Life is worth living to the fullest but you must choose to live.
Phew! I'm going through the most, I need divine intervention. Since I'm currently not a fan of anything romantic, I am living vicariously through rich, mature white women. I really don't want to preoccupy myself with anything to do with struggle, or current affairs. I just want to escape. And guess what, I found just the right flick.
I found, 'Book Club: The Next Chapter.' This is a heartwarming and entertaining romantic comedy directed by Bill Holderman, and serves as a sequel to the 2018 film 'Book Club.' The movie features an all-star cast, including Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen, and Mary Steenburgen, along with Craig T. Nelson, Giancarlo Giannini, Andy García, and Don Johnson.
The movie follows the four friends in the book club, who reunite in person after COVID-19 pandemic forced them to switch their monthly meetings to Zoom calls. Meet Vivian (Fonda), Sharon (Bergen), Diane (Keaton), and Carol (Steenburgen). Picking up from the 2018 film, Diane is in a relationship with Mitchell (Garcia), while Sharon's cat dies during the lockdown. Carol's husband Bruce is recovering from a heart attack, and Vivian reveals her engagement to Arthur.
The four friends decide to take a take a bachelorette trip to Italy culminating in a destination wedding in Tuscany. The four enjoy their stay in Rome, sightseeing, man watching and shopping for Vivian's wedding gown. A street artist assures them a trip to Venice is a must for tourists, so they take a train, not realizing the “porters” at the station are thieves who steal their luggage.
Diane loses the urn containing her deceased husband’s ashes, which she has illegally brought into the country. Vivian’s hotel connections get them nice accommodations in Venice. In a bar Sharon meets Ousmane, a retired philosophy professor who invites the foursome to dinner. The venue turns out to be famed Chef Gianni’s cooking school, and he seems to make a play for Carol, whose husband Bruce is back in California recovering from a heart attack. The foursome rent a car to drive to Tuscany, but it breaks down, forcing them to hitchhike.
When a policeman happens to pass by, Vivian thinks he’s a male stripper and that lands them in the local jail, where Sharon goads a prickly police chief into getting them to Vivian’s wedding via helicopter. The police chief has recovered Diane’s urn, so she scatters her husband's ashes en route. Arthur and Mitchell (his best man, and Diane’s boyfriend) are waiting, and Carol is surprised by Bruce's appearance.
The wedding involves reversals. Vivian realises that she doesn't want to get married although she loves Arthur. Arthur agrees not to get married but to be life partners with Vivian. Meanwhile, Mitchell spontaneously asks Diane to marry him, and Sharon officiates the wedding.
The four friends realize their current book, The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho, predicts their lives more than they expected it to.
Script my life, I definitely want to visit Italy. Actually, I have been dreaming of being in Italy. Quando vado in Italia ho un solo obiettivo: mangiare! I love the lessons from the film in relation to Paolo Coelho's 'The Alchemist'. Of the four, I am like Diane.
Until the next flick...
... Choose to live your life to the fullest with what you are able to control.
P.S.: Always write your own love story!
Ciao!
Lady E
