Movie: The Sessions

Saw a great movie yesterday, "The Sessions."  Little did I know it was the story of a real man, poet Mark O'Brien.  There is also a documentary about his life here.

Watching the trailer in the movie theaters, I really didn't know what to make of this seemingly comical and kinky film.  What a delightful surprise.  Rich, complex, funny, heartbreaking -- Helen Hunt was brilliant.  John Hawkes at Mark O'Brien was spectacularly human.



What would you do, how would you live your life if the polio virus struck you down at aged 6?  It is a nightmarish scenario and drives me nuts contemplating it.  We do what we can with what we have, and Mark O'Brien created a rich life for himself.  If you get a chance to see this movie, I highly recommend it.  It seems to be in limited release in small art houses.  Such a shame.  Everyone should see it.

So Many Roads

I just watched an amazing movie called The Way, directed by Emilio Estevez and starring his father.  I watched on Netflix streaming.  People on pilgrimage, people struggling with their demons, walking through breathtaking countryside and meeting up with folks from all over the world.

That's really all I can say about it right now.  My heart is full.

Beauty and the Beast

I have always been a fan of Catherine Denueve.  Thanks to Roger Ebert's recent recommendation I watched the movie Potiche on Netflix instant streaming.  She is gorgeous (as always) and it's wonderful to see her as she ages.  The movie is set in the late 1970s and I found it to be a welcome balm against all the current women bashing by GOP idiots.  She begins the film as a sort of Stepford Wife, really, and just wait until you see her transformation!

Without giving away the movie, let me just say that if more women ran for public office, not only in the United States, but the world over, we might see a profound change in world politics.

Speaking of politics, a friend on Facebook linked to this amazing video of Bryan Stevenson.  The statistics he sites on incarceration rates in the country are beastly and shameful.  It takes about 20 minutes to watch, and is well worth it.  It is striking how little discussion there is in this country about our incarceration rates, which, if you look closer, sure look like race and class warfare to me.  I don't what is to be done about it, but knowing the problem exists is the first step.  After watching this video, it is even more laughable when I hear people scorn the Occupy movement as 'class warfare!'  Oh kids, you ain't seen nothing yet.  Class warfare has existed for a long time in this country, and it is not the bulk of our populace who has been coming out the victor.

The Tree of Life, A Review

Forget Wordless Wednesday this week. I saw the movie The Tree of Life.

As we were leaving the theater, an older gentlemen said aloud, to no one in particular, "Does anybody know what that was about?"  Well, idiot-for-brains dear sir, use your imagination if you possess one.
Granted, the Tree of Life is not your average movie made for your average movie goer.  There are no exploding cars or exploitative sex scenes.  I don't think there was even one single instance of product placement.  Instead, this was a non-linear, expansive dream scape of a film.  Even as I was watching it I thought, "I haven't seen anything like this since 2001: A Space Odyssey."  Just as that movie confused the hell out of many people (myself included), so will the Tree of Life.

Open your mind, sit back and behold the awe-inspiring cinematography, don't fret too much about the human details that confound: they will all pull together.

Brad Pitt plays the quintessential 1950s suburban father: harsh beyond all requirements, pressured by the demands of being a family man, a creative soul hidden away beneath the crusty exterior that, he, "Father," can't help but embody. Doubtless we all knew fathers like him: rigid in their standards of behavior and expectations of their children.  Hardened men who missed out on the simple joys of giving and receiving soft, open-hearted love with their children, especially their boys.  And the boys, the boys!  Roaming the neighborhoods in small gangs, leaving a path of destruction as their thwarted anger at Father finds its release.

Interspersed with this faithfully rendered 1950s story are the most breathtaking pictures of the outer reaches of space: exploding stars, nebulae and sea-green clouds blowing in cosmic winds.  We see primordial earth and the film maker's imaginings of spirit after physical death.  And everywhere, everywhere, the symbolic representation of the birth canal from which we came, and likely will experience again on our way out to who knows where.

I left the theater stunned.  The bright blue sky outside both belied and reinforced the experience of seeing the movie.  Like 2001, it is a film I will see many times.