After packing all the ingredients for tonight’s dinner into the crockpot, and scrubbing the sinks, then making myself a cup of tea, I find myself, today, thinking about all the things that we humans do that sustain us — and yet that disappear almost as soon as they are done.
These are the tasks that women have often performed through the ages — or people who belong to the laboring classes — or people who are marginalized in some other way. They are not the things that make up what we call our history, that’s for sure. And yet without them, we would not exist — nor would history.
I wonder why these tasks — these sustaining things that disappear — are not more valued. These are the things that make up the warp and woof our lives. The countless meals that have been prepared and eaten through the millennia, the stone walls built around ancient pastures, the cornfields planted and harvested, the laundry done.
Somehow it seems that these things become invisible while history perches atop them, preening and maybe a little pompous — a little self-satisfied — a little self-important, perhaps?
What is real history? Is it marked by special events that pop up – occasional volcanic islands in the vast and roiling oceans of our common lives? Or is it made of the everyday activities that have kept our human civilizations going through the ages?
I’m sure it’s some combination of the two — and as I smell the wafting aroma of my cooking dinner, I pat myself on the back for my small contribution to human history.
The trees are stripped bare, as if the earth has decided to shed all artifice. Now we can see into the woods. It seems a shame, and is probably no accident, that this change coincides with the start of hunting season.
I like to think of the change, also, in intrapsychic terms. What with the shorter days, darker-seeming nights, and “shedding of artifice” — it’s a perfect time for reflection — for “hunting” through inner wildernesses!
So I strap on my orange vest and head out into this new, November landscape. I don’t carry a gun, of course — just my breathing self, maybe a sweet dog to walk with, and maybe a pen. Won’t you come with me?
Here’s an October poem that does just fine for November, too!
All Hallows’ Eve is almost upon us. On this night, as tradition tells, the veil between life and death is at its thinnest.
Now THERE’S something to ponder as the afternoon of October 29 wends toward nightfall. I watch as shadows move up from the bases of the near hills to their crests. Red, orange, and yellow treetops look briefly like flames, before the sun disappears and the trees turn to silhouettes in the dusk. Soon, even the silhouettes will be gone… all having blended into the dark immensity of the nighttime sky.
So what is this veil that becomes porous on this one night each year? Is it a boundary between two different places? Does it define two different states of being? Is it something that protects us? Limits us? Do spirits pass back and forth from death to life and back again on this one night? Hmmm.
Maybe All Hallows’ Eve doesn’t reflect reality so much as a way of thinking about it – or a way of letting it in. Death, after all, is a reality every day. But maybe mortality is something that we only want to let into our thoughts once a year — living in varying states of denial about it for the other 364 days. Maybe the “veil” simply has to do with our own awareness of our own mortality. (As I write this I am outside, sitting by our chiminea. I hear a lone owl across the field in the distant, darkening woods … and I somehow take that to mean that I’m on the right track here!)
And what do you make of All Hallows’ Eve being followed by All Saints’ the next day and then All Souls’ the day after? I’ll tell you what my gut tells me (and I won’t look up the facts until I say what I intuit). I think All Hallows’ Eve is the complicated real deal! When confronted with the mysteries of mortality and death, we, and our ancestors before us, tremble in fear, awe, and fascination.
All Saints’ Day conjures for me the “sanitized” version of the challenging “messiness” that is human life … and mortality. It brings to mind an American movie that – rather than tolerate (even celebrate) mystery, pain, and ambiguity – just tacks on a happy ending and rolls the credits. (Of course, I may be entirely wrong about what is actually being observed on these days … this is basicaly free association on my part!)
All Hallows’ Eve makes me think of this lovely, mysterious poem by Wendell Berry:
To Know the Dark
To go in the dark with a light is to know the light.
To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight,
and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings,
and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings.
Whether the poem conjures thoughts of mortality, or of the trick or treaters that will soon be scampering up your street, I think it’s onto something kind of hallowed … and there’s that owl again … so we must be on the right track here … don’t you think?
