Julie Interviews Hollywood Writer, Jeff Astrof 

Julie, the one film I enjoyed most wasn’t from Hollywood. It came from France two years ago and I checked it out to watch on my Hoopla account. Its L’Envol, literally The Flight, better known by its English title Scarlet, based on the novel Scarlet Sails by the Russian fantasy writer Alexander Grin. At its simplest level its a love story but as Grin would’ve put it, the true miracle in our lives come from our own hands and from the people we love who see us as a gift. We don’t often realise that until its too late. Unlike the Soviet film by Alexander Ptushko, it isn’t a faithful adaptation of the novel and it isn’t meant to be. The theme is that art can bring out the best in us and make our dreams come true. I’m not going to describe the plot of the movie; I fear I’ve already given too much away but what I can say is if you like watching an arthouse film, you can’t really go wrong here. Excellent writing, acting. cinematography and direction. I don’t want to watch a woke movie and have a message thrust in my face; I want to enjoy a movie for its own sake, for the service of bringing life, beauty and colour to our world. Now this remake doesn’t show us Grinlandia but when all is said and done, the true Grinlandia we’re yearning to find exists as a hope inside us, to be fulfilled when we’re ready for it. I have the feeling here Grin would’ve agreed.