Review: The Lady in the Van

There is nothing more alarming than sitting in a movie theater, waiting for a film to start that from the look of the trailer was a comedy -- only to find as the lights die that the first sound coming to your ears is the sound of a man screaming, and then a large crash.

Even more alarming is when the first image you see is Maggie Smith, completely shaken in her Berford van, a large red smear seeping into the fresh spiderweb crack on the windshield.

But I swear, THE LADY IN THE VAN is a comedy. Or, rather, dramedy, as the film's protagonist, Miss Shepherd (Smith), in all her chuckle-inducing eccentricity, will nevertheless tug on your heart strings on multiple occasions. The film, directed by Nicholas Hytner, announces itself as "A Mostly True Story", based on Alan Bennett's autobiographical memoir, and is forthright in its storytelling: everything is laid out on the table with the intent of examination. Alan (played by Alex Jennings) is even broken down into two characters: Alan the writer, and Alan the man living life. In a clever nod to the way a writer's mind works, these two cohabiting Alans find themselves in a new neighborhood (1970s Camden Town, London), with friendly neighbors and an encroaching pseudo-neighbor who keeps moving her home to the visitor's parking spot in front of various people's homes.

That's Miss Shepherd, by the way. Considerably older and more disheveled than in the opening scene, Miss Shepherd now lives in her van and makes a less-than-modest living "teaching" (writing on the pavement with chalk) and selling pencils. She wants nothing to do with music, though inklings of her past may indicate otherwise. Her odor and inconvenience causes the neighbors to pray for the day she moves on to the next parking spot, occasionally soliciting loaded comments from the neighbors ("That's Camden... people wash up here.").

But Alan finds himself intrigued by Miss Shepherd: part of him wants her to go away, yet the other part of him -- the writer, always on the lookout for good material -- wants to draw the story out of her. "Put yourself into what you write," he scoffs to himself; "How? We're both so fucking tame."

And so begins a ruffled yet charming relationship between the two, as Alan offers his begrudging hospitality in exchange for a slow, arm's-length investigation of the woman's troubled past. Intertwined with visits from Alan's mentally deteriorating mother, Miss Shepherd's stay in the neighborhood, which begins to morph from hopefully transient to unapologetically permanent, becomes more and more of a trouble for Alan, who is torn between charity, inspiration, and the desire to have a life.

The film is packed with humor, frustration, and the human spark of reality, creating characters with such life in them that by the end, it will feel like you were one of the neighbors. Smith, who never ceases to give a dazzling performance, makes no exception here: her stubborn vagabond charm will steal your heart, and she and Jennings are a delightful pair. THE LADY IN THE VAN is now playing at the Midtown Cinema - don't miss it!