I’m not a person who craves adventure. In fact, if anything, I crave order and routine. That’s not to say I don’t have my “zany” moments, but we’re talking craving here! So settling into a pattern is something that I would expect to find comfortable.
Okay, so here I am on October 25, 2007. Game 2 of the World Series will be starting in a little more than an hour. I’ll be up late, and then will wake up early tomorrow and set about navigating my way through a groggy Friday along with much of the rest of the baseball-watching world.
It’s the waking up part that I want to talk about. For the past couple of months I’ve had an odd feeling most mornings. Bear with me here …
I wake up. Okay – it’s a little more circuitous than that. I hear my alarm, hit the snooze button, hear the alarm again, hit the snooze button again … you get it. Eventually necessity dictates that I turn the alarm off and get up.
I step into my Birkenstocks in the half-light, walk across the room and turn on my floor lamp … switch on the computer … head to the bathroom to brush my teeth … then walk down the stairs, gathering dogs and cats as I go.
One dog (Willie) is often in my room. He stretches, he yawns, and he waits. He never starts down the stairs until I’m ready and right behind him. (And yes, he ALWAYS goes first). The second dog (Ruby) comes out of the room she sleeps in on the second floor, and stretches and yawns before heading downstairs – right behind Willie but always in front of me.
So pretty much every day this is what happens. And every day I have this strong morning feeling of déjà vu. The dance is so routinized! Meanwhile the two cats are just milling around and are much more random in their behavior. Sometimes they appear sometimes not. The dogs are like clockwork, though – and so am I.
We get downstairs and I let Willie and Ruby out to pee while I move quickly to the kitchen to get their breakfasts. I put their food down and go quickly back to the door where they are waiting, barely able to contain themselves. Willie always pushes his head against the door as I swing it open, and they race in. This is one of the truly BIG moments of their day! They inhale their breakfasts, and then lie down and, presumably, doze off. Or maybe they read the paper … I don’t know, because I get my coffee and go back to my computer to find out what’s happened in the world during the night.
The past couple of months there’s been a sameness to this morning time that has felt unsettling to me, rather than comfortably familiar. I sometimes find myself laughing as I and the dogs do EXACTLY the same things in the same order every morning. Sometimes the thought crosses my mind that like Bill Murray in “Ground Hog Day” I’m traipsing toward the same day over and over and over.
I’m puzzled at the quality of my feeling about this morning time. Pondering it, my first guess is that I’ve fallen into a routine that I haven’t fully owned in some way. It’s not really mine but something that carries me forward – so it can feel like a treadmill rather than a path.
I’m learning that it takes mindfulness and discipline to keep my routine alive … and to keep myself authentically connected to it. So if I can own my early morning choices differently, maybe the routine doesn’t need to feel rote. Choosing more consciously … maybe just pausing to breathe and let myself feel where I am … I can create familiar yet mindful ways to begin each brand spanking new day!
The wind is pure wizardry tonight. Leaves rustling crisp and wild in the darkness … this wind makes me want to go out and wander on our nighttime hill. As much as I love it, though, I know that this October wind means that most of the beautiful colors will be gone from our trees by morning. The yellows, oranges, and reds will still litter and brighten the ground for a while before they turn brown, but tonight basically spells the end of another year’s beautiful foliage season.
So it’s thoughts of letting go that the wizard wind conjures for me tonight. Perhaps it’s also thoughts about the futility of holding on. Holding on! Those oak leaves manage to do it … often well into the winter … but just look at them! There’s no life in them. When the February wind blows, the oak leaves just rattle in the cold … lifeless but still holding on.
Okay, but when to let go? That has always puzzled me. My somewhat unfortunate tendency has been to either hold on too long, or to let go impulsively. It will be nice to develop ways to let go in a reasonable, grown up, human way. “Human” is one of the key words here. To be a living human is to be imperfect, unfinished, a work in perpetual progress. In my mind I have often thought of letting go as synonymous with being finished. But being finished is not really part of the human experience, is it? Not so long as we’re alive.
