Movies, Mom & Me

• 
  Commentary:  Leave it to me. The day after I rummage around until I find a very reasonably priced copy of an old, mostly forgotten movie, I am inspired to conduct yet another rummage for yet another old, mostly forgotten movie and manage to find a new copy of it at a disconcertingly expensive price. Yes, Virginia, I ordered it. I'm not saying I can't afford it. I can. I was just, well, unpleasantly surprised. I'm asking, why isn't this movie more easily and cheaply available (it is in Europe but that's a region 2 area and I don't have an all-area DVD player)? Especially since it is about anti-semitism and fascism in the United States? Is this the reason why it is so expensive in the U.S., right now? Is the current political climate guaranteeing the enrichment of those who are bordering on fascism and anti-semitism?
    So, why am I adding this movie to my collection? Well, during a conversation earlier today with MFS, we talked about how we were both looking forward to the upcoming Barbie movie in which Ryan Gosling plays Ken. We reminisced about my younger sisters' Barbie & Ken days, then slid into a conversation of some of the other movies of the two prominent stars. That's how I was reminded of this movie. We didn't discuss this movie because I couldn't remember the title or much of the content, but, after we disconnected I couldn't get it out of my head.
    In isolation, memories of this movie flooded back. When I saw it (on a streaming service) some years ago it had a profound effect on me, and, by the way, my mother, who was alive at the time. We were riveted by the story and discussed the themes long after the movie ended. This didn't come as a surprise to me because my mother was a military veteran of WWII and I was raised on an island that, at the time I was there, was going through the beginning of a decade's long questioning of whether "Americans" should even be on the island, let alone own close to a half of it. Never mind that it had previously been held by the Japanese, previous to that the Spanish, previous to that the Portuguese. My dad used to joke, when we lived there, that the Australians would probably take over the island next. At the time I lived there, no one remembered the island ever having been other than under the uber-jurisdiction of some foreign country. This still holds true, today.
    My mother and I both related to this movie as citizens and watchers of a world of humans seemingly terminally at war with one another. This movie encapsulates that war within the mind and soul of one person. It is based on a real life lived in real anguish in the long, seemingly never ending wake of WWII and the even longer, probably actually never ending wake of being human. I think the reason the only unused copy of it I could find was so expensive that it qualifies as the most expensive single disk I've ever bought is because that wake is being agitated, yet again, and people are wondering, yet again, why we are having such a hard time living together in peace. It's not about anti-semitism, really, nor is it about fascism, or anti-fascism. It's about the troubled and troubling spirit with which humans seem to have been born and can't seem to dispel. This movie looks at this perplexing situation from one particular perspective, but, as I remembered it, I realized it's really about a bedrock human condition, or perhaps, when I think about it, a bedrock creature condition: the ability/curse of being able to believe. So, I purchased it. It won't be arriving for about half a month. I'll write more, then, once I've watched it and considered it, again.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Ryan Gosling	Danny Balint	Jacob Green	Young Danny	Billy Zane	Curtis Zampf	Theresa Russell	Lina Moebius
  Summer Phoenix	Carla Moebius	Ronald Guttman	Mr. Balint	Glenn Fitzgerald	Drake	Garret Dillahunt	Billings
  Heather Goldenhersh	Linda	Henry Bean	Ilio Manzetti	Joshua Harto	Kyle	Elizabeth Reaser	Miriam
  Judah Lazarus	Avi	Sascha Knopf	Cindy Pomerantz	Tovah Feldshuh	Woman In Shul	Roberto Gari	Ancient Jew

  
  Update 06/17/23:  This movie arrived today, long before I was led to expect it. A very pleasant surprise! I just watched it, and the two special features that contained elaborations of the film. Extraordinary production! It is mind boggling to think that this movie, which is 22 years old this year, is presently pertinent. I am amazed that, being ensconsed in a virulent subset of U.S. culture that has existed for so long, the film remains topical, today, here, now. Ryan Gosling's performance is, of course, spot on, and, and, he is surrounded by astonishing actors, many of whom have earned top drawer status today, just as he has. Realizing this is disturbing, too. It is as though, at the heart of most of U.S. culture, we could have been fighting WWII on the side of the Nazis and, in fact, have been agitating to do this ever since. What is it about this culture?!? Why do we have a history, and present, of flirting with fascism and one of its offshoots, Nazism?!? This movie plays itself out on an undercurrent of answers, but doesn't settle on one in particular, except for this: in the end Daniel Balint (in the movie, Daniel Burros in real life) commits suicide in order to quell his own turbulence. Is that where the U.S., as a once robust empire, now a quarrelsome, fading tyranny, is, finally, headed? There are many cultural and political critics who believe this. Are you a believer? Am I? If so, what do you, or I, actually believe?
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 2001
    Directed by Henry Bean.

