Death, Be Not Proud - Emma Thompson in Wit (2001)

I've watched this movie twice in the last 24 hours. It's not funny and sweet, like I prefer my entertainment most of the time. Nor even because recent events in my life have brought home to me, again, just how fragile the people in our lives are.

But, because Emma Thompson and HBO have crafted in "Wit" (based on the Margaret Edson play), an unsparing, wrenching, true, and ultimately beautiful portrait of death and dying. I couldn't look away.

The poetry of John Donne is literally (hah!) another character in the movie. In the last scene, showed here, Emma's character recites again "Death, be not proud" in the way I will always from here on hear it in my head.

Death be not proud though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not soe,
For, those, whom thou think’st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill mee.
Thou’art slave to Fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell,
And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well,
And better than thy stroake; why swell’st thou then?
One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,
And death shall be no more, Death thou shalt die.
by John Donne (1572-1631)

The No1 Ladies' Detective Agency

I've seen all the books appear over the past few years, but have always resisted buying them.  I'm not sure why.  Maybe because I tend to avoid most anything hinting at "literature" or afrocentric or that everybody tells me I should be buying.

What a fool!

Having taken a half-day from work - complete aversion to work today combined with an overabundance of comp time/time-in-lieu not yet taken - I ended up watching the movie I'd recorded from the BBC onto my DVR a couple of weeks ago.

As you can see, this has motivated me to write a blog post for the first time in a month.  And why?  Because my experience was so fantastic, so amazing, I think everyone should know about this.  This wonderful movie was funny, engrossing, empowering, touching, and flat out beautiful.

I guess it should be no surprise really.  With a director like Anthony Minghella, of The English Patient and Cold Mountain fame, there was little chance that this film wouldn't work.  Add in a screenplay co-written by he and Richard Curtis, of Four Weddings and A Funeral (see earlier post) and Bridget Jones' Diary, and you have a wonderful script.  Round all this off with the acting chops of some fantastic actors and cinematography actually shot in the true location (!), and you have a film where everything rings true.  I laughed.  I shed real tears.  And... now I want to go to Botswana.

 But first, I need to read the books.

To Be Loved That Way

I'm watching Four Weddings and a Funeral for what must be the seventh or eighth time and I'm still in love with it, for so many reasons.

1. Hugh Grant in the early 90's was the ultimate leading man.  What was there not to like?  Cute British guy, slightly bumbling like we all (American girls) imagined cute British boys to be.  And that accent!  This was before the "incident" of course.
2. Romance, romance, romance.
3. With English accents!
4. Even though I can't stand her now (she's the worst part of the movie for me), Andie McDowell was one of my first role models for the whole American girl living abroad idea.
5. I love the idea of such a disparate but fun group of friends.  
6. Gorgeous wedding locations - village churches, Scottish castles... loved them all.
7. Weddings.  Like so many other girls, I still wish it would happen for me.
8. It's actually been awhile since I last watched it and doing it for the first time while living in Ireland gives it a whole other resonance.  There's actually a sense of familiarity now for the landscapes, the city locations, the characterizations.  And, yes, the accents!  Less exotic, but fun in a different way.
9. Great soundtrack.  I especially like Love Is All Around by Wet Wet Wet.  Mostly because of it's fantastic cover and co-starring role in another of my favorite movies, Love Actually.  Again with the Hugh Grant!
10. Finally, what for me is one of the most poignant scenes of any movie I've seen.  Matthew's reading of W.H. Auden's poem, Funeral Blues, at Gareth's funeral.  Isn't that what we all want, to be loved like that?

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead,
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last for ever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

"Stop All The Clocks"

Girl Alone in the Dark

So I get a call from a friend saying "hey, wanna catch a movie?" Well, in somewhat less American terminology. I'm leaving the gym feeling virtuous and tomorrow's a holiday, so I release my spontaneous side and jump on board.

Of course, since this is my life, she got irrevocably delayed (reasons very valid), so I end of watching Shutter Island by myself. In the dark.

Now, this is NOT a movie you really want to see by yourself. I felt kind of silly doing the fingers across my eyes thing with no one else familiar beside me to get the joke... and share the fear.

Suffice it to say... freaky movie. Really good and not at all horror, which I was afraid it was going to be, but freaky. I won't tell you what other freaky but good movie it reminds me of - I hate spoilers - but once you see it yourself you'll know exactly which movie I mean.

Just don't see it alone.

Baby Love

Babies is a documentary film that followed four babies from across the globe for the first two years of their lives.

