Movie Time

We watched this last night. It's an eye-opener.

DIRT! The Movie--directed and produced by Bill Benenson and Gene Rosow--takes you inside the wonders of the soil. It tells the story of Earth's most valuable and underappreciated source of fertility--from its miraculous beginning to its crippling degradation.

The opening scenes of the film dive into the wonderment of the soil. Made from the same elements as the stars, plants and animals, and us, "dirt is very much alive." Though, in modern industrial pursuits and clamor for both profit and natural resources, our human connection to and respect for soil has been disrupted. "Drought, climate change, even war are all directly related to the way we are treating dirt."

DIRT! the Movie--narrated by Jaime Lee Curtis--brings to life the environmental, economic, social and political impact that the soil has. It shares the stories of experts from all over the world who study and are able to harness the beauty and power of a respectful and mutually beneficial relationship with soil.

DIRT! the Movie is simply a movie about dirt. The real change lies in our notion of what dirt is. The movie teaches us: "When humans arrived 2 million years ago, everything changed for dirt. And from that moment on, the fate of dirt and humans has been intimately linked." But more than the film and the lessons that it teaches, DIRT the Movie is a call to action.

"The only remedy for disconnecting people from the natural world is connecting them to it again."

What we've destroyed, we can heal.

Movie Time

I'm not quite sure why I haven't seen this film until now. It caught me in the first scene, when the bookseller pulls his cart through town hawking his wares, "Storybooks for women! Sacred books for men!"

Barbra Streisand portrays Yentl Mendel, a girl living in an Ashkenazi shtetl in Poland in the early 20th century. Yentl's Father, Rebbe Mendel (Nehemiah Persoff), secretly instructs her in the Talmud despite the proscription of such study by women according to the custom of her community.

After the death of her father, Yentl decides to dress like a man, take her late brother's name, Anshel, and enter a Jewish religious school, oryeshiva. Upon entering the yeshiva, Yentl makes friends with a fellow student, Avigdor (Mandy Pantinkin), and meets his fiancée Hadass (Amy Irving). The story is complicated as Hadass's family cancels her wedding to Avigdor over fears that his family is tainted with insanity, and decides that she should marry Anshel instead. Meanwhile, Hadass develops romantic feelings for Yentl (as Anshel), while Yentl herself is falling in love with Avigdor. After much turmoil, Avigdor and Hadass are reunited, while Yentl leaves Europe to go to America, where she hopes to lead a freer life.

My Last Summer Matinee

I've read the book, so I thought I should see the movie . . .

Now that I've seen the movie, I want to re-read the book. This re-reading thing's getting out of hand.

Eat Pray Love

- 2hr 13min‎‎ - Rated PG-13‎‎ - Drama‎ -
Director: Ryan Murphy - Cast: Julia Roberts, James Franco, Richard Jenkins, Viola Davis, Billy Crudup

Liz Gilbert had everything a modern woman is supposed to dream of having -- a husband, a house, a successful career -- yet like so many others, she found herself lost, confused, and searching for what she really wanted in life. Newly divorced and at a crossroads, Gilbert steps out of her comfort zone, risking everything to change her life, embarking on a journey around the world that becomes a quest for self-discovery. In her travels, she discovers the true pleasure of nourishment by eating in Italy; the power of prayer in India, and, finally and unexpectedly, the inner peace and balance of true love in Bali.

Top Ten

According to Newsweek, here's Netflix's top ten movie rentals:

1. 'Crash' (2005)
2. 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' (2008)
3. 'The Bucket List' (2007)
4. 'The Departed' (2006)
5. 'Iron Man' (2008)
6. 'No Country for Old Men' (2007)
7. 'The Pursuit of Happyness' (2006)
8. 'The Proposal' (2009)
9. 'Gran Torino' (2008)
10. 'Casino Royale' (2006)

Movie Day Book Club

This past Tuesday was the monthly meeting of the Movie Day Book Club. Last month, we read Home by Marilynne Robinson, and we both really enjoyed it. Robinson's writing is just beautiful, and she explores complicated human issues with both wisdom and respect for the intricate relationship between reality and mystery. But as much as I enjoyed Home, it didn't come near the beauty of her previous book Gilead. Now that book is on my short-list of best novels of all time.

