Daisies in December (1995)

Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

Good idea lost in the noise

Am I Missing Something?

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

I have a bone to pick with director Mark Haber. He was put in charge of a film whose setting was an old folks' home. Naturally, the demographic of the film's audience will mostly be comprised of older people. Older people sometimes get dizzy spells. So why would Mr. Haber choose to swirl and swoop the camera randomly? He'll make his audience sick!Besides the very odd direction, Daisies in December is a really cute movie. Joss Ackland is settled into an old folks' home against his will, but his intense distaste for the place quickly wears off when he meets Jean Simmons, another resident. This movie isn't a comedy, but Joss is given some sporadic one-liners that are realistically funny, rather than purely comic relief. And while Jean Simmons is a little mean to him in the beginning, their romance is mostly very cute and touching.Joss Ackland gives a fantastic performance. His pain and hope is palpable through the screen. If you like late-blooming romances, this is a really good one.

Like some others, I discovered this film while surfing one day at home, and fortunately it was near the beginning because the unusual love context (for films these days) and slowly developing drama were absorbing for me. Jean Simmons has been one of my all-time favorite actresses (especially in Elmer Gantry and Guys and Dolls) and it was wonderful to recognize her as a widowed woman in an English retirement home with a wry and gentle comic touch. As a guy who visited his mother for 10 years in a retirement home, it was moving and poignant to recognize the sweet and sometimes awkward interaction among the residents, and then to see Jean Simmons's character and Joss Ackland slowly and hesitantly gravitate to each other. Nobody's life is ever over until the casket is closed, and it's inspiring to see oldsters risk their emotions in their final years, tentatively at first and then with more assurance. Near the end, the ex-stockbroker Joss Ackland's character renders investment advice to the residents about moving from "blue-chip" stocks to riskier investments with the promise of greater returns, and then goes on to use that as an apt metaphor for being able to risk exposing our emotional vulnerabilities for the promise, and reward, of love, however fleeting and temporal.Poor, gravelly-voiced Joss.....when he finds cinematic love in his older years, while it's sweetness is probably enhanced by its fleeting nature (from health issues), it can still be a bittersweet experience for him, similar to what he experienced with Claire Bloom in the BBC version of C.S. Lewis's Shadowlands produced 10 years before Daisies.

This is a slight film, but one greatly strengthened by the leading players. Jean Simmons and Joss Ackland are both at the top of their game playing characters probably close to their actual ages. While it lags a bit and is kind of hokey, you sense the real affection between the two and Ackland delivers a speech declaring his love that is just magnificent. Great film and worth the effort.

This is a gentle old fashioned type of love story with enough humor to make it appeal to a wider audience. It's also nice to see Joss playing a role other than the bad guy. Although he's a little rude and short of tact - he's basically a decent chap in this one.