Today I spent the entire day in the Varsity Theaters but still managed to get around the world. Mere happenstance, but I felt like a caged animal and didn’t see the sun all day. Now I remember what it was like to work in the mall as a teenager…luckily, it was a good film day.
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE. Been there, done that, right? I thought so too, but a good chick flick gets me every time. Keira Knightly is of course a radiant Miss Bennett while Donald Sutherland and Brenda Blethyn are charming as her troublesome parents. Judi Dench embodies evil as Lady Catherine. The single thing films like this have to accomplish is to capture the Victorian sense of longing and romance. The touch of a hand, being close enough to kiss but not daring. This simplified version of the oft told tale still makes your heart leap in those moments.
From Victorian England to 1970’s New York and modern day Paris, BLACK SUN (at least the half hour I saw of it) is a remarkable achievement. A portrait of French painter and filmmaker Hugues de Montalembert, this experimental doc blew me away. Hughes narrates as images dance to his story. Sometimes perfectly in synch and others completely disjointed, his descriptions of being blind and how others see is revolutionary. Blinded during a robbery nearly 30 years ago he simply continued on with his life, traveling and creating. I pray this film gets submitted to the Festival, or I will have to track it down to see the rest.
WAH-WAH was a captivating film about a boy (odd turn of phrase since the boy also starred in About a Boy) coming of age in a 1970s African outpost. Based on the director’s own experiences in Swaziland, the stellar cast (Gabriel Byrne, Miranda Richardson, Emily Watson, Julie Walters) creates an extended dysfunctional family plagued by adultery, alcoholism, and being too close in light of their situation. The third winner of the day…could my luck continue?
Apparently it could. Although EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED dragged me back to the narrative slowness I felt a few days ago, it is still a unique turn on a great novel and the Holocaust genre in general. Liev Schreiber proves himself an adept first-time director and Elijah Wood returns to sensitivity after his terrifying spell in Sin City.
Finally, the last film of the day, appropriately the long-awaited PROOF. Gwyneth Paltrow turns in an admirable performance, but I still can never stop thinking Gwyneth Paltrow. It’s a shame, because I wish I could. It is also hard to believe that someone that beautiful could be severely depressed and have no friends…Anthony Hopkins is brilliant as her troubled father while Hope Davis and Jake Gyllenhaal are thankfully subtle as they desperately try to save Gwynnie.
Too tired to go on and excited that it was still light as I walked outside at 7:00, I came back to the hotel to check email, blog and get some much needed sleep. Good night.
Store name of the day: Alien Hair Ship Salon & Spa
Shannon
