My 2 films for the month were Calm Yourself (1935, directed by George B. Seitz) and Desert Flower (2009, directed by Sherry Horman).
Calm Yourself was an odd little film, not much character development and an underbaked plot. The film opens with two people kissing, and when the girl's father walks in and starts yelling we discover he (the father) is the man's boss. Kissing Man gets fired, decides to start his own business and names it (ready for this?) "Calm Yourself". His business is basically taking care of tricky little problems that other people don't want to take care of, like firing someone (his own being his inspiration for the company), pawning jewelry, or retrieving drunken husbands from bars. He takes on some cases that all eventually get intertwined with each other, and in the beginning he professes love for the girl he was kissing in the beginning (they were going to elope at one point), and by the end of the film he's kissing another girl who was actually a client's daughter and we're led to believe they're suddenly all "happily ever after". Maybe I missed a crucial character development scene when I went to keep D from getting in the trash (again), but I don't think so. Toss in some policemen, an angry Great Dane, a baby, and a costume party and that pretty much sums it up. Not horrible, but nothing great. |
| Waris Dirie |
Desert Flower is based on the life of Waris Dirie, a famous supermodel from Somalia and now the UN spokeswoman against FGM (female genital mutilation). I first read Dirie's story in the Reader's Digest, back in the 90's when it first came out, so when Carl said he had the film I was interested in seeing it. Her story is a rather miraculous one and very inspiring (although we can't all have that marvelous bone structure). I'm not going to go into too much detail about what she went through as far as the FGM, if you can stomach it look it up, but suffice it to say she was subjected to brutal torture at the age of 5 and endured a great amount of pain until she had corrective surgery as an adult. I will also add a warning that there is a very disturbing scene towards the end of the movie that has to do with the FGM. The film itself was fairly well done, it had some amazing cinematography shots that were breathtaking, and then there were other parts that were kind of "meh" (one scene seemed irrelevant altogether, and there were other scenes that belonged but were too short and choppy and could have used a little work.) or maybe the editor needed a little work. I can't say I recommend viewing it because it's definitely very intense in several scenes, but it's a story worth knowing on a topic that is still either taboo or unknown, and if the film raises awareness than more power to it! I had no idea that such a thing as FGM even existed, much less that anyone would actually think it was a good idea!I had 3 bonus films this month too:
Tangled (2010, dir. N. Greno & B. Howard)- so cute! The classic story of Rapunzel revamped, with some animal sidekicks because hey, it's Disney. A couple scary scenes for little ones, but a lovely story with great animation, cute songs, and the standard Disney love story with a few twists. (and yeah, totally crushing on Zachary Levi now. dude can sing!)
The Conspirator (2010, dir. Robert Redford)- apparently there was a team of people behind Lincoln's assassination and this is the story of one woman who was put on trial for conspiracy and treason. Mary Surratt owned a boarding house that John Wilkes Booth frequented, in addition to allegedly distributing weapons and plans for Booth. I had no idea there was a team of people behind the assassination, much less that a woman was arrested as well. Interesting story, very well done film.
The Next Three Days (2010, dir. Paul Haggis), woman is arrested for murder she didn't commit (or did she?), husband decides to bust her out when they lose the appeal. Tension and drama ensue. it was okay, rather mediocre fare but decent enough that we weren't left disappointed.
I made a partial list of films that I need to see (the aforementioned "you haven't seen that yet??" ones), 4 of them I can view on Netflix watch instantly, and the rest I'm going to browse friends' and family member's DVD collections. If you have any of these, would you be willing to lend it to me? or better yet, bring it to me and watch with me? I'll make popcorn! I'll sell you Mike & Ike's and Raisinettes for $6 a box. It'll be epic.
NETFLIX
usual suspects
blues brothers
2001: a space odyssey
raging bull
Alien
Aliens16 candlespretty in pinkghostthe godfathergoodfellas
silence of the lambspsychoapocalypse nowvertigobull durhambig lebowskiscarfacegroundhog daystand by melife of brian
rockythe truman show
I was just looking up The Truman Show yesterday, when I realized Laura Linney is in it!! I watched it before I knew who she was. I don't have netflix at the moment, but it's going on the top of my list when we re-enroll. :-)
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