Christopher Robin (2018) and Executive Suite (1954)

Two surprisingly good movies about work-life balance.

Christopher Robin (2018; Disney+)

A young man finds himself neglecting his family as his office job in London devours his time—until a certain stuffed bear toddles back into this life. A friend of mine from China asks me why all American movies are about working less and making more time for family. She’s right. We’ve learned this lesson before, from A Christmas Carol to Hook (1991). But this one’s really good, in surprising ways. Pooh may look a little different (as a photo-real teddy bear), but it’s the same Jim Cummings voice we know and love. The writing is moving. The cinematography is creatively captivating. (Winnie the Pooh wanders through the meadow and reaches his hand out to feel the tall grass, and I feel like I’m watching The Tree of Life.) Overall, it’s just a lot of fun with no small smackeral of heart—a wholesome, wise reminder to take time for what really matters.

Executive Suite (1954; DailyMotion)

When a furniture company president dies, diverse executive board members vie for power—and one wholesome family man might just have what it takes. The cast in this film is extraordinary: William Holden, Barbara Stanwyck, Fredric March, Walter Pidgeon, Shelley Winters. So is the writing. This is the first screenplay by Ernest Lehman, who would go on to script such classics as Hitchcock’s North by Northwest (1959) and The Sound of Music (1965). That classic also shared a director with Executive Suite: Robert Wise, whose career in the 1950s, after leaving RKO, saw one strong, unique film after another in a rainbow of genres (starting with The Day the Earth Stood Still).

But enough about Hollywood. There’s something genuinely dramatic about this film, established clearly in the opening scenes: The stakes are life and death. Not because anyone will live or die based on whether this furniture company succeeds, but because work is a major part of life for all of us. It really does impact us whether our work has us making quality products we can be proud of or cheap trash no one needs. And the film puts a lot of heart behind this drama in casting the always delightful June Allyson as the young man’s wife. I always remember her in this movie ready to catch that baseball with their son, smiling as only she can, a ray of sunshine.

For sensitive viewers: A character contemplates suicide (but doesn’t).

Nathan’s Writing Update

On Saturday I submitted an article to a leading journal of Spanish literature and film. It’s about a 1917 book called Platero y yo, where the poet-author travels through the Andalusian countryside with his donkey Platero, offering short, vignettes and transcendent beauty in everyday life. This is my second time submitting this article. The first time, a different journal rejected it, but they offered some useful comments for improvement. I often hear that the difference between successful writers and unsuccessful writers is persistence. So I’m persisting! And if they don’t publish it here, I’ve got two or three more journals in mind to try. Wish me success!

(P.S.: Thanks, Lynn, for the phrase "work-life balance" to describe Christopher Robin!)

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