We weren't as pleased with our movie choice this time. It was okay, I guess, but not one I'd really recommend. Here's the synopsis:

ONDINE is a lyrical modern fairy tale that tells the story of Syracuse (Colin Farrell), an Irish fisherman whose life is transformed when he catches a beautiful and mysterious woman (Alicja Bachleda) in his nets. She says her name is Ondine, which means "she came from the sea". His daughter Annie (Alison Barry) comes to believe that the woman is a selkie, a magical seal/woman creature, while Syracuse falls helplessly in love. In the Celtic myth, a selkie is able to become human by taking off her seal coat, and can return to seal form by putting it back on. However, like all fairy tales, enchantment and darkness go hand in hand. Annie hopes that Ondine has come to live on land for 7 years and that she can use her selkie wish to cure Annie's kidney failure. Whenever Ondine is onboard Syracuse's fishing boat, she sings a siren song, and his nets and lobster pots are full of fish and seafood in tremendous numbers hard to believe. However, being Irish, Syracuse (or "Circus" the nickname he is trying to outlive, one he has earned for his previous hard drinking ways) is mistrustful of good luck, with it comes bad. Is Ondine really a selkie, will she stay, can love be trusted? What is Ondine's real secret? And who is the menacing man lurking around town spying on her? Is he her selkie husband come to claim her back to the sea?

Sounds like a beautiful story, right? And it is, in a way. The scenery is breathtaking, and the story, at least in the first half-or-so, is magical. But Farrell's Irish accent is almost impossible to understand, which makes it very difficult to follow the story, and the film has an abrupt change in tone. The end just doesn't seem to go with the beginning.

Movie Day Book Club

This past Spring, a good friend and I started what we hope will be a new tradition for us--a monthly Movie Day. Actually, we could call it our Movie Day Book Club. We choose a book that we both want to read. Then, once a month, we go to Little Rock, discussing the book we read on the drive there and during a nice lunch. Then, we see a movie at Market Street and discuss it on the way home. (Sometime during the day, we usually manage to drop by a bookstore or two and visit Whole Foods.) You're jealous now, aren't you?

Part I:

This month's novel was Wally Lamb's The Hour I First Believed. We both had a love/hate relationship with the book. We thought it was well-written, loved the literary allusions, and liked the questions it raised. However, we found the novel somewhat depressing, the mixture of relatively current real-life events and fiction troubling at times, the PhD thesis interpolation interesting but distracting, and sometimes we just didn't like the main character very much. But overall we were pleased with our choice--lots to think about and to discuss. This next month, we're going to read Marilynne Robinson's Home.

Part II:

Independently, we check out the movie schedule before we go, and, so far, it's been kind of funny--we've each settled on the same movie before we even discuss it. Is this a great friendship, or what? This week we saw City Island. I won't spoil it for you, but I will say that it's a really good movie. It made me sad, but at the same time, I couldn't stop laughing. Out loud. The movie explores how hard it is to be real with the people we know and love best and how our actions are like stones thrown into a pond--they plunk down into our own lives, changing them forever, and they ripple out and touch the lives of our family and friends. Yet the film also affirms the power of love. It's not a depressing movie; it's a life-affirming one. Two thumbs up. Or maybe I should say four.

Pre-Conference Event

One of the really nice things about the Christian Scholars Conference, in addition to the well-known plenary speakers and the excellent cross-disciplinary panel presentations, is the entertaining and thought-provoking extra events. Here's tonights': (don't know why the picture's so dark--blame the CSC website)

BURMA VJ

Ward Hall, Lipscomb University

Wednesday, June 2 • 7 p.m.

Free and open to the public.

Interfaith panel discussion with Lipscomb faculty and leaders of the Nashville Buddhist community to follow.

BURMA VJ is the crowning film in Lipscomb's 2009-2010 HumanDocs social-justice documentary series, which included Garbage Dreams, Made in L.A.,The Age of Stupid, Greensboro: Closer to the Truth, and Freedom Riders. The aim of the series is to stimulate reflection about and encourage action around key issues such as economic inequality, workplace injustice, racism, and climate change – areas of particular concern given Lipscomb's roots in the prophetic tradition of the Hebrew Scriptures and the ethical teachings of Jesus.

