What I Watched -- The Debt

K and I went with her friend M to another one of the SLIFF movies on Saturday night. This time, we saw one called The Debt, starring Dame Helen Mirren, the oh-so-eye-pleasing Sam Worthington, Tom Wilkinson, and the beautiful newcomer to the silver screen Jessica Chastain. (And for you LOTR nerds out there, Marton Csokas also stars, but you may know him better as Celeborn.) Wow, that was a linkalicious paragraph.

I shouldn't joke, though, because this movie is deadly serious. It's the story of three Israeli Mossad agents sent to Berlin in the 1960s. Their mission is to capture and bring to Israel for trial the man known as the Surgeon of Birkenau, who is famous for the brutal manipulations he inflicted on Jews in the camp during WWII. They find him, sure enough. But not everything is smooth sailing.

The first thing I noticed about this movie is how well the actors used their faces to express their emotions. At the beginning, for instance, Rachel's (Helen Mirren's) daughter is presenting a book she has written about her mother's adventure in Berlin. When she says how proud she is of her mom, you can tell Rachel is uncomfortable with the praise, but you don't know why. That's what the rest of the movie is for. There are many other similar examples, but I'll stop there to avoid giving away the secrets.

It's pretty clear in this movie who the bad guy is, what he did, and why the Mossad agents are after him. And you totally support them in their mission. They are the good guys. Aren't they? Maybe just one of them is. But which one? Even now that the movie's over and I've had a couple of days to stew about it, I'm still not sure.

Bottom line: awesome movie, but why are film festival movies always depressing? I guess it's that artsy thing.

P.S. I like Sam better with short, dark hair. And firearms.

What I Watched -- What's Cooking?

Here come the holiday movies! Thanks to E for reminding me about this super-insane Turkey Day flick.

This is a movie about four culturally-diverse LA families - stereotypically Vietnamese, Mexican, African-American, and Jewish - all celebrating Thanksgiving in their own way and dealing with their issues. And all the families are friggin' crazy in their own way (just like their dinners), which is great for making you feel like your family is actually kinda normal and not so bad to be around!

This movie is reminiscent of Tortilla Soup, although with slightly less emphasis on the food - probably because, when you're trying to tell the stories of four families, there are only so many food shots you can save from the cutting room floor.

Bottom line: a fun story of a crazy holiday. Something good to watch after dinner this Thursday when you're too full to do anything else.

What I Watched -- Shall We Dance

Why are movies about dancing so terribly disappointing, but also frustratingly on point, as it were?

The plot here is totally (mostly) predictable. Once you figure out the kind of guy that John Clark (Richard Gere) is, you know where the movie is going. But there are a couple of really interesting scenes along the way.

Beverly Clark, explaining why people get married: "Because we need a witness to our lives. There's a billion people on the planet, I mean, what does any one life really mean? But in a marriage, you're promising to care about everything - the good things, the bad things, the terrible things, the mundane things. All of it, all the time, every day. You're saying 'Your life will not go unnoticed, because I will notice it. Your life will not go unwitnessed, because I will be your witness.'"

Later in the movie, John apologizes to Beverly for not telling her he was dancing. Beverly: "You could've told me about it though, couldn't you? You j-just completely left me out! Why didn't you tell me John? You've gotta answer that."
John: "I was ashamed."
Beverly: Ashamed of what? Of dancing?"
John: "No, no."
Beverly: "Then of what?!"
John: "Of wanting to be happier. When we have so much. ... The one thing I am proudest of in my whole life is that you were happy with me. If I couldn't-- If I couldn't tell you that I wasn't happy sometimes it's because I didn't want to risk hurting the one person I treasure most. I'm so sorry."

Now that is an apology. Sweet and sappy and well thought out - everything an apology should be. Another thing I can say for Shall We Dance? is that at least it has more actual dancing than Save the Last Dance. In fact, it has quite a bit of it, some of which is rather steamy. Bear witness to this:

And last, of course, there's Richard Gere. He's dashing, funny in a self-deprecating way, very much the Pretty Woman knight-in-shining-armor. How can you not like that?

Bottom line: totally boring and predictable story, but a feel-good movie if there ever was one.

