Surprise

I had every intention of posting sooner, even sooner TODAY than right now, but one of my favorite bloggers, Liz of the The Park Bench has returned from a two year hiatus and I pretty much had to stop everything I was doing and read every post she had up until today. Also, I've been listening to "These Words" by Jill Andrews on repeat and it's created a weird kind of sad/happy/wistful/sleepy feeling in me.

On principle, I hate surprises and their dumb tendency to sneak up on a person completely unawares. But these are nice surprises. (Song starts at 3:40)

Moonrise Kingdom

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I've been enjoying Vulture's feature called "The Toughest Scene I Wrote" where the screenwriters of some of the most notable films in 2012 explain the backstory on what they considered the most difficult scene to write of their film.

I was happy to see today's installment was Roman Coppola discussing Moonrise Kingdom. I watched the film with my sisters last week. When it was over, I asked them if they liked it and their response was, "We know you did since you were grinning like a dope for, like, the whole movie."

It is true. There was a lot of grinning. The production values alone were enough to emit an upward turning of the mouth. Add a cast that includes a 12 year old Lana Del Rey-esque loner who knows her way around a pair of safety scissors, Ed Norton in khaki shorts, husband and wife attorneys: Francis McDormand and Bill Murray, SWINTON, Max Fischer flashbacks in scout uniform, an officiating Jason Schwartzman, a non irritating narrator and Bruce Willis.

So many things to love.

New Shoes

I felt weird and blue today. In this situation, I tried the obvious tactics to cheer me up. I went to 6AM yoga. I came home and pestered the husband until he woke up to make me breakfast. I wore my favorite striped shirt. I did my hair. I put make up on my face. I ate a bunch of fun size Laffy Taffys. I wandered the mall testing out perfume and eating a pretzel. I filed my taxes. I am currently listening to Janet Jackson Pandora. And still...

All these years of introversion have created a false sense that if I sit very still, if I am very quiet, bad things will pass by me equally quiet, work schedules and responsibilities won't notice I am there and go away or absorb through me, gradually and without pain.

These past few days, I've had She and Him's "Brand New Shoes" stuck in my head.


I am reminding myself that the dread of the future isn't ever as terrible as I think it will be. The stillness that I cling to is sometimes only the bad part of it.

Austenland

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Our last Sundance screening was last Saturday's Austenland. It was a perfect cap to our Sundance year. Fun, light and (since we waitlisted) a healthy mix of anxiety and excitement. The movie was funny and silly and Keri Russell emotes so well with just a flicker in her eye. Tyra, what? It was also great to see the little bit they did during the credits.

The movie will be released in the summer and I can't wait to see Jennifer Coolidge, Bret McKenzie, James Callis, Georgia King and ofcourse Keri again.

Before Midnight

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Before Midnight was the most anticipated movie on my Sundance roster, and it did not disappoint. The third chapter of Richard Linklater's Before series brings back Celine and Jesse (Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke) this time in Greece. It's been nineteen years since they first met on that train. They're still the same people, reacting to different events. Growing older. Adjusting to the passage of time differently in their early 40s than they did in their early 30s (I was slightly surprised this one came with more humor than the first two films combined, surprised and pleased). 

Spoilers after the jump...

Breathe In

Mike Birbiglia describes love as having a secret, special skill that no one knows about and eventually you meet someone who's like "You have a secret special skill!" And you're like, "I know! So do you!" And they're like, "I know!" And then you're like, "we should eat pizza ice cream together". And that's what love is, a mountain of pizza ice cream and delusion.

I think this also applies to movies. Sometimes you watch a movie and it speaks to you in a way you can't quite describe. Like Crazy was kind of like that for me. For days after I watched the film, I couldn't quite conceptualize why I liked it, only that I did. I could only say, "I just got it."

Breathe In is a follow up to Like Crazy. Kind of. Different film, but with contributions from Drake Doremus (director), Felicity Jones (star), Ben York Jones (writer) and Dustin O'Halloran (composer). The plot is different, but the tone is similar as well as the style.

Sophie (Felicity Jones) is a foreign exchange student, spending a semester of her senior year in upstate New York with the Reynolds family, dad (Guy Pierce), mom (Amy Ryan) and daughter, Lauren (Mackenzie Davis). The decision to come is an impetuous one and Sophie begins her trip homesick and stoic. After a few days, she connects with Guy Pierce's character and they realize they're both wishing for a different life.

There's a strong musical element that played like another character in the film. Guy Pierce learned to play the cello and it was astonishing how comfortable he was. Felicity played the piano and though it wasn't confirmed in the Q&A, it seemed like the playing was all her. Impressive.

It's alluring to have a cute 18-year old Brit talk about wanting to choose her life. Not doing something out of necessity. Not being an idle player. When Guy is talking to Amy about moving into the city if his cello audition goes well, it's obvious that they both have very different ideas about their future. Life is hard enough without our own intervention, but sometimes the silence of not doing something because we're fearful is the greater tragedy. I was absolutely sucked in.

A Bit Touchy

On Saturday, my sisters and I went to our first Sundance screening of the year, Touchy Feely. Though we had loved last year's Your Sister's Sister, the movie was a disappointment. We did our usual movie breakdown/technical analysis of what we found lacking and then all of a sudden, we stopped. I forget who brought this up, but as a kind of pulling back the curtain we thought: Making a movie is hard. There are so many details that go into it, so many factors that can't be controlled. It's a marvel when a movie comes together at all. A miracle when it's brilliant or thoughtful or moving.

Touchy Feely is a film about two adult siblings. The sister (Abby), played by Rosemarie Dewitt and the brother, played by Josh Pais start out as polar opposites that then throughout the film switch roles in a sense. One is an uptight dentist whose favorite place in the whole world is the back office of his dental practice looking at x-rays of teeth. The other is a masseuse who has misgivings over moving in with her (initial) rebound cyclist boyfriend because doing so might "put her in a cage".

For reasons unknown, Abby develops an aversion to touch and she spends most of the movie slowly shutting down. While her brother finds a kind of awakening when his struggling practice picks up. He is, uncomfortably at first, lauded as a TMJ healer. The praise motivates him to study Reiki and his story was my favorite part of the film. The humor and discovery made Abby's story suffer in comparison. Have we learned nothing from season 2 of Everwood and Amy's bangs of sadness? Depression is a real and serious problem that effects millions of people, but it is generally boring on film.

Random side note: Abby's depression pajama bottoms are owned by my sister and she says you can buy them at Target on sale.

Also, Ellen Page has a storyline too. And she is MISERABLE. Or so her hair, bags under her eyes, and quavering voice would suggest.

I am going to try recapping all of the films I'll be seeing at Sundance, but with my softball criticism approach this year, I'll have to see how it goes.