HumanDocs is a presentation of the School of the Humanities within the College of Arts and Sciences and the Lipscomb Center for International Peace and Justice, in cooperation with the Nashville Film Festival.

In addition to the public Pre-event featuring Burma VJ Wednesday night, the film screens Friday morning 8:45-10:15 during the Christian Scholars' Conference, followed by a 90-minute discussion, "Burma VJ: Documentary Film as Art, Truth-Telling, and Call to Faithful Action." For more information, visit csc.lipscomb.edu, "Paper and Panel Sessions."

Just for Fun

Human Rights

I warn you: This movie is not for the faint of heart. In fact, it is painful to watch, but if you care about Human Rights and the fate of women worldwide, this is a film you should see.

From a producer of THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST comes this chilling true story. Academy Award® nominee Shorheh Aghdashloo stars as Zahra, a woman with a burning secret. When a journalist (Jim Caviezel) is stranded in her remote village, Zahra takes a bold chance to reveal what the villagers will stop at nothing to hide. Thus begins the story of Soraya (Mozhan Marnò), a kind woman whose cruel, divorce- seeking husband trumps up false charges of infidelity against her, which carry an unimaginable penalty. Soraya and Zahra attempt to navigate the villagers’ scheming, lies and deceit to prove her innocence. But when all else fails, Zahra must risk everything to use the only weapon she has left – her voice – to share Soraya's shocking story with the world. Her shocking story exposes the dark power of mob rule, uncivil law, and the utter lack of human rights for women under Islamic law.

Movie Time

Sometimes, you just can't grade another paper. And Thursday afternoon was one of those times. So what'd I do? Watched a movie, of course.

A young girl seduced by an older man may be a common story, but An Education is no common movie. As Jenny, a precocious middle-class British schoolgirl charmed by a small-time criminal, newcomer Carey Mulligan is luminous; her face can be plain and beautiful at the same time, her eyes expressing a restless intelligence and a hungry soul. As David, the seducer, Peter Sarsgaard (Year of the Dog, Garden State) gives yet another rich, thoughtful performance. The script, adapted by Nick Hornby (whose novels High Fidelity and About a Boy have been made into movies), is full of unexpected details that bring every moment to life. Director Lone Scherfig (Italian for Beginners) has made sure that every character is vivid and real; even seemingly minor moments have texture and vitality. The supporting cast--including Alfred Molina, Emma Thompson, Cara Seymour (Adaptation), Dominic Cooper (The History Boys), and Olivia Williams (Rushmore)--is simply impeccable. In a small but memorable part, Rosamund Pike (Die Another Day) shows an unexpected (and marvelous) comic side. In short, An Education is a funny, smart, and compassionate movie that will launch a great career for Mulligan and be a jewel on the filmographies of everyone involved.

Spring Break Matinee

I didn't just read during Spring Break. I got away to Little Rock one afternoon, had lunch at On The Border, and went to Market Street to see The Last Station. All in all, it was an afternoon well spent (although historically based movies, or novels for that matter, always make me want to go to the library and do research. What was real? What was invented? What actually happened? Curious minds want to know!).

Helen Mirren, Christopher Plummer, and James McAvoy lead an impeccable cast in The Last Station, a sweet comedy-drama about the final days of the Russian novelist Tolstoy. Nineteenth-century paparazzi lurk outside of Tolstoy's estate, hoping to snatch a picture of the rumored strife between the world-famous writer (Plummer, The Insider), who's launched an antimaterialist movement, and his aristocratic wife, Sofya (Mirren, The Queen). Also lurking is Tolstoy's aide, Chertkov (Paul Giamatti, Sideways), who despises Sofya and pushes to change Tolstoy's will to prevent Sofya from inheriting the royalties from Tolstoy's books. Into this nest of conflict comes a young secretary, Valentin (McAvoy, Atonement), who idolizes Tolstoy and strives to live by the principles of abstinence and vegetarianism… only to find his purity tested by sensual temptations (including a headstrong young woman played by Kerry Condon of Rome) and an unexpected sympathy for Sofya. Moments of sly comedy keep The Last Station from becoming overly literary. The movie as a whole lacks the emotional punch it reaches for, but every scene is a polished jewel, expertly and passionately crafted by the actors and writer-director Michael Hoffman (A Midsummer Night's Dream), rich with feeling and social detail. Mirren, of course, is superb, with a wonderful portrayal of a woman who can't help turning her genuine passions into a performance that repels her husband. --Bret Fetzer