What I Watched -- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1

Holy cow, that's the longest movie title ever. Except maybe The Mysterious Yearning Secretive Sad Lonely Troubled Confused Loving Musical Gifted Intelligent Beautiful Tender Sensitive Haunted Passionate Talented Mr. Ripley. But other than that, longest movie title ever.

Good movie though. I mean, how can you not love Harry Potter? Even if you don't subscribe to the craze in the way the people do who came in costumes last night (yes, they did), the movies are entertaining.

Hermione is fantastic, Ron actually has feelings, and Harry is his usual selfless but sometimes daft self. And that's all I'm going to say about that, because I don't want to spoil it. (That's why it's no fun to write about movies that are brand new!)

Special thanks to P for tickets to the midnight showing!

Bottom line: if you have any interest at all in the HP books or the previous movies, see it.

Facebook Rant

I have to go off on Facebook every now and then. I mostly refrained from doing it in yesterday's post, because I didn't want to dilute my point. But I can't hold back any longer, so here goes....

I am not, as many people know, on Facebook. I've pondered it briefly on numerous occasions, most recently and most seriously after returning from my high school reunion. I didn't want to lose touch with all the amazing people I had just reconnected with! But I also thought about (a) how much less interesting the reunion would have been if I had known what everyone had been up to for all those intervening years, and (b) how I'm still very unwilling to publicize all the details of my life to anyone who cares to investigate.

I know all you Facebook fans will say "but you can set it to super-private!" True. But once you start friending people, it's all over. Your network inevitably expands; it's like there was a Facebook Big Bang, and it just keeps getting bigger. People post pictures and tag you in them. People comment on your wall. People will say "how does it feel to be 30?" on your birthday, even though you deliberately did not put the year of your birth under the "birthday" section, because you didn't want that information broadcast. Once you have friends (and who doesn't want to reconnect with 1,372 of their closest friends?), it's impossible to police your own information. There's just too much of it. And what's more, if you're logged into Facebook and start cruising other sites on the internet, Facebook tracks that. It knows what you buy. It mines your address book for contacts. It suggests people it thinks you should be friends with. It knows where you live!

And this, people, is just Facebook. It's probably the most badly behaved of all the social media/networking sites, but it is by far not the only one digging for dirt about you. Even the beloved Google reads your e-mail to provide targeted advertising.

But here's the thing about Facebook taking over your life. Pretty soon, despite my best efforts to avoid it, it's going to take over mine, too. It will find my e-mail address in your address books. It will know who my friends are. It will triangulate. It will create a Facebook page for me, whether I like it or not. It's coming. Just you wait.

We are who we are

I have been pondering a post for some time which I think has found its moment, mostly because T and I were talking about it the other night. Oh, and because Facebook is making yet another bid to take over the worl-- er, your life.

Last year at about this time, I wrote a post about an episode of Mad Men, pondering our ability to reinvent ourselves. Lately I have been thinking about the same thing, but with a different twist, compliments of the all-knowing interwebs. That Mad Men post asks the following questions: if you spend a good portion of your life pretending to be someone else, at what point do you cease being the person you once were? When do you become the person you're pretending to be?

Think about Don Draper. He came back from Korea and, until his wife started digging around in his desk drawer, was able to completely reinvent himself. He didn't like what he had been, so he changed it. He became someone else.

Today, in the world of offsite data storage, undeletable profile information, and digital interconnectedness, I don't think that's something we can do anymore. We can never reinvent ourselves, not totally. Maybe we can change who we are, but we'll always have to defend who we were. We'll never be able to hide the past; all that information about us that's online - e-mails, address books, Facebook pages, photos, shopping habits, vacation plans, all of it - will always be out there somewhere.

Maybe no one - not even Don Draper - can be free of their past completely, because it's what got you to where you are. But Don was able to keep that past to himself. Like cocktail hour and business dress at work, that's not a luxury we have anymore.

What I Watched -- Winter's Bone

Last night, K and I were lucky enough to snag seats at the St. Louis International Film Festival's showing of Winter's Bone at Washington University.