So, looking at things in an everyday-way, I know that my e-mail needn’t be perfect before I hit the SEND button. My dinner needn’t be perfect before I eat it, or serve it. Certainly I try my best, and strive toward perfection (“toward” being the operative word), but I am a work in progress and I am never going to be finished. Never finished, but I DO need to let go! (My Blog may not be perfect, but at some point I need to stop editing!)
I’m guessing that there’s some paradigm-shifting that I can be working on here. I need to see letting go as part of an ongoing, unfolding process rather than as an ending. But I need to not deny that letting go also really IS an ending (and work with the losses that all endings, no matter what their magnitude, can entail). As I navigate through loss and letting go, I need to see that they both can nourish and nurture beginnings – beginnings that I may not even be able to see or even imagine, as I open my hands to let go!
The leaves are a good example. What blows off our trees tonight will settle first onto, then into, the ground … ultimately providing nourishment for what will come in the spring. What a gift – tender, courageous, hopeful and absolutely mundane! (Those oak leaves, on the other hand, holding on into frigid February and beyond, aren’t going to be nourishing anything.)
We’ve had a couple of days, lately, where I’ve been tempted to say the above. It’s gotten me wondering about what, exactly, that means. Why would beauty hurt?
What I can relate to is the sensation of observed beauty expanding my heart and opening it in a way that leaves me feeling awed, tender, and vulnerable. Is that what hurts?
Or is it that right on the heels of the experience of beauty comes a sense of its evanescence? We experience it and are immediately aware of the fact that it is fleeting and will be lost?
I find that the beauty of autumn is particularly bittersweet — as is the beauty of twilight. Is it the quality of the light? Is that what hurts? And if we did not know from experience that winter or night time would follow, would the quality of light still feel the same?
Questions to ponder as Tuesday, October 23 unfolds!
PS The US Women’s National Soccer Team will have a new coach in a month or so. (Pia, Pia, Pia!!!)
Today is a busy one in my world. First off, I’m the shopper for our household. That means it’s my week to take our Shopping List and head off to the store to do the week’s shopping. I’ve also got a ton of work to do on the computer, especially some work on the Finding Time website! This afternoon there’s an open house at the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund. The event is for Swarthmore College grads who are living in New Hampshire and the surrounding area, so I’m looking forward to reconnecting with old friends! And then tonight, there’s game six of the ALCS! Guess I’d better make my To Do list and get moving!
Unless you’re from Cleveland, or South Florida, it sure was a fun night! We flipped back and forth between college football and game five of the ALCS. Right before each commercial break, we vowed that we would go to bed… but next thing we knew, we were caught up in another bit of Rutgers razzle-dazzle, or the drama at Jacobs Field.
Needless to say, the couch has won out over the computer on recent evenings, so my work on this blog has suffered. I’ll be back at it soon, although it’s early to bed tonight, that’s for sure!
Getting started with blogging is similar to getting started with just about anything, I guess. As I explore this new venue, I’m seeing some patterns in myself. First off, there’s the feeling of disorientation that can come with anything very new. It’s not the writing, it’s the platform that I’m talking about. I’ve been exploring WordPress for the past couple of days, and it’s a language, geography, terrain, and set of customs that still feel foreign to me.
So it’s interesting, at the age of 54, to find myself feeling things that I’m sure I felt when I was first learning the geography of my neighborhood as a toddler, or the rudaments of language as a new person in the world. It’s a deeply disorienting feeling. I wander through WordPress and explore the different screens and capabilities of the system. I’m not sure what things mean, and don’t always remember what I learned just a moment ago. The landmarks aren’t familiar, and I’m can’t tell which ones will become important and which ones won’t. I’m looking, and trying not to panic … but I haven’t found the touchstones yet!
All around me in this virtual world I “see” people who seem to know what they’re doing — and I’m definitely not one of them. They’re friendly sorts and happily show me whatever I ask them to. They reel off HTML tags and information about plug-ins and widgets … but they do it so quickly and so matter-of-factly that I mostly just smile and nod in my virtual way. Assimilation ain’t happening yet. The language is still theirs, not mine. Not yet.
