"It's the first rule of romcoms that opposites attract, and you can't imagine two more different lovers than Poinsettia (Lynn Redgrave), a spark plug of a dame convinced that she is in a relationship with the 19th-century composer Giacomo Puccini, and Fish (James Earl Jones), a gentle giant who spends his spare time wrestling a demon that only he can see."
"Charles Burnett's touching film is about how Fish and Poinsettia find refuge with each other that lets them emerge from the fantasies protecting them from the real world's cruelty, and they find a kind of late-in-life puppy love over dinner dates, cozy sleepovers and card games at their Barbary Lane-like boarding house. When I saw the restoration last 14 February, the theater was filled with couples who, like my boyfriend and I, seemed cozied up just a little closer than usual."
Two films portray how unexpected closeness creates emotional refuge and propels romantic awakening. The Annihilation of Fish pairs Poinsettia, who lives in a Puccini fantasy, with Fish, a gentle man haunted by an unseen demon, and follows their humorous and tender shift from protective illusions to mutual care in a boarding-house setting. The More the Merrier presents wartime housing scarcity forcing strangers Joe and Connie to cohabit, where practical concerns yield to growing attraction and a decisive choice between duty and desire. Both narratives emphasize companionship as a remedy for isolation and a catalyst for love.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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