Labels: biography3, political5, reflective, ronald-guttman, spiritual2

# posted by gail @ 22:20    0 comments    email......this post

• 
  Commentary:  This movie is the most visually arresting movie I've ever seen. There are set pieces in this film that have stayed with me since my first viewing. It is also one of the most spiritually (that's right, I used "the word") unusual films I've ever seen.
    The film was released for general viewing the year my mother died. I didn't see it that year. By the time it arrived in theaters my mother had expressed her desire to never watch a movie in a theater again. Thus, I'm not sure when I saw the movie, although I know I saw it on some cable movie service. I also remember that, once I'd finished my first viewing, I immediately watched it again. I remember, too, that I was sorry that my Mom hadn't been around to see it. She may or may not have followed the story, but she would have been as enthralled by the imagery as I was and we would have had a satisfying movie watching afternoon, replete with home made popcorn (always a requirement when my Mom watched movies) and cup after cup of coffee. If nothing else, she would have considered it an elaborate, endearing and motivating travelogue (Mom was always up for travel).
    For me, it is simply a movie in which to luxuriate, especially visually, although the story is intriguing, as well. It's an undercurrent story about the confluence of images, adventure, imagination and desire and I can't help but wonder, at the end of every watching, what Alexandria is doing now. It's almost as though I consider that she might have become Wonder Woman, figuratively and literally.
    This is probably one of the most expensive single movies I've ever bought. It's been sitting on my Possibility Shelf forever, more than a decade, now. Today, I was notified it had dropped in price by $10. Suddenly, my hunger for the movie singed my mind, yet again, so, despite its still high sale price, I decided to snatch it up. It's been awhile since it's been available at my local library. They have only one copy in the system and it's been "in repair" for what seems like ages. Time to purchase it, no matter what the cost. As Roger Ebert said in his review of this movie (attached to the title of this post above), "There will never be another like it." I agree.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Lee Pace	Roy Walker/Black Bandit	Catinca Untaru	Alexandria/Bandit's daughter	Justine Waddell	Nurse/Sister Evelyn	Daniel Caltagirone	Sinclair/Governor Odious
  Marcus Wesley	Ice deliverer/Otta Benga	Robin Smith	One-legged Actor/Luigi	Jeetu Verma	Orange picker/Indian	Kim Uylenbroek	Doctor/Alexander the Great
  Leo Bill	Orderly/Charles Darwin	Emil Hoștină	Alexandria's father/Blue Bandit	Julian Bleach	Mystic/Orange picker	Ronald France	Otto/Old Man

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 2006
    Directed by Tarsem Singh.