I keep exploring, picking up small bits of information as I go. Some of it sticks, and I know I will slowly build a repertoire. I know it grows exponentially, once it starts. It’s happened before; it will happen again! But there’s no getting around the fact that it’s very hit or miss for me, at first.
I keep coming back, knowing that eventually there will come that grand feeling of fog burning off in the morning … and sunlight blazing through. But in the very beginning, it’s easy to feel like a two-year-old in the midst of a bunch of graduate students. So I smile and nod … and keep coming back!
As a Philadelphia transplant to New Hampshire, I brought many things with me when I moved in 1984 to my new New England digs. There is my predictable love of cheese steaks — along with the eternally unhappy (and some would say annoyingly obsessive) search to find a decent one in these parts. There’s my nostalgia for the softer spring times (and longer lacrosse seasons) of the mid-Atlantic states. And there’s the quirky, Kierkegaardian bent that I can bring to sporting events — and most certainly to any championship series.
So here we are in 2007, and here we go again! The Red Sox are now down two games to one to the Indians after losing last night. I can feel the cold, dark undertow pulling at me. My initial coping mechanism is to become crazily optimistic — a cover for what’s really going on inside! I certainly don’t want to add my pessimism — or ANY negative psychic energy — to the cosmic weight that the team is already contending with.
Ah yes, here we are. It’s October and things appear to be taking a downward turn. I’m from Philadelphia. I feel right at home!
Licorice Pizza: I'm starting anew here and have now been, twice, to Vax and Snax at Red River. These are Thursday night movies for vaccinated and masked folks, and you can get POPCORN! But I digress...Licorice Pizza was a sweet, coming-of-age in The Valley in the Seventies sort of movie that managed to include waterbeds and Jon Peters and two new stars -- Alana Haim and Cooper Hoffman (son of Philip Seymour Hoffman).
If Beale Street Could Talk: Quiet, beautiful, heartfelt, devastating. America wears many masks. This movie strips a few of them away. It shines a light on quite a lot of ugliness. As well, it illuminates dignity and resilience in the face of a system built on the abuse of privilege and power. A perfect movie to see on the eve of what is hopefully Donald Trump's last SOTU.
Shoplifters: A beautifully honest, quiet movie that is at once uplifting and devastating. Universal questions are raised and left open for pondering. What is a family? How do people survive in our world today? And how do we judge their choices?
Green Book: Very enjoyable movie and yet deeply flawed. The white guy comes across as the hero in ways that are typical for the American movie industry, and comfortably misleading in terms of the realities of our culture. Especially in the current socio/political atmosphere, can't we do better than this?
On the Basis of Sex: We applauded, we cried, we felt so glad that RBG was as prescient as she was. And I felt personally glad that her love of opera clearly predates her connection with Scalia. What an inspiring woman -- and a good movie about her early years as a student, professor, and attorney.
The Favourite: Did I say that being a queen was no fun? This definitely seems to have carried forward to Queen Anne's reign. Strong performances again, and more belly laughs than you'd think. And right along with it, grief, emptiness, ambition, and gouty excess.
Mary Queen of Scots: Being a queen was no fun in the 16th century. Excellent, complex performances in this one. I found Elizabeth especially compelling. Very unclear who actually wins out in this one.
Another Year: Loved this one! It's about a couple, and their friends, and their lives – painful in spots, and wonderfully everyday and enriching, to my mind. Great performances – and who knew there was so much wine being drunk in England!?
Tiny Furniture: A young woman (aka Lena Dunham) comes home after graduating from college and tries to find herself – or not. A character study that I found humorous and touching – and sometimes a little disturbing and/or self-indulgent. It's definitely a privilege to have the leisure to "find oneself." After this..."Girls."
Rabbit Hole: Painful/powerful movie about loss and grieving. Hard to watch but well worth the effort, with a strong cast and an especially on the mark performance by Nicole Kidman. I continue to be glad to see that she is clearly outstripping Tom Cruise as an artist. You go girl!
