The Screening Room

All About My Mother (1999)

Date of first viewing: Sunday, March 30, 2003

Location: Home
Format: DVD

All About My MotherFinally! A fantastic film. Colorful, crazy, heartbreaking. Almodóvar calls it, "screwball drama." Taking elements from All About Eve, A Streetcar Named Desire, Opening Night, and probably other films I don't know about, this movie explores the ways in which women "act," and in so doing portrays them as thoroughly authentic, not in spite of the artifice, but in some ways because of it."

Two quotes from the movie sum it up: The character, Agrado, a transexual woman listing the sums of money she has paid to modify her body, concludes that every penny was worth it because, "You are more authentic the more you resemble what you've dreamed of being." And Pedro Almodóvar's dedication at the end of this film, "A Bette Davis, Gena Rowlands, Romy Schneider... A todas las actrices que han hecho de actrices, a todas las mujeres que actúan, a los hombres que actúan y se convierten en mujeres, a todas las personas que quieren ser madres.  A mi madre."" (Translation: To Bette Davis, Gena Rowlands, Romy Scheider... To all the actresses who have played actresses, to all the women who act, to men who act and become women, to all the people who want to be mothers. To my mother.)

Thematically, All About My Mother reminds me of another of my all-time favorite films, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, which also deals with issues of artifice and authenticity and is also emotionally deep and moving, despite it's flamboyant surface. This is one of the few films I will see again.

8 Mile (2002)

Date of first viewing: Saturday, March 29, 2003

Location: Home, with Michael
Format: DVD

A disappointment. Eminem shows that he can act, I guess, although he portrays a character based on himself. Even Madonna did well portraying herself in Desperately Seeking Susan. And Kim Basinger is the best I've seen her as his white-trash mother. But the story is formulaic and ultimately forgettable. Eminem won the Oscar for Best Original Song this year. It's catchy, but I don't think it was better than the nominee from Chicago. Whatever.

Y Tu Mamá, También (2001)

Date of first viewing: Tuesday, March 25, 2003

Location: Home
Format: DVD

Sex sex sex and more sex. Two horny teenage boys go on a road trip with an older woman who has left her unfaithful husband. On the way, each boy has sex with the woman and also reveal to each other that they've both had sex with the each other's girlfriends. More substance than a movie like American Pie, but not much more. (The title, Y Tu Mamá, También, is a line from a scene in which one of the boys brags about all the women he's had sex with, "and your mama, too.") Intelligent.

Moonlight Mile (2002)

Date of first viewing: Tuesday, March 25, 2003

Location: Home
Format: DVD

Mostly sharp and intelligent look at the grief of a family after the murder of their daughter/fiance. Susan Sarandon is terrific as the irreverent mother. Jake Gyllenhaal does his usual Jake Gyllenhaal thing. Unfortunately, the movie falls apart into sappiness at the end. And I had such high hopes.

White Oleander(2002)

Date of first viewing: Tuesday, March 25, 2003

Location: Home
Format: DVD

Shimmering blonde women. Too pretty to be taken seriously. A beautiful blonde teenage girl goes through a series of terrible foster homes, mostly run by beautiful blonde women, after her beautiful blonde mother is imprisoned for murdering her boyfriend. Finally, in an attempt to separate from the legacy of her mother, the girl dyes her hair black and adopts a goth girl look. Boy, that'll show 'em. Shallow yet entertaining. Ultimately forgettable.

The Pianist (2002)

Date of first viewing: Sunday, March 23, 2003

Location: Salt Lake City Film Society Theater with Michael

The PianistMichael and I escaped from the current Iraqi war on CNN to a Salt Lake City theater showing war-torn Warsaw in the 1940s. Later the same night, Adrian Brody won the Best Actor Academy Award for his portrayal of Jewish pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman in this film. I am too emotional and tired right now to describe this movie further. It is horrific. It is worth seeing. But it is only a movie, and since it is a true story that happened years ago, we know the outcome from the start -- unlike the true story happening in the world right now. What will be the outcome of our story?

Diva (1981)

Date of first viewing: Friday, March 14, 2003

Location: Home
Format: DVD

Storytelling (2001)

Date of first viewing: Wednesday, March 12, 2003

Location: Home
Format: DVD

The Shipping News (2001)

Date of first viewing: Tuesday, March 04, 2003

Location: Home
Format: DVD

Sexy Beast (2000)

Date of first viewing: Sunday, March 02, 2003

Location: Home, with Michael
Format: DVD

I actually kind of liked this movie. For a gangster movie, it was sweet. Not all the violence -- but the relationship between Gal and his wife, DeeDee. Also, Ben Kingsley is positively terrifying as the crazed gangster, Don, who is sent to "persuade" Gal to do one last job. You're probably groaning, not that old storyline again. But this one ends up in a way you'd never expect.

Pi: Faith in Chaos (1998)

Date of first viewing: Saturday, March 01, 2003

Location: Home, with Michael
Format: DVD

I LOVED this movie. I'll have to add it to my favorites list when I make one. It's freaky weird, and the black and white style reminds me of another freaky weird movie that I enjoyed called The American Astronaut. It's one of those movies where you just have to go along with the premise and trust that the film will be faithful to its own crazy logic. IMDB.com describes it thus: "Dark, hyperkinetic movie about a paranoid mathematician searching for a key number which will unlock the universal patterns found in nature." In many ways this movie also reminded me thematically of the book, Bee Season, even though the two are very different in style and tone. Still, the ending of Pi is like the ending of Bee Season taken to the extreme.