Labels: adventure4, fantasy4, spiritual2, survival

# posted by gail @ 15:40    0 comments    email......this post

• 
  Commentary:  I haven't watched this series, yet. I'm expecting to receive it today (7/15/22). I have to mention, though, despite its continued popularity, no film critics considered "accomplished" by film media reviewed this series; not then (back in the 1980's) and not now, despite the high caliber talent engaged, the fact that it continues to be lauded as the second most popular mini-series in history (the first one being Roots) and, besides these, it won several major awards. Even its Wikipedia write-up dispensed with its usual "Reception" section on this movie, although it did include a stocked Awards section, of which, might I add, this production was nominated for and won several. Despite this, I had to scrounge to find two reviews, one attached to the title of this post and the other here, written on the occasion of the release of the DVD of the series in 2004. Both are excellent and informative. If you read reviews of video media, you'll appreciate both. In addition, the DVD version I'll be receiving includes a "Commemorative Documentary" that I can barely wait to watch.
    The above linked reviews, despite the fact that I'll be receiving a few more DVDs/Blu-Rays in the same package, guarantee that this series will be the first into which I dive. I find it so incredibly curious that no "critic of prominence" wanted to weigh in on this series. I suspect I will discover why top tier critics were afraid to review this series (even though I'd put good money on the proposition that all of them saw it) and that it will have something to do with being afraid of somehow getting their minds dirty. I mean, a mini-series about a priest falling in love with a woman ... starring the likes of Richard Chamberlain, Rachel Ward, Christopher Plummer, the list goes on and on ... somehow, I can imagine lots of critics cringing, shaking their hands frantically and squealing, "Eew!"
    So, Dear Reader, stay tuned. Although this post remains "Under construction", I'll be completing and polishing it soon.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Richard Chamberlain	Ralph de Bricassart	Rachel Ward	Adult Meggie Cleary	Sydney Penny	Child Meggie Cleary	Barbara Stanwyck	Mary Carson
  Richard Kiley	Paddy Cleary	Jean Simmons	Fee Cleary	Bryan Brown	Luke O'Neill	Mare Winningham	Justine O'Neill
  Philip Anglim	Dane O'Neill	Ken Howard	Rainer Hartheim	John Friedrich	Frank Cleary	Dwier Brown	Adult Stuart Cleary
  Vidal Peterson	Child Stuart Cleary	Piper Laurie	Anne Mueller	Earl Holliman	Luddie Mueller	Christopher Plummer	Archbishop Vittorio di Contini-Verchese
  Brett Cullen	Bob Cleary	Stephen W. Burns	Jack Cleary	Barry Corbin	Pete	Holly Palance	Miss Carmichael
  John de Lancie	Alastair MacQueen	Allyn Ann McLerie	Mrs. Smith	Richard Venture	Harry Gough	Antoinette Bower	Sarah MacQueen

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1983
    Directed by Daryl Duke.

Labels: §4, barbara-stanwyck, christopher-plummer, coming-of-age2, erotic, jean-simmons, john-de-lancie, period7, piper-laurie, religion2, spiritual2, TV3

# posted by gail @ 10:15    0 comments    email......this post

• Who's watched:  M & G, many times
• Mentions:  *1* *2* *3* *4* *5* *6*
• 
  Commentary:  This is a sort of "grahsshoppah" movie, for me, but of a somewhat more serious vein, like listening to Alan Watts tapes.
    Mom enjoys the movie, as well, as adult religio-spiritual fairy tale. We actually view this movie, or parts of it, a lot.
    I know there are many detractors of this movie. I don't care.
    I know people take swipes at the acting, especially that of Keanu Reeves. I don't care, and further, he was playing an icon, being introduced to children in the form of a myth. What the hell were you expecting?   I know the story seems implausible, but the point of the movie isn't to relate a true story, it's to relate a story, like the book that is read to one of the children in the movie.   Finally, if you want to be a film critic about this movie, fine, but, I can't explain why, I can't critique this movie. I love this movie. I watch it at least a couple times a year and have since I acquired it in 2005 (I'm having to rewrite this post on 5/7/2022 because, somehow, while working on this journal, I deleted it). I always watch it with pleasure and in rapt attention, and I suspect I will until the day I die.
  Update 5/08/22:  This is a reposting of a previous post dated 2/7/2005 that I managed to recover.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Keanu Reeves	Prince Siddhartha	Chris Isaak	Dean Conrad	Bridget Fonda	Lisa Conrad	Alex Wiesendanger	Jesse Conrad
  Ying Ruocheng	Lama Norbu	Raju Lal	Raju	Greishma Makar Singh	Gita	Sogyal Rinpoche	Kenpo Tenzin

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1993
    Directed by Bernardo Bertolucci.

Labels: dramaC, dream2, keanu-reeves, pseudo-cgi-animation, religion1, shared-favorite, spiritual2

