While the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11 played out on a television schedule crammed with heart-wrenching memorials and remember whens, a couple of cable networks began showing this cheery ride-along with Paul McCartney and friends as they prepared for the Concert for New York City.
(Dargis) 'The Love We Make' (No rating, 1 34) Shot in the tense autumn of 2001 — mostly in gorgeous black and white — this cheery ride-along with Paul McCartney and friends as they prepared for the Concert for New York City is alternately trite, touching, funny and fascinating.
From the start, we see talking heads — the real Yates and Simpson, recounting their adventure against a plain background, together with Richard Hawking, a cheery young traveller who went along for the ride.
I am not riding in a Land Rover by day getting cheery earfuls from a Stetson-sporting guide, nor am I retiring to some Hemingwayesque bush camp for a lavish dinner.
"I really don't like those festivals where your kids are always pulling at your coat asking for money to go on a ride, or buy candy, or a balloon," says the GFD's cheery organiser, Julius Juliusson.
"I expected a sea of miserable people trudging around and being ripped off, but instead saw a more cheery view of life - how simple and sometimes corny things (fairground rides, soft toys, balloons and hot dogs) can entertain and genuinely lift the mood".
Better still, he persuades Alan to hitch a ride on the back of his scooter, which leaves us with the cheery spectacle of two grown men, standing bolt upright like shop dummies, zipping along to the strains of the Pretenders.
Though the ride is brisk, at its end I told one of my drivers, a cheery, voluble, 40-something man, that I wish I weighed more, as that would make for a faster ride.
A short cab ride south of the city in happening Uptown, the restaurant is dark in a cheery sort of way, and more than a little giddy.