Just saw the trailer and all the oxytocin in my brain stood up and sang "hallelujah!"

I have GOT to see this movie! Why, oh why do we have to wait till May?

Speaking of Sci-Fi

Check out this very funny post from NPR's pop culture blog Monkey See - Five Ways Movie Governments Could Respond More Effectively To Alien Invasions.

I think they are all good guidelines that I hope our governments will pay close attention to. Last thing we need is for them to act as stupidly when the real thing comes a-knockin' as they always seem to do in the movies!

New Favorite Movie Moment

The Lake House (Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves) - that moment at the end when they're walking toward each other and they finally meet in the same frame and Sandra says "You waited..."

I love SB, though I usually think of her as a comedic rather than a romantic heroine. And I would usually laugh at the idea of KR as anything close to a romantic hero. But, it works here. He works here. His stiffness and lack of chemistry isn't so much of a factor in this storyline since so much of it is told from their individual perspective and voices, and the medium of letters itself requires a certain amount of distance and looking inward.

The movie's logic/timeline is a little befuddling, but that ending? A sweet and wonderful moment.

I Hate To Say It...

... but I loved it! The name evokes cult, B-movie patheticness. "Snakes On A Plane". Really? It's like it was designed to be a joke from the start.

But, the sad thing is? It's AMAZING! Good acting by some excellent actors (Samuel L. Jackson and Julianna Margulies) and hysterically funny, even when icky snakes are attacking perfectly innocent movie stereotypes in the grossest and most unlikely ways possible.

I HATE scary movies. I hate gross movies. I hate movies with dead people and unnecessary violence. But it's done so well that I had to laugh. So un-PC. But damn good nonetheless!

It's official, my sappiness is incurable

I'm currently helplessly engrossed in watching that pinnacle of horrible TV countdown shows, 100 Greatest Tearjerkers (in British TV and international movie history). And yet, despite knowing that it's designed from the ground up to yank mercilessly at the heart strings by showing the most climactic clips possible from some of the best and worst films and TV shows of the last century, and even with Jimmy Carr's insufferable smirk and snarky comments interjected, I'm still finding it impossible not to react.

Remains of the Day
Mr. Holland's Opus ("the ultimate in manipulative and phony tearjerkers")
Love Story
Titanic
Truly, Madly Deeply
I, Spartacus
Ordinary People
The Color Purple
Braveheart
Lassie
The Green Mile
Sophie's Choice
The Pianist
Four Weddings & a Funeral
Cinema Paradiso
Life is Beautiful
The Killing Fields
Stand By Me
E.T. (#1. The first movie I ever saw and still one of the most moving)

Like a puppet I've sat here for the last 3 1/2 hours welling up over and over again. Ridiculous! But, I defy anyone else to not do the same.

Girl Love

What's not amazing about being a girl?!

Exhibit One: celebrating all things girly with a night out at the Sex And The City movie (slightly cheesy at the end, but mostly a blast). Of course, we properly hono(u)red the spirit of the occasion with the necessary cute outfits and great heels. Dinner conversation centered on one gal pal's fully ripened pregnancy (she was due the next day) and the amazing shoes in the window of the boutique across the lane.


Exhibit Two: My new Salsa and Bachata dance lessons. Being the follower is just soooo much easier than having to think up which steps both you and your partner are going to do. No wonder the poor blokes sweat so much!


Exhibit Three: Visiting a 1st Class (1st grade) primary school classroom this week where, just by virtue of being A Big Girl and having an American accent, I was lavished with love and attention by a mob of the cutest little girls you ever saw. I was still smiling when I went to bed that night! I'm smiling now.

Best. Movie. Ever.

OK, maybe not the best ever, but it felt enough like it at the time that I had no compunctions about teaching this new mantra to my 2 yr old nephew :-) I'm talking about 2005's Pride and Prejudice with Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfayden. Yes, I KNOW it's a couple of years old, but I just saw it, OK?!

I feel sort of disloyal, because I loved the 1995 TV adaptation with Colin Firth (yum). But, I kept flashing back to scenes from it while watching this new version and, sorry to say, I'm having to switch loyalties. This was so well directed and acted, I don't think it could be improved upon. Even though the one kiss happened at the very end - literally, credits rolled right after - this was just so romantic!

Of note: this is another example of why my sister and I are really twins at heart. We both think this movie rocks! Although I haven't checked with her about where P&P fits with our previous favorite movie LadyHawke which is still #1 with me! What can I say? I'm a romantic at heart!