The Kids Are Alright: Very enjoyable movie with great performances and an excellent cast. Two kids whose moms are lesbians decide they want to find out something about their "father" – and everything moves on from that point.
The King's Speech: Warm, funny, inspiring – and apparently a bit of a rewrite of history, to boot! Colin Firth puts out an amazing performance – and was well rewarded for it. Everyone else is great too, and if you're one of the few people left who hasn't seen it, it's definitely worth a look!
Black Swan: This is a disturbing movie that I really loved – and in case you haven't noticed, I do have a tendency to like disturbing movies. What's real and what isn't? You be the judge. Also, be on the lookout for Winona Ryder – you'll never recognize her!
Blue Valentine: A couple in trouble – how they started and how they got to where they are. A good movie with excellent performances that left me wondering, especially in Michelle Williams' case, whether she was thinking about what's his name (her partner who died suddenly – the guy who starred in Broke Back Mountain – for some reason I can't remember his name – oh yeah, Heath Ledger).
Shutter Island: A dark period piece that has the creepy feel of the 1950s (creepy to me at any rate) and has stayed with me more than I would've thought. A movie with surprises – definitely worth a look.
Cyrus: I don't remember this one so well, but have a vague recollection of walking out of the theater feeling not so enthralled. I believe it's supposed to be funny – but as you can tell it didn't really make an impression.
I Am Love: Really beautiful, sumptuous movie that made me hungry, just watching it. A keeper!
The Girl Who Played with Fire: The second in the three part series involving the girl with the dragon tattoo, this movie was much harder to watch than the first, as Salander's triumph isn't quite so clear at the end. Painful, painful, painful.
Scott Pilgrim Versus the World: I loved this comic book take on young love. Went to the movie on a whim and came away very happy to have seen it! Quite a few laugh out loud moments – and touching, as well.
Going the Distance: A very lightweight romcom that kinda left me feeling like I had just spent an hour and a half reading People magazine. In other words, pretty much a waste of time.
Never Let Me Go: Wow! This was an amazing, stark, and moving movie about kids who are basically raised to become organ donors. Very much worth seeing.
The Town: Ben Affleck's movie about bank robbers. It's okay. Not great, but okay. It does make me curious about Charlestown – will have to go there one day.
You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger: A Woody Allen movie that I honestly don't remember very well. It's pretty much about adults behaving badly – something that Woody knows a little something about.
The Social Network: The movie about Facebook. I found it very interesting and well done, and was especially fascinated/disturbed by the window on the incredible privilege and elitism still thriving at undergrad Harvard.
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest: Number three in the Dragon trilogy. I found this, in many ways, the weakest of the three movies – although that's not to say that it was weak. Perhaps my enjoyment was affected by the fact that I hadn't read the book. Anyway, it's a great trilogy and I was sorry to see it come to an end.
Fair Game: The movie about the Valerie Plame affair. One of the things that I found most interesting was how it uncovered my own biases, as she was clearly a very serious and talented agent, but because of her blonde haired beauty, I pretty much assumed that she was a lightweight in real life. I appreciated, also, the depiction of her husband as a bit of a media hound, which was how he seemed to me at the time. And of course, there are the despicable characters of the Bush administration. Glad they were on display in all their glory!
City Island: This was a fine, if predictable, movie about a family in which everyone has a secret and is telling lies. I mostly loved it because it gave me a glimpse of where my friend CB lives!
Winter's Bone: Wow! Unrelenting, stark, and ultimately uplifting – at least to my mind. This is a painful movie about life when you're the daughter of someone who runs a meth lab. Winter's Bone is a perfect title. J-Law is amazing!
Please Give: Quirky, sweet, slice-of-life movie. I loved the low-key character development and good humor of it all. Enjoyable, with a great cast and few false notes.
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo: Tho' parts of the book were missing, this was an excellent rendition of an excellent book. Not for the faint of heart, tho'! Lisbeth Salander is an Emma Peel for the 21st Century (watch for more from Noomi Rapace - I will be)!
