Fun
Double Feature
Dear Kay,
The mood swings these days are really giving me mental whiplash. I want to escape; I want to dig deep.
For anybody else out there who’s up, down, all around, I offer up two movies I watched recently. Each, I’ll argue, is the epitome of its type.
Exhibit A: Digging Deep
Terrence Malick is one of my favorite directors. He brings a strangeness to every film he makes, a visual beauty no matter how awful and excruciating a scene may be. He loves nature so much, and his wonderment is central to his movies.
The Thin Red Line, which I had somehow never seen until now, is devastating, such a meditation on war. (This film premiered in 1998, a year where I was chasing a toddler and trying to have another one, so it’s no wonder that this movie blew past me.)
I’ve watched a lot of war movies over the years, trying to understand more about how it happens, what it does to us, and why it never ends. This film is easily the most moving war movie I’ve seen—there is so much love and loneliness to be found in this story of a company of soldiers dispatched to the island of Guadalcanal in 1942. Based on the 1962 novel by James Jones, it’s as if Terrence Malick took this war story, based on Jones’s experiences at Guadalcanal, and ran it through the Amazing Malickizer.
If this movie doesn’t make you work for peace, I don’t know what will.
See where it’s available to watch here.
And if you’re new to Terrence Malick, “Where to Begin with Terrence Malick” is an excellent guide.
Exhibit B: Escaping
Meanwhile, The Fabulous Baker Boys is just the best.
Two brothers (played to perfection by Jeff and Beau Bridges, brothers in real life, of course) realize that their two-piano lounge act has finally run dry, so they decide to hire a girl singer. Michelle Pfeiffer walks in, and off it goes, such a great mood piece on ambition, making a dime, facing into the hard choices, and chasing a dream.
Michelle Pfeiffer was nominated for an Oscar for this role, which I’m guessing came pretty much because of the scene where she’s atop Jeff Bridges’s piano on which she lounges like a python, singing “Making Whoopie” to a packed New Year’s Eve crowd and—mostly—to Jeff Bridges.
I watched it on HBO, not sure where else it’s streaming.
Love,
Ann
Also: Ben Chaplin. He’s the other reason to watch Thin Red Line. That’s him in the screenshot above. Sorry, bit of drool on my screen. He’s also in Feast of July.
And speaking of Ben Chaplin, he also has a small part in Remains of the Day (1993) with Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson, a movie that just mesmerizes me every time. Not much knitting gets done, though, I can’t take my eyes off the screen.
Ditto with the other comments for Moonstruck!
The truth about cats and dogs…
Kermit is wonderful! Love it when he has time to appear in the newsletter!
Moonstruck
Know every line by heart, PERFECT casting, always cry when the WTC skyline shows up.
Nice glass of Montepulciano helps too.
I second your recommendation of Moonstruck.
Love the daily snippets, it’s like visiting a yarn shop everyday, along with my morning coffee. Thank you.
The Fabulous Baker Boys! Such a good movie. And though it has a (moderately) happy ending, not so escapist – it’s moving and honest about making a small living in the arts.
Kermit is not impressed
I am glad to hear it is not just me who is “up, down, and all around.” I love the term mental whiplash. Hang in there; Spring is coming.
Kermit wants you to change the channel back to Animal Planet. A big bowl of treats and a few catnip mice would be nice, too.
Tx! Shockingly I’ve seen both. That never happens with your recs. Loved them both too!
I’ve been exploring some new areas of video entertainment lately, including binge-watching something like fifteen 13-episode seasons of a weekly television drama series from Kenya. I’ve been in a strange place entertainment-wise for the past 2 years, 3 months, and 24 days, but am keeping a list of recommendations in case this changes in the future. Hopefully the near future.
What series? Netflix, Prime?
Me too! If you want something different, try ‘Secret Healer’ on Netflix. Sorcery, treachery, politics, true love, and wonderful costumes. It’s Korean, and totally hypnotic. Which make knitting a little tricky…
Both sound way too heavy for anything I want to watch right now; there’s enough angst and crazy going on in the world. I recommend Murder by Death, Bedazzled (Peter Cook and Dudley Moore!), The Wrong Box, Kind Heard and Coronets, lots of Carry GraGr movies.
Alfred Hitchcock, lost in space the 1968 series, Frazier, MASH first season, Nick and Norah, Hercules Piorot, LORT, Hobbit,Stage door, and no tv news.
Sounds good to me!
Kermit!! Resting cat face!!
Not seen The Thin Red Line (yet) but the movie that made me even more determined we should all work for peace was Hacksaw Ridge. I have never been to the cinema before or since and seen a film where every single cinemagoer left the screening in total silence…
I enjoy seeing this wonderful cat. What a great face.
Hahah, Kermit. That face is A+.
Also endorsing Moonstruck. John Mahoney! Olympia Dukakis! And add to the escapism list Strictly Ballroom. Perfection! I can watch it again and again.