...of charm and strange: the blog

Between the month of travel, then the month of full-time employment, for most of the summer there's been some factor or another preventing me from seeing all the movies I've wanted to. Summer is such a rich time of year for independent or foreign flicks because, while the multiplexes are clogged with excrement featuring one or more colons in their titles (which is appropriate, considering that most of them were totally ass), the smaller art-house theaters quietly swell with an unusual abundance of quality films that provide refuge for those of us who didn't need another movie based on a video game or comic book.

So finally, last week I started having enough spare time to run out and catch up on all the little movies everyone has been talking about. Having no job, school, or friends, I am now free to spend all day at the cheap matinees, if by "cheap" you mean "still costing more than full evening prices used to cost when I was in high school." But I can still pretend that I'm not totally being ripped off. Even though I am.

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Okay, this is a big movie everyone has been talking about. But a quality summer blockbuster is definitely something I had to go out and see for myself. I resisted it for so long, for the following reasons: (a) it is based on a theme park ride, (b) it is a pirate movie, (c) it has yet another bloated colon-title, and (d) it is based on a theme park ride. But of course I loved it as much as everyone else did. Jack Sparrow was channeling Guy Pearce's character from The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. This is a total compliment.

Dirty Pretty Things. It was weird to hear Audrey Tautou speaking English, albeit not very well. This is one of my favorite flicks from this last week. When we finally saw white people in the movie, I was like, "Damn! They have white people in London?" It really brings you to another world. This dark, character-driven thriller takes you to places that will make you shudder.

Whale Rider. I didn't cry like a little girl with a skinned knee the way everyone at SIFF did (get it together, people!), but I did very much like this one. Structurally, it's not terribly different from most "believing in yourself and overcoming obstacles" movies, but it has such rich cultural content and heartfelt performances all around. It definitely doesn't hit you over the head with its message like most of these movies do.

Lost in Translation. See Sunday's entry.

Winged Migration. I am a firm believer that all birds possess innate and flawless comic timing. They know how to bring the funny! Birds are simultaneously so ridiculous and so majestic. Every shot in this movie is so gorgeous, I forgot to feel silly that I was watching birds fly around for an hour and a half.

Swimming Pool. They don't make enough movies about writers. This one perfectly captures the elusive nature of the muse, and multi-tasks as a mesmerizingly atmospheric thriller along the way. Like Identity (which I DID like), the surprise ending changes the way you have to think about everything that has happened before. Some people hate this. I love it. Also, Ludivine Sagnier's breasts should have gotten top billing for how prominent they are in the film. Ludivine Sagnier's breasts should win an honorary Oscar for being so flawless. Ludivine Sagnier's breasts for President in 2004.

Spellbound. This documentary was so hilarious, the friend I was with thought it was fake a la Christopher Guest for the first hour until I informed him that it was, in fact, real. The reason it's so funny, just like a Christopher Guest movie, is because instead of making fun of its subjects, it simply presents them and lets their words and actions speak for themselves. You may find these kids (and their parents) sweet, funny, creepy, or whatever. Me, I laughed until I swear I peed a little.