Me and Orson Welles: Or was it Orson Welles and me? (If Orson had anything to do with the title, I'm guessing the latter.) I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, even as it reminded me of why the world of the theatre holds absolutely no appeal for yours truly! Nice to see Claire Danes back ... still have to finish watching Temple Grandin, too!
Crazy Heart: I left this movie thinking ... "Eh?" but it has stayed with me. Jeff Bridges does give a wonderful performance. The amount of smoking and drinking was nauseating - as I guess it was supposed to be - all in an understated, Jeff Bridges sort of a way.
A Single Man: One of the best movies of the year in my book. Haunting, beautifully acted and filmed ... marred only by an unnecessarily heavy-handed ending, IMHO. That was the only flaw in an otherwise brilliant bit of artistry. Colin Firth was perfect, and this was an amazing writing/directing debut for Tom Ford! See it!!!
Young Victoria: I am eternally grateful to have not been born the heir to a throne. Life was confusing enough! This was an enjoyable, tear-jerker of a movie that left me wanting to know more about the details. Perhaps a bio for Bookeaters?
Precious: Wow, wow, wow. Two weeks in a row - another amazing movie at Red River. This is a challenging and important movie ... about life in America ... every single day ... everywhere.
The Messenger: Wow, wow, wow. This is one of the best movies I have seen in quite some time. Its focus is on two men who notifiy NOK (next of kin) when a soldier dies. It is a raw, wrenching, unflinching and uplifting journey - not to be missed. Seriously
Damned United: This was a study in soccer, ambition, and friendship. For soccer buffs who actually know the players (I'm a late-comer to the game) the movie would be that much better. I loved it, though - and recommend it highly.
A Serious Man: The Book of Job envisioned by the Coen brothers evoked the early sixties and suburbia with humor, pathos ... and a slightly nauseating quality that tells me they pretty much hit the nail on the head. As one of the goyim, I am sure there were hundreds of nuances that were lost on me ... but I loved it (nausea aside) nonetheless!
Cold Souls: The premise of this movie is deeply strange, yet it is presented in an entirely believable way. It's by turns very moving and then hilarious (in ways that, in retrospect, are hard to capture/explain). The ending leaves a puzzled feeling - but that's not really bothersome. In many ways, puzzled is the appropriate way to walk out of the theater after "Cold Souls." Check it out!
Adam: Nicely done! Not a movie that will stay with you for a long time, but I liked it. The father (Peter Gallagher) seemed a tad overdone -and unnecessarily so. Unmemorable soundtrack - but since I mention it, does that make it memorable? Now I'm starting to feel like Steven Wright - not necessarily a bad thing!
Taking Woodstock: Even going in with low expectations, this offering from Ang Lee just wasn't good. Vilma was a high point in an otherwise shoddy effort. Harsh, eh? And watch out, world - it's only 6:30 AM!
Julie and Julia: I was not as bothered by Julie as some reviewers were - maybe because I liked seeing a blogger hit the big time. Meryl Streep was amazing as Julia .. and this is definitely not a movie to see on an empty stomach! Never have I enjoyed watching people eat as much as I did watching this flick!
500 Days of Summer: I think I wasn't supposed to, but I loved it. Engaging characters and script, great soundtrack. Not as quirky and lovable as "Away We Go" - but not far behind, either.
Whatever Works: People either like or hate this latest offering from Woody Allen. I must admit that it's a little weird to see this May-December relationship on-screen, feeling so creeped out by Woody's real-life choices. But I'd say he pulls it off. There are some really great lines throughout the movie, and while not entirely believable, I didn't mind being along for the ride. A pleasant diversion for sure.
Goodbye, Solo: Interesting movie that basically contrasts life energy and death energy, IMHO. Solo is the epitome of resilience - love him! Meanwhile William seems bent on being miserable, for reasons that the movie leaves mysterious. I didn't find him very a likable or compelling character - but Solo makes up for it.
Moon: I hesitate to write this one up, as I was tired when I saw it - and missed portions. But form my bleary vantage point, this seemed an intriguing movie set on the moon and exploring themes of identity, isolation, etc. It was not my usual fare - and I wasn't up to snuff - but at least had the wherewithall to be able tell that it was quality work!
