Draw Conclusions On The Wall

dd January 4th, 2007

I never thought I’d be saying this, but I am “movie’d out”. This is quite an admission from me since I love movies, from classics to not so noteworthy. But, over the last couple of weeks, we’ve actually gone to a real movie theater four times to see:

• Volver
• Casino Royale
• The Pursuit of Happyness (their spelling not mine)
• Dreamgirls

I liked them all, with “Volver” as my favorite. It’s a tour de force for Penelope Cruz. I must admit my bias here. I love Penelope Cruz…uh, what red blooded, living and breathing male wouldn’t? But, in this film, I loved her for much more than her physical attractiveness. Her acting performance in this movie is clearly academy award material in my mind. The other three flicks are lighter fare, with the latter two being a bit on the schlockly side, although based on true stories.

Sidebar: Here are a couple of observations for those of you who just watch movies via DVD’s and their TV’s and haven’t ventured out to a real theater lately. You have to suffer through about 10 minutes of advertisements followed by 10 minutes of previews. And, then finally the feature starts. And, what’s interesting is that the ads and the previews are tailored to the audience assumed to be attracted to the feature film. So, for example, when we saw “The Pursuit of Happyness” and “Dreamgirls”, which are stories about black people, the ads and previews seemed targetted to a black audience.

Anyway, I knew I was movie’d out when the Netflix DVD sitting by my TV has had no appeal to me for the last couple of days. Oh well, here’s hoping this little withdrawal won’t last long. I’ll keep you posted

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dd December 15th, 2005

I have never understood how my wife could not LOVE really good folk music. After all, the good stuff is terrific poetry set to great music. And in an epiphany it came to me yesterday. Her brain shuts out the words—she’s lyric-blind, or, more appropriately lyric-deaf! “Too much work” she says. Of course that explains everything. For me, music without words is like watching a silent movie—boring and lifeless. Or, like looking at paintings in only 1 color. Perhaps wordless music is good for background noise when your brain really has to fully concentrate. Or, it can be used as background to a good massage, when your brain likes to shut down anyway. That’s about it for me.

My brain soaks up lyrics. To me, the best folk music—e.g. Bob Dylan, Stan Rogers, Steve Goodman, John Gorka, Peter Yarrow and Beth Nielsen Chapman—is poetry set to hauntingly beautiful melodies and harmonies. Can you imagine “Puff the Magic Dragon” without Puff? Or, “Forever Young”, “Where Have all the flowers Gone” or “Give Yourself to Love” with no words? Unimaginable! The poetry in such songs moves me powerfully; it makes me think and question things. It hits me in the face with ponderings about the basics: love, hate, death, life, sorrow, joy, fear, etc. Yet, I appreciate and am moved by this poetry so much more when it’s set to music than when it’s just spoken. My wife, however, likes her poetry without the music and her music without the poetry.

My wife likes classical music – in no small part because it’s just music and no words. I OTOH fall asleep in any classical music concert within 5 minutes. My brain is not engaged; it’s not asked to think or ponder life’s mysteries. I think this is one reason that classical music has such a miniscule audience these days. It’s BORING for most of us who like our music with words.

But, I’m still a little mystified. How come she likes the Beatles or the oldie music in the movie, “Big Chill”? Last time I looked, there were lyrics. Guess I haven’t totally solved this mystery.

Anyway, I just discovered this next amazing and wonderful music. But, please get and listen to the actual song with the beautiful music. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

“Sand and Water”, by Beth Nielsen Chapman. Do yourself a favor and check out her music.

All alone I didn’t like the feeling
All alone I sat and cried
All alone I had to find some meaning
In the center of the pain I felt inside.

All alone I came into this world
All alone I will someday die
Solid stone is just sand and water, baby
Sand and water, and a million years gone by

CHORUS:

I will see you in the light of a thousand suns
I will hear you in the sound of the waves
I will know you when I come, as we all will come
Through the doors beyond the grave

All alone I heal this heart of sorrow
All alone I raise this child
Flesh and bone, he’s just
Bursting toward tomorrow
And his laughter fills my world and wears your smile

CHORUS

All alone I came into this world
All alone I will someday die
Solid stone is just sand and water, baby
Sand and water, and a million years gone by

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dd January 30th, 2005

I just saw “Million Dollar Baby” last night. I thought it was magnificent. While leaving the theater, I was surprised to hear some people were not as enthusiastic as me. I overheard remarks like “overrated”, “ok - good, not great”, “contrived ending”. Hello? To me, this film is a masterpiece!  Sometimes I wonder if some people are reluctant to jump on the “everyone says this is a great movie” bandwagon? Or, maybe other people just enjoy panning films that everyone else likes and prefer raving about those that no one else really understands. Being different, heralding the underdog, whatever. But, I petulantly digress.

What I really want to talk about is why I loved this film and more generally what makes a film great? First, “Million Dollar Baby” is NOT a boxing movie. Boxing is just the backdrop used to explore the most basic of human feelings, longings and relationships. Enough beating around the bush (no pun intended). Here’s my list of qualities that make a film great:

• It stays in your head long after the last reel. Often for days or weeks or years. An example is one of my all time favorites - “The Hustler”. If you somehow missed this classic with Paul Newman and George C. Scott at the top of their game, please rent it. You won’t be sorry. It’s a bit premature to judge “Million Dollar Baby” by this criterion, but it’s certainly still on my mind the day after - witness this long blog by an infrequent blogger.
• It’s riveting. Never for a moment does your mind wander from what’s happening on screen. That was true in spades for me and this film.
• It makes you cry. Well, in my case, that’s not all that hard to do. But, this film moved me and touched me more deeply than any in a long time. Perhaps, in part, because I could empathize so well with the last portion of the film. I won’t give away the plot, but Eastwood nailed it!
• You forget the actors are actors. Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman and Hillary Swank are stars and magnificent actors. I forgot that right from the first reel. They became Frankie, Scrap, and Maggie.
• You can’t imagine any other actors playing the major roles. I defy anyone who has seen this film to suggest any actors who could have done as well as Eastwood, Freeman, and Swank.
• It deals with strong human emotions and hard questions. “Million Dollar Baby” scores a ‘knockout’ here:
  • What makes a life worth living?
  • Is self-fulfillment enough?
  • Striving vs attainment
  • Personal relationships vs. success
  • Love
  • Guilt
  • and many more
• It feels real (sorry no pun intended here either). And, boy does this film feel real, reagrdless if we’re in the boxing gym, boxing ring, a restaurant, or Maggie’s mother’s trailer.
• It makes you laugh.

Was “Million dollar Baby” a perfect movie, without any flaws? Of course not. For example, it leaves you wondering about the problem between Frankie and his daughter. But, it comes pretty damn close to perfection in my book.

If anyone actually reads this, please comment! What great film characteristics did I leave out? Which would you delete?

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