# posted by gail @ 16:44    0 comments    email......this post

• 
  Commentary:  [4/25/2022] I just finished watching this movie. I'm sure I've watched this movie before, but much later than its release date, as I was only eight years old when the movie was released and was aware neither of religion nor of the Catholic Church nor of nuns.
    My introduction to the Catholic Church and nuns took place when our family moved to Guam (and remained there for thirteen years) when I was nine; that's right, a year after this movie was released. Guam was (and, likely, still is) a thoroughly Catholic island. I had many Catholic friends. I had several teachers in public schools, from elementary through college, who were nuns. The last nun I had as a teacher was Dr. Margaret Stumpf at the University of Guam. She was a habitless nun (as many nuns became, once the Church necessity for habits was abolished). She was also one of my favorite college teachers.
    I was surrounded by the practice and pageantry of the Catholic Church, even though I neither believed in nor practiced Catholicism. By the time I was in junior high I knew the rosary, both the standard version and the special stations-of-the-cross version, because every night of our lives, from 5:45 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. (5:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. on holy days) we were exposed, at home, on television, to "The Rosary Hour", featuring Father (then Bishop, then Archbishop) Flores droning through the rosary prayers before KUAM's entertainment programming began. When I was in college and my younger sisters were in high school the word "nun" became a humorous pejorative indicating that the person (either male or female) to whom it was applied was, well, a bit of a dit (which, itself, meant, a kind of low-brow, unthinking, unintending asshole). At any rate, Guam was so saturated with Catholicism that I was, too, despite not ever becoming Catholic or wanting to.
    Curiously, though, I do remember wondering whether I might like to become a nun. This was probably the time that I saw The Nun's Story, likely on television. I think I found the cheery dedication of the nuns I knew inspiring, although I gave little thought to what would be involved in becoming a nun, especially considering that I was not only not Catholic, I was raised in a kind of Protestant hot-home full of religious discussion but lacking religious practice. It often occurred to me, during this time, that I was not alone in this day-dream, that, in fact, quite a few of my female friends considered exactly the same possibility for exactly the same reasons as me. Thus, I had a keen interest in this movie when I obtained it a few days ago. I think I may have wanted to refresh my memories of my jumbled, ahem, "religious upbringing".
    The first thing I noticed is that once Sister Luke (played by Audrey Hepburn) arrives in the Congo, a lot of the movie is filled with what I can only describe as National Geographic video footage of African tribal life (minus the bare breasts; I guess the producers of this movie felt that what teenagers, in their bedrooms in the late 50's and early 60's, slavered over in the glossy pages of National Geographic, a "family" magazine, was not fitting fare for a 1959 movie screen). The second thing I noticed is the depth of the interpersonal soul-scouring conversations between Dr. Fortunati (played by Peter Finch) and Sister Luke. The third thing I noticed is that the characters of the nuns and their relationships amongst one another were portrayed with a seriousness and delicacy that I hadn't remembered.
    I thoroughly enjoyed watching the movie again. Frankly, I had not retained much of it, so it was rather like watching it anew. I'm glad I had the opportunity to add it to my collection. I agree with someone I read on this movie, I can't remember who, that, although dated, in part, it is likely Audrey Hepburn's best performance, and she was supported by actors who were also at the top of their game. Oddly, my favorite performance in the movie, a bit part, is that of Mother Marcella (played by Ruth White) the nun who urges Sister Luke, in order to address a difficult relationship involving wrestling with humility with one of her fellow nuns, to fail her upcoming final exam at the School of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp. Ruth White absolutely nails the portrayal of this cruel nun who is, obviously, lacking in humility, herself. The performance was so good, so chilling, that I looked up Ruth White and bookmarked her to remind me to seek out more of her video work.
    A miscellaneous note: On February 3, 2020, the America - The Jesuit Review published a review of this film by Nadra Nittle, who praised this film. The Wikipedia article (to which I've linked, below), in mentioning Nadra Nittle's article, tacked on the following sentence: "There is no mention of the magazine's late literary editor Father Gardiner and his support for the source material and involvement in the adaptation." I'm not sure why this sentence was included, unless to attempt to create a tempest in a teapot. At any rate, Nadra Nittle isn't a Jesuit, there is no mention of whether she's Catholic, and I think this one sentence observation underlines a problem the author of the Wikipedia article has with the Catholic church, rather than a problem with the movie or Nittle's review. At any, rate, Nittle's article is far from the only review of praise for this movie. Although Roger Ebert did not review this film, I've linked the title of this write-up to an interesting and far from negative review of the movie by Glenn Erickson, DVD Savant.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Audrey Hepburn	Sister Luke	Peter Finch	Dr. Fortunati	Mother Marcella	Ruth White	Niall MacGinnis	Father Vermeuhlen

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1959
    Directed by Fred Zinnemann.