Cheri: I liked this a lot better than Easy Virtue - maybe because I went into it having already seen EV and had my expectations lowered. Michelle Pfeiffer and Kathy Bates are fun to watch as always - and I liked Rupert Friend in the title role. It all got a little too serious at the end - a tone-shift that didn't quite fit with the bulk of the movie. Still - a pleasant diversion on a rainy July evening!
Away We Go: This was an excellent movie in every regard. Great dialogue and plot line, endearing cast/characters, heartwarming/funny story that avoids tipping over into overly-sweet territory ... and great soundtrack, to boot! See it, if you haven't already.
Easy Virtue: Not my cup of tea - but I suspect it would have helped, going in, to know that this was a movie based on a Noel Coward play. The characters felt stilted and unbelievable to me, as it was - and I couldn't muster much concern for what became of them. All things considered, I'd rather have been in Philadelphia!
Sugar: Sugar is a baseball flick that is sweetly and realistically done - and definitely like no Hollywood film on the subject. The characters are real and the life is hard - and the film depicts it all in a matter-of-fact way that brings the realities home more surely than something more "dramatic" ever could. Two thumbs up on this one!
Sunshine Cleaning: Director Christine Jeffs has a winner in this tale about the hard times and resiliency of the Lorkowski family. Amy Adams, Emily Blunt and Alan Arkin shine in this movie about a bio-hazard clean-up company. Yes, that's correct. And the movie had the potential to cross the line into sappiness several times but demurred. For that I am eternally thankful. (Okay, eternally may be a little over the top.) Darn good flick, though - check it out.
Milk: Sean Penn deserves an Oscar for his amazing portrayal of Harvey Milk. It actually didn't even feel like a portrayal - more a channeling. Such a loss - that yet another creative and energetic and good leader, was senselessly murdered all those years ago. Fear, hatred and guns - why don't we remove at least the last ingredient in the tragic mix?
Doubt: Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman are amazing, and Viola Davis is a heartbreaking revelation in this battle royale. I was left with less doubt at the end than some of my compatriots ... but that took nothing away from the experience. Meryl Streep deserves an Oscar, IMHO ... and I definitely want her on my side, always!
Slumdog Millionaire: Just a great movie, start to finish. Magical,epic, and a nail-biter (even though you know what's going to happen ... pretty much. The dancing at the end did my heart good - and having M.I.A. in the soundtrack didn't hurt, either!
The Secret Life of Bees: Or was it The Secret Lives of Bees? Anyway, whatever - I want Queen Latifah to be my mother!!! (What was Bill Clinton thinking, throwing her under the bus all those years ago?) The movie was entertaining but not a home run by any means. Too predictable ... but Alicia Keys was wonderfully cranky-verging-on-scary and the Queen was queenly and the honey looked delicious and it was nice hearing India Arie in the soundtrack!
Happy Go Lucky: I think I was supposed to like this more than I did. Perhaps it suffered by being seen pretty much on the heels of Rachel. I found Poppy to be a sometimes intriguing and sometimes annoying character. The relentless joking and "upbeatness" felt distancing and unnecessary. I didn't hate this movie by any means - but something was missing for me.
Rachel Getting Married: Jonathan Demme and an amazing script and cast just blew me away with this effort. The characters are fascinating and complicated and most every interaction in the film left me engaged and wanting to know more! Debra Winger was stupendous - although it's been so long since I've seen her that I kept trying to find the bull-riding Urban Cowboy persona within the steely, distant mother of this wedding movie. (She's not there.) Margot at the Wedding was very good - but Rachel puts her in her place. I highly recommend this to everyone!
Religulous: Bill Maher skewers the rampant "illogic" of religion in this free-wheeling film. His wit is right on target and as barbed as you'd expect. I found myself squirming every once in awhile. I don't mind you picking on the Pope, Bill ... but same as with Michael Moore ... sometimes when you set up "common folks" to look like fools, I cringe. Still, Religulous is worth a look for sure. The best point Bill makes? That conservatives of a religulous bent are about finding answers - while liberals are about asking questions. I can go with that!