Oscar Weekend

Well, this is Oscar weekend. I love movies, but I don't get to see nearly enough of them. Here are the ten (ten! too many, I think) nominees for Best Picture:

Avatar
The Blind Side
District 9
An Education
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air

. . . and I've only see three of them: The Blind Side, The Hurt Locker, and Precious. I went to Market Street the other afternoon and saw A Single Man with Colin Firth, who's been nominated for Best Leading Actor for this role (a really well done film, in my opinion. One of those that gets more and more brilliant as you continue to think about it). Several films are playing there that I really want to see--An Education, The Last Station, The Young Victoria, and Crazy Heart, all of which have received various nominations for Actor/Actress in a Leading Role, Actor/Actress in a Supporting Role, and Art Direction.

I'd love to be in a movie club--something like a book club, where you get a group of friends together, watch a film, and then discuss it.

So many movies, so little time.

Second Class Sandra

From "Oscar Roundtable" in the February 8, 2010 Newsweek:

Let's do some more hyping. Did you guys know that with The Blind Side, Sandra became the first female star to have her movie make more than $200 million?

Sandra Bullock: First chick.

Jeff Bridges: Beautiful!

Bullock: It's nice, but it's odd. It's like, you're female and you've done this! And I go, I know I'm a second-class citizen. I've been aware of that since I reached puberty.

Do you think studio heads are finally realizing that women can open movies just like men?

Bullock: That women are worth something? I don't think they've learned that 100%. It's a business. It's show business. . .

Far from the Madding Crowd

Black Friday.

Yes, I've done it before. The early rising. Fighting the crowds. No parking. Long lines. Aggravation. And this is supposed to be fun?

No, thanks. Today, instead of celebrating consumerism, my daughter and I are going to Little Rock, having a nice, relaxing lunch, and spending the afternoon at the movies.

I guess I'm a rebel at heart.

Another Must-See

If you care about the plight of women worldwide, you should see this film. It highlights the fear and despair experienced by Muslim women under Taliban rule. It is heartbreaking, yet beautifully filmed.

Osama (Persian: أسامة) is a 2003 film made in Afghanistan by Siddiq Barmak.It was the first film to be shot entirely in that country since 1996, when the Taliban régime banned the creation of all films.

The movie was filmed on location in Kabul, Afghanistan. Work began in June, 2002 and was completed in March 2003 with a budget of approximately $46,000 USD. All the actors in the film are amateurs found by the director on the streets of Kabul.

It is the story of a 12-year-old Afghan girl and her mother who lose their jobs when the Taliban closes the hospital where they work. The Taliban have also forbidden women to leave their houses without a male "legal companion." With her husband and brother dead, killed in battle, there is no one left to support the family—mother, daughter, and aging grandmother. Without being able to leave the house, the mother is left with nowhere to turn. Feeling that she has no other choice, she disguises her daughter as a boy. Now called “Osama,” the girl embarks on a terrifying and confusing journey as she tries to keep the Taliban from finding out her true identity--something she increasingly realizes is only a matter of time.

A Must-See

If you haven't seen this film, you should. Several people had recommended it to me, and I just this past weekend made time to watch it. My only regret is that I waited so long to experience this film. It's one of the best films I've ever seen in my life--beautiful, deeply moving, and spiritual. The feast scene brought tears to my eyes.

Written and directed by Gabriel Axel, from a short story by Out of Africa's Isak Dinesen, this Oscar-winning film offers "an irresistible mixture of dry wit and robust humanity" (Newsweek). On the desolate coast of Denmark live Martina and Philippa, the beautiful daughters of a devout clergyman who preaches salvation through self-denial. Both girls sacrifice youthful passion to faith and duty, each turning down a chance to leave their Danish town, instead staying to care for their father and his small church. Even many years after their father's death, they keep his austere teachings alive among the townspeople. But with the arrival of Babette, a mysterious refugee from France's civil war, life for the sisters and their tiny hamlet begins to change, and the feast the woman prepares in gratitude is eclipsed only by her secret.

*1987: Foreign Language Film

Booking It--Like the Very First Time

What book would you love to be able to read again for the first time?

