I dragged myself through the first third of Lena Dunham’s Independent Spirit Award nominated Screenplay Catherine Called Birdy. I loved Girls up until the last season and have either loved or hated Dunham’s antics over the years. Odd upbringings make for creative geniuses (Safdies, Robert Downey Jr) and Dunham (psychiatrist and artists as parents) is… Continue reading Kicking and Screaming: Catherine Called Birdy
Category: period piece
Mothering Sunday: Stop the Presses
Preface: A quote from Sheila Heti’s book Pure Colour which sums up the special quality of relationships falling on the cusp, fitting my experience with the movie Mothering Sunday: “Sometimes a person is meant to move forward in the world with the one they love at a distance, and that the distance is there to… Continue reading Mothering Sunday: Stop the Presses
News of the World, a Mainstream Media Metaphor
You know what your going to get when you turn on or read mainstream news, you choose what makes you feel congratulated with stories that say, ‘you’re right!’ or ‘be afraid’ which in this sense, means, ‘You’re left.’ Ok enough of my political humor…I’m a moderate for the record, wishing everyone could always compromise and… Continue reading News of the World, a Mainstream Media Metaphor
From N.E. to Gem: Emma
During the first ten minutes of Emma, the confused me was conjuring humorous blog titles, like N.E.mma, (enema, get it?), but then I got it, as in understood who the characters were and what in goodness name the plot was actually about. And being an occasional playwright and screenwriter myself, means needing the audience to… Continue reading From N.E. to Gem: Emma
The Nearness of You: Bright Star, a 2009 Perfection
I started having a fantasy the year James Taylor came out with his version of Glenn Miller’s classic “The Nearness of You”. The fantasy was simple, a slow dance with the man I love (preferably in moonlight or candle light). The man I was dating at the time, a sensitive itinerant painter who would not… Continue reading The Nearness of You: Bright Star, a 2009 Perfection
Last of the Female Director Trilogy: Jane Campion’s The Piano
Again, thanks to the Amazon series “I Love Dick”, I happened upon two older films and a reminder of a third (I had already taken in) from three power house female writers/directors. To recap, I had seen Chantall Ackerman’s film, recently saw Potter’s Orlando, and last night viewed Jane Campion‘s The Piano. And I know,… Continue reading Last of the Female Director Trilogy: Jane Campion’s The Piano
Not AABA’s “Orlando”, But Just as Pretty
So I’m watching what I thought was a new Amazon show, I Love Dick (not an Anthony Wiener expose`) hoping to scoop my ultra hip friend Carrie- (only later to be told by Carrie that she saw the show previewed a year ago among many other Amazon shows which were voted on, “but wait, I… Continue reading Not AABA’s “Orlando”, But Just as Pretty
The world might be back in order: The D Train and Far From the Madding Crowd
Jack Black is back to dark quirky roles in “The D-Train”, where he plays a desperate man looking for friendship intimacy while rejecting the familial kind. The film’s uniqueness is due to the genuine nature of the character’s actions. We all screw up in real life, get caught up doing embarrassing things for meaningless connections,… Continue reading The world might be back in order: The D Train and Far From the Madding Crowd