About this movie: the acting is amazing, and the story is horrifying. Relative newcomer Jennifer Lawrence stuns as Ree Dolly, a 17-year-old abandoned by her dad and trying to rear her two younger siblings while also caring for her mentally ill mother. The sheriff comes to see Ree, and gives her some bad news: Jessup (her dad) put up their house and land for his bond, and he's disappeared. If he doesn't show up for his next court date, Ree and her family will be kicked off the only thing they own - a small piece of land in Missouri's Ozark Mountains.

In an effort to save her house, Ree goes looking for Jessup, who's in trouble with the law for cooking meth. She seeks out members of her extended family - her "kin," as she repeatedly calls them, in a none-too-subtle effort to get them to help her - only to discover that none of them are any too eager to do so. After a little more digging does she discover why: they're all tied up in Jessup's mess, and Ree's questions might land them all in a whole heap of trouble.

The cover photo makes Jennifer Lawrence looks a little bit like Cate Blanchett, but her real face in the movie is much younger, and much more knowing. While being endlessly frustrated by her kin's unwillingness to help her, and despite understanding why they don't, she never stops hoping that they will. And she manages to find compassion in some of them, although usually in small doses and in unexpected ways. But sometimes she finds just the opposite, and that doesn't work out well for her.

The cast is almost all total or relative newcomers, including the kids who play Ree's younger brother and sister. There are four exceptions - people you might know - and only one of those has a major role in the movie: John Hawkes, who plays Teardrop, Jessup's older brother; Dale Dickey, who plays the cruel but understanding Merab Milton, and whom you'll recognize but probably won't know why; Garret Dillahunt, who plays Sheriff Baskin; and Sheryl Lee, the most famous of the bunch, who has a bit part as as Jessup's one-time lover.

Marideth Sisco, who does vocals on the soundtrack and appears in one scene in the film, was present at the screening last night. She shared a few insights, including this: the girl who plays Ree's sister actually lives in the house that they use as the Dolly home in the movie. That's her house! The filmmakers tried to make the movie real, to capture what life is like when you're just trying to survive in a forgotten part of the country. They did a great job, but they couldn't have done it without Jennifer Lawrence.

Bottom line: see it, but be prepared.

Marathon Row

Today I rowed 26.2 miles with my former doubles parter, C! That is a long, long, looooong way. But at least I got a t-shirt to show for it :-)

What I Watched -- Save the Last Dance

This is not a particularly good movie. And it hurts me to say that, because Julia Stiles is just so darn cute. I love her, whether I like it or not. In fairness, though, Save the Last Dance is a tad better than a lot of the movies of its genre. This one tackles a big issue and gets into some character development. It's just that this isn't typically a great style of movie to begin with. We're working within very confining boundaries here.

The movie goes like this: white ballet dancer Sara has to move, for reasons both unfortunate and beyond her control, to live with her long lost father in the Chicago ghetto. She falls in love with Derek (Sean Patrick Thomas), the only black guy in her high school who's going anywhere with his life, and nobody is happy about that - not even Derek's sister Chenille (played by a young but talented Kerry Washington), who's Sara's only friend. Things look bad, but it's not over yet.

However, there is one aspect of the movie that K might appreciate, so I will post about it. (T, now is the time to stop reading, if you haven't already.) Sara's new school is pretty much all black, but for whatever reason, her appearance there does not seem to surprise the student body. Which is kind of cool, and also kind of odd, because I think in real life her appearance would raise some eyebrows. But the serious issue comes out when Sara gets the straight dope, as it were, from Chenille about why everyone has a problem with Sara's relationship with Derek.

Chenille: "You and Derek act like it don't bother people to see you two together. Like it don't hurt people to see."
Sara: "Well we like each other. What is the big damn deal? It's me and him, not us and other people."

Chenille: "Black people Sara. Black women. Derek's about somethin'. He's smart, he's motivated, he's for real. He's not just gonna make some babies and not take care of them, or run the streets messin' up his life. He's gonna make somethin' of himself, and here you come, white so you gotta be right, and you take one of the few decent men we have left after jail, drugs, and drive-bys. That is what Nikki meant about you up in our world.
Sara: "There's only one world, Chenille."
Chenille: "That is what they teach you. We know different."