What a great question! The problem is, I want to answer "Every book I've ever read and really loved." I'm definitely a re-reader. Great literature is so rich, so deep, so layered, that there's no way I can fully appreciate it with only one reading. But no matter how many times I re-read a great book, I never again get to experience the same wonderful sense of discovery that I felt during the first reading. I'm never again shocked by a plot twist, breathless at a new revelation, or blown away by an ending I never saw coming.

I think Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible is one. And Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. And Wilkie Collins' The Woman in White. And Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities. And Jodi Picoult's My Sister's Keeper. And Anita Shreve's The Weight of Water. And . . . You see the problem.

I can think of a lot of movies I'd love to see again for the first time, too.

Booking It--Movie Potential

What book do you think should be made into a movie? And do you have any suggestions for the producers?
Or, what book do you think should NEVER be made into a movie?

Oh, this is a hard one. I love novels, and I love movies, but often, the two don’t mix very well. If I’ve read a novel and then see the movie, I’m invariably disappointed over what they’ve left out or what they’ve changed. So, I don’t think I’m going to answer this part. A novel I absolutely love that should never be made into a movie is The Poisonwood Bible. Obviously, it’s way too long to fit standard movie length, but also, I see absolutely no way that they could portray all the nuance and paradox that Kingsolver captures in her work. I’m afraid that it would simply turn into an anti-Christian film, rather than an exploration of how religion, wrongly used, can really destroy people.

The Reader

Tuesday afternoon, a friend and I drove to Little Rock to Market Street Cinema to see The Reader.

I saw a lot more of the current Kate Winslet that I would have preferred, but seeing the aging Winslet was really something—so believable, so well done. And casting Ray Kross as the young Ralph Fiennes was brilliant.

I’m not sure, even now, what I think about the movie. It wasn’t the best I’ve ever seen, but it was nowhere near the worst, either. The film raises so many questions that it does not, or cannot, answer. And neither could we. We discussed the movie all during dinner and on the drive home. It provided plenty of food for thought, which I always appreciate in a film, but no real answers—only layers to peel back, suppositions to propose, theories to explore.

It’s one of those movies that really makes me want to go read the book—not because there was anything lacking in the acting—but a raised eyebrow, a pointed stare, a perpetual sternness, a tear rolling down a cheek; those things can only communicate so much. They must be interpreted. Books, though, let you get inside heads. They provide more clues. The interpretation is much easier.

Well—there’s another book to go on my must-read list.

Trusting My Instincts

I enjoy movies. I like to watch them, and I like to think about them. I even like to have discussions about them. But I’ve never written a movie review.

Over the years I’ve written several book reviews, and I feel pretty comfortable doing so. After all, I’ve studied literature. I know what I like and what I don’t. I have opinions about what’s working and what’s not. I can speak the language. And if you disagree with me, that’s okay. I can handle it.

But film is different. I’ve always wanted to take a Film as Lit class, but every time one’s been offered during my time as a student, from undergrad to grad, it was always during the time of another class that I absolutely had to have. So, even though I do have opinions about the movies I watch, I’m reluctant to share my judgments. I don’t know film history, I haven’t studied the criticism, I don’t know the specialized vocabulary, and that makes me hesitant. I feel unqualified.

That hasn’t stopped me, though, from watching films, privately forming opinions, and reading film reviews. But I have the same procedure with film reviews that I do with book reviews—I don’t read them until afterwards. I don’t want to be told what to think; I want to experience the movie for myself, make my own discoveries, and form my own opinions.

Right after Thanksgiving I went to see The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. (I promise, no spoilers.) I think it’s a really good movie, but there were a couple of things that bothered me about it, and something about the movie overall that I kept thinking about but couldn’t quite get to where the unease was leading. I came home and looked up one of my favorite movie critic’s review, and lo and behold, he brought up each of the negative things I’d noticed and answered the question I hadn’t even realized I’d been grappling with.

Our family went to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button on Christmas night, and on the way home I mentioned that something about it reminded me of Forrest Gump. Later I read a review and discovered that both films were written by the same screenwriter. Ah-ha!

The same sort of thing has happened with several movies I’ve watched lately.

Now, I’m not saying that the film critics and I always agree or that I notice everything they do. Far from it—I have a long way to go. I still want to learn more about the field. But my confidence is growing.