Labels: biography3, character-study, coming-of-age2, dean-jagger, dramaF, religion2, spiritual2

# posted by gail @ 12:44    0 comments    email......this post

• 
  Commentary:  Under construction.
    Interestingly, there is more than one commentary on this film at RogerEbert.com. There is Roger Ebert's initial review linked to the title of this post, written September 13, 2007. On September 11, 2006, Jim Emerson also wrote an initial review of this movie. On November 21, 2006, Jim Emerson wrote a second review of the movie for the website, as well. In September of 2007 Roger Ebert also wrote two meditations on the film, one published on September 14, 2007, and one, a response to his September 14th review, published on September 17, 2007. Once again, Jim Emerson chimed in on September 17, 2007, with his own third meditation.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Hugh Jackman	Tomás Verde /Thomas Creo/Tommy the Space Traveler	Rachel Weisz	Isabella I of Castile/Izzi Creo	Ellen Burstyn	Dr. Lillian Guzetti	Stephen McHattie	Grand Inquisitor Silecio
  Mark Margolis	Father Avila	Cliff Curtis	Captain Ariel	Sean Patrick Thomas	Antonio	Fernando Hernandez	Lord of Xibalba

  
    My, this movie generated a lot of reviewer buzz, and not just within the Ebert Review Universe. Just check out this link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film. It's funny, because I remember checking it out of the library to watch it when it was first released on DVD. I was slightly gob-smacked by the entire production but was very busy at the time and wasn't able to watch it more than once before it was due back on the library shelves. I'm thinking that I missed quite a bit of the impact of the movie. It was the last year of my companionship of my mother, on to her death. I had no way of knowing she'd be gone in just over a year, but I was also so embraced in caring for her that, well, if she, or I, or we, watched a movie, there simply wasn't time to watch it more than once if it wasn't a part of our collection. At that time, this one wasn't. Now, it is, and I can contemplate it more fully.
    Release Date: 2006
    Directed by Darren Aronofsky.

Labels: §2, darren-aronofsky, ellen-burstyn, fantasy4, magical-realism, prophecy, rachel-weisz, romance5, spiritual2

# posted by gail @ 14:49    0 comments    email......this post

• Who's watched:  M & G
• Mentions:  None
• 
  Commentary:  This movie was recommended to me by another customer looking for movies as Valentine's Day gifts. She and I explained to one another what we were looking for. I had a list...she did not. But, she suggested this movie, and another, which I'm going to return as, after I came home I remembered Mom and I had 'tried' the movie on cable and couldn't get into it. Not even with Gena Rowlands, who we'll usually watch in anything.
    Anyway, I remember being suspicious of this movie when it first came out, around the time that John Edwards became very popular. Not that I didn't find him fascinating, too, for awhile, and my mother was hooked on his shows, but, for some reason that I can't remember, I dismissed the movie without seeing it.
      So, neither of us has seen it, it should be interesting, and I don't know if we'll be keeping it or passing it on to someone else.
  Update 2/14/05: We watched this movie last night. We both found the special effects fascinating, although we made the mistake of watching the movie mid-late afternoon and we definitely have a sun and glare problem in our living/dining area.
    Mom had trouble keeping in her head that most of the movie was taking place in "heaven" and most of the people were dead. First, too, when she oriented herself, she thought Cuba Gooding, Jr. was god, then Max von Sydow (who played Jesus in one of her beloved Bible Movies). She also noticed that Robin Williams mugs his way through the emotional scenes in serious pictures. I'd never noticed this, but she's right. He does. He has an "emotional scenes mask" that is clearly detectable. I remember it, some, from a very obscure picture he made: Being Human; less so, interestingly, in Good Morning, Vietnam.
    She also has her own very specific and very liberal ideas of "heaven"; some of which dovetail with some of the ideas in the movie...some of which don't.
    I found the theology/spirituality interesting, considering that it is being put forth before the public (which wasn't all that risky in 1998; I don't think this is why the movie didn't do all that well), but not as daring as my own. Truth is, I'm not sure whether we'll watch this one again.
    

  Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role	Actor	Role
  Robin Williams	Dr. Chris Nielsen	Cuba Gooding Jr.	Albert Lewis/Ian Nielsen	Annabella Sciorra	Annie Collins-Nielsen	Max von Sydow	The Tracker/Albert Lewis

  
    Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
    Release Date: 1998
    Directed by Vincent Ward.
  

Labels: dramaB, fantasy3, max-von-sydow, popcorn-and-soda5, pseudo-cgi-animation, robin-williams, romance3, spiritual2

# posted by gail @ 10:32    0 comments    email......this post