Roman de gare: This was an intriguing, surprising, suspenseful, funny, quirky movie that I thoroughly enjoyed. The characters and plot lines are deftly developed. You should definitely check it out if you get the chance!
Young at Heart: YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS MOVIE! It's a documentary about a choral group of octogenarians in Northampton, MA. Very inspiring ... definitely something to check out!
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day: Enjoyable, light fare with a stellar performance by my favorite police chief, Frances McDormand!
The Visitor: Now this was an excellent movie ... from start to finish. It was similar to Smart People in that it had an academic as the main character. However, all similarities ended pretty much right there. In this warm, funny, and wrenching movie, the characters are well and subtly developed, the plot is (unfortunately) believable ... and there are no false notes. I would urge you to see it - you won't be sorry!
Smart People: Looks like we're getting back on track with our Tuesday night movie schedule ... for the time being. Smart People was enjoyable but left me unenthralled. (It probably didn't help that we ran into a totally enthralled movie-goer on the way in who was seeing it for the second time. High expectations may have killed this one for me.) Overall, I found the characters exaggerated and mildly unlikeable ... the dialogue stilted and self-conscious, perhaps just the way smart people talk. But then the lessons about loosening up and being less self-absorbed weren't exactly ground-breaking. Overall, it wasn't a wasted evening ... but not a movie I'll be putting at the top of my list, either.
4 luni, 3 saptamani si 2 zile (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days): Winner of the Palm D'Or at Cannes, this film by Romania's Cristian Mungiu certainly deserves the accolades it receives. It's a realistic and emotionally unflinching story of a woman who helps her friend obtain an illegal abortion in 1987 Romania. The story is harrowing, the acting wonderful, and the cinematography amazing. This film makes Juno look like Disney pablum!
Taxi to the Dark Side: This was a harrowing and eye-opening look at what our country has become under the leadership of Bush/Cheney after 9/11. The "road taken" has definitely been a trip to the dark side. Disgusting and important to see ... as we make our way back toward the light!
Michael Clayton: What an excellent movie! Engaging, engrossing, well-acted. Tilda Swinton certainly deserved an award for her protrayal of what I have to think must be the secret, inner life of Condi Rice.
Persepolis: This animated memoir is an engaging, heartbreaking, uplifting, realistic look at life in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. Go see it! It humanizes what our current regime so consistently tries to dehumanize. An important movie, Persepolis is based on the book by Marjane Satrapi.
Margot at the Wedding: Dark, funny, tough to watch and very well acted.
I'm Not There: Bob Dylan's not my favorite, but this was a fascinating movie to watch (albeit long) and since he wasn't there, I couldn't very well feel annoyed by him. Cate Blanchette was just amazing - and I loved the surreal, Fellini-esque feel of the Richard Gere parts.
Atonement: Lush, compelling, painful - I especially loved Vanessa Redgrave's starkly powerful 5 minutes - and the Fellini-esque (can you tell I love Fellini?) flavor of the scenes of the evacuating troops on the beach - complete with ferris wheels - somehow depicting the disorienting horror of war in ways that blood and gore never could. Great movie!
Juno: Well, I went to see it. I totally agree with my friends who found the clinic scene extremely misleading, off-base, and gratuitously negative in its depiction of the women's health movement and its workers. In an otherwise nice movie, this was a thoughtless lapse ... and I was sad to see so many women in Juno's age group in the theater (one of them actually pregnant) ... who'll be coming away with a false impression that could so seriously affect their lives!
The Savages: Wow, what a good movie! Philip Seymour Hoffman has had an amazing run this year between this, "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead," and that other movie with Tom Hanks ... the name of which is escaping me at the moment ... Charlie Somebody's War. Anyway - he and Laura Linney are just wonderful as siblings dealing with their aging/ailing father. Painful and real ... and set in gritty, wintry Buffalo ... in perfect contrast to Sun City. (The latter looks like a setting that would do David Lynch proud.) Check it out if you haven't seen it!
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