Now, regardless of your feelings about the statements made, you have to grant that they are pretty thought-provoking, especially for a teen movie. Not the kind of thing you'd expect. Immediately preceding that is a scene with Chenille and her baby daddy, which reveals her life struggles on the other side of that coin.

Kenny: "What's wrong with him?" [Baby screaming in Kenny's arms.]

Chenille: "He don't know you Kenny."
Kenny: "I'm his father, he knows me. What should I do?"
Chenille: "Come around more often."
Kenny: "See, I can't talk to you!"
Chenille: "And I can't depend on you. What do you think I use to raise this baby? Oxygen? He has needs, Kenny, and his needs require money."
Kenny: "Here we go."
Chenille: "And we're gonna keep going until I get what I need from you to raise your son."
Kenny: "I'm doing the best that I can. But do you think that your mouth helps the situation? I'm just tryin' to deal with this shit! I didn't ask for this!"
Chenille: "What? And I did? I climbed on top of myself and got pregnant?"
Kenny: "You know what? I don't have time for this. You want me to take him to my mother's? I'll take him. Now get his shit ready. Get his shit. Get him ready!!"
Chenille: "Oh, no. You not goin' nowhere with my son tonight. Not on that temper, and not with that attitude."
Kenny: "You know what? Fine. Then I won't take him. I'm outta here."
Chenille: "Go ahead, leave. That's what you're good at. Your son ain't seen nothing but your back since he was born!" [Door slams.]

In the special features, there's a similar but deleted scene, which was perhaps replaced by the above fight between Chenille and Kenny. It's less angry, more emotional.

Chenille: "So what, I'm supposed to be happy because you decided to swing through and put a dollar on the table?"

Kenny: "Look, it's more than a dollar, and it's all I got." [Chenille drops the money on the table.] "They cut back on my hours at work Chenille. Money's tight. That's why I ain't been comin' around."
Chenille: "No, money ain't got nothin' to do with it. You don't come around 'cause you don't feel like comin' around. As long as I'm here, you know your son is being taken care of."
Kenny: "That's not true."
Chenille: "We got well baby clinic on Wednesday. You said you would come. You comin'?"
Kenny: "Wednesday? You said Wednesday? Look, the boy ain't sick or dyin' Chenille. It's a check-up!"
Chenille: "Like I said. You do what you gotta do. You ain't got no worries when it comes to him."
Kenny: "And you ain't got no feelings when it comes to me. Yeah, all you do is bitch and complain about what I don't do. And I get tired of that!"
Chenille: "Be tired of it! You ain't gotta see me to see your son."
Kenny: "Yeah, well that'd be a hell of a lot easier."
Chenille: "Then don't see me!"

The conversation continues, and you realize that Chenille is still in love with Kenny, but she knows that he's never going to be there for her and their baby. Tragic.

(Aside: I was googling the movie title to find a picture of the cover to post for you all to see, and I found this San Francisco Chronicle film review. The reviewer has a point that Derek's story is undoubtedly an interesting one which gets overlooked in favor of Sara's, but I especially enjoy how he goes on and on about the racist undertones of the movie, but he can't spell the black dude's name right. It's D-e-r-e-k. It's like he assumes because Derrick Rose and Derrick Thomas are black, that all black people with that name spell it D-e-r-r-i-c-k. Bad journalism. And kind of funny.)

Bottom line: interesting questions asked, but not a good movie. And for a flick called Save the Last Dance, I sure wish there had been more dancing. Although there are about 3 solid minutes of Sara's dance routine at the end - that was the best part!

Dinner at Atlas

Last night we went to Atlas for Dad's birthday dinner, and I have to say that it was an all-around lovely experience. The food was good, the room was cozy, the drinks were tasty. Actually, the place was pretty crowded, considering it was Wednesday. Maybe Wednesday is the new Saturday. Or maybe everyone was just celebrating T's birthday!

For dinner I had the soup of the day, which was a pureed sweet potato soup, followed by the pork medallions with caramelized apples. Turns out red cabbage is pretty darn good! Who knew? And for dessert, K and I split the chocolate cake. How predictable!

Special thanks to K for delivering my gift, as well as her own, with the utmost style. And yes, I'm talking about the frozen peas. All gifts received were consumables, which I strongly support. There was wine, cheese, coffee, and fruit!