Summer Movies
Gotta check in with a few flicks I’ve really enjoyed watching over the last few months. I only have basic cable so I supplement with the three-at-a-time Netflix which is really too many but fills the cable gap well. Sometimes I get a flick or two that I don’t feel like watching and the third one is usually the one I want to watch, so it still works out. I have a friend who got one-at-a-time Netflix and takes her a months to watch it. She’s super busy with her cats and her garden I guess. Ask me if I understand that. Unless you’re married and have any number of children, a full time job and then some, I can’t understand not being able to watch a movie once a week at least. But, there you have it. I have, apparently, too much time on my hands. I don’t, really, I just am avoiding writing. I see it as research. And a way to put me to sleep after a night out or a performance when I’m just too pumped up to close my eyes.
So back to the flicks. I’ve seen lots of films but these stand out because they’re the smaller little indie films that get lost in the shuffle.
Wondrous Oblivion
This coming of age tale about an 11 year old boy who desperately wants to learn cricket may seem predictable and sappy but I found it refreshing and not all that predictable. It’s 1960’s England and the more potent subplot of the story is how a boy learns about tolerance and character when a Jamaican family moves next door and the racist neighborhood that makes life difficult for them.
Shut Up And Sing
I knew who the Dixie Chicks were and was mildly interested in buying a CD but thought they were too country for my tastes. After watching this documentary on the difficulties they had after a truthful moment of expression during a concert, I instantly became a fan. It amazes me how even still today in the 21st century, we want to shut women up. We’re just supposed to look pretty and do our thing and not make waves. The whole point of America is freedom of dissent and expression, whether you agree or not. It’s a really good film.
Water
This is an Indian production by a female director and filmmaker. It’s a terrific story about the plight of a group of widows forced into poverty at a temple in the holy city of Varanasi. It focuses on a relationship between one of the widows, who wants to escape the social restrictions imposed on widows, and a man who is from the highest caste and a follower of Mahatma Gandhi. Of course, I love these stories about women who have to face and survive these oppressive traditions. Even though it’s set in 1938, the practice still goes on today. Great film.
Children of Men
This is a stark, bleak film set in the future where there are no babies being born. Women have become sterile except for one woman who is about to give birth and give hope to the world. Storytelling and the cinematic art at its best. Ultimately, it is a film about hope.
The Italian
This is a Russian film about a six year old boy from an orphanage who is accepted for adoption by an Italian couple and in two months will be sent to live with them. Only he worries that his birth mother will come looking for him and he will have missed her. So he embarks on a search to find her before its too late. This film is totally unpredictable and not as bleak as it sounds. This Russian kid who plays the boy is a genius. Rent this flick.
The Secret Life of Words
I have watched every film now by Isabel Croixet, a Spanish film director and writer, and I love every one. Her second film, “My Life Without Me,” is a gem. This one is tragic and moving and wonderful and inspiring and joyous all at the same time. Tim Robbins plays a burn victim on an oil rig and Sarah Polley plays a hearing-impaired factory worker and nurse living in isolation, who volunteers to tend to him. In the process, they both learn how to mend their wounds. Stick with it, it’s a beautiful story that will haunt you after its finished.
Other fun stuff:
Breach
True story about the FBI agent who spied for the Russians for years before he was finally caught. Good thriller.
The Good Shepherd
Damon excels in this DeNiro directed flick about the beginnings of the CIA. It’s long but stay with it, it pays off.
So back to the flicks. I’ve seen lots of films but these stand out because they’re the smaller little indie films that get lost in the shuffle.
Wondrous Oblivion
This coming of age tale about an 11 year old boy who desperately wants to learn cricket may seem predictable and sappy but I found it refreshing and not all that predictable. It’s 1960’s England and the more potent subplot of the story is how a boy learns about tolerance and character when a Jamaican family moves next door and the racist neighborhood that makes life difficult for them.
Shut Up And Sing
I knew who the Dixie Chicks were and was mildly interested in buying a CD but thought they were too country for my tastes. After watching this documentary on the difficulties they had after a truthful moment of expression during a concert, I instantly became a fan. It amazes me how even still today in the 21st century, we want to shut women up. We’re just supposed to look pretty and do our thing and not make waves. The whole point of America is freedom of dissent and expression, whether you agree or not. It’s a really good film.
Water
This is an Indian production by a female director and filmmaker. It’s a terrific story about the plight of a group of widows forced into poverty at a temple in the holy city of Varanasi. It focuses on a relationship between one of the widows, who wants to escape the social restrictions imposed on widows, and a man who is from the highest caste and a follower of Mahatma Gandhi. Of course, I love these stories about women who have to face and survive these oppressive traditions. Even though it’s set in 1938, the practice still goes on today. Great film.
Children of Men
This is a stark, bleak film set in the future where there are no babies being born. Women have become sterile except for one woman who is about to give birth and give hope to the world. Storytelling and the cinematic art at its best. Ultimately, it is a film about hope.
The Italian
This is a Russian film about a six year old boy from an orphanage who is accepted for adoption by an Italian couple and in two months will be sent to live with them. Only he worries that his birth mother will come looking for him and he will have missed her. So he embarks on a search to find her before its too late. This film is totally unpredictable and not as bleak as it sounds. This Russian kid who plays the boy is a genius. Rent this flick.
The Secret Life of Words
I have watched every film now by Isabel Croixet, a Spanish film director and writer, and I love every one. Her second film, “My Life Without Me,” is a gem. This one is tragic and moving and wonderful and inspiring and joyous all at the same time. Tim Robbins plays a burn victim on an oil rig and Sarah Polley plays a hearing-impaired factory worker and nurse living in isolation, who volunteers to tend to him. In the process, they both learn how to mend their wounds. Stick with it, it’s a beautiful story that will haunt you after its finished.
Other fun stuff:
Breach
True story about the FBI agent who spied for the Russians for years before he was finally caught. Good thriller.
The Good Shepherd
Damon excels in this DeNiro directed flick about the beginnings of the CIA. It’s long but stay with it, it pays off.
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