unsuccessful attempt to make her jealous. But the children love the stepmother! In the feel-good end, Ricki, who never loved her kids, manages to regain their forgiveness even though she doesn’t seek it. What was that Erich Segal catchphrase about love means never having to say you’re sorry?
