Departures, Guest Entry

Mary asked me to write a movie review which is quite unusual, as I don't watch all that many movies, and I'm jaded enough that it takes a lot to get me to rave over one. But Saturday night I had the opportunity to see 'Departures', a Japanese film well worth watching.


Here is what one reviewer had to say:


Winner of the 2008 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film: "DEPARTURES" is an exquisite look into a man whose professional career takes an unexpected turn into the world of preparing dead bodies for funerals. The movie is a brilliant and seamless blending of several different themes: how people deal with loss and tragedy (the funeral scenes are quite moving); how the living cling to life through food, music and human contact - and how they instinctively avoid anything to do with dying until it is unavoidable, and how indeed it can be quite messy in several different ways. "moving and absorbing.


My take? One of the best movies I have seen, if not ever, then in a long,long time. The story line was interesting and, as mentioned in the above review, there are several themes addressed within a novel arena. On one hand, it is the story of a young man in the midst of traumatic and transforming career and personal change, and the way he and those he loves deal with it. But the major theme is death. The funeral scenes are sad, funny, but most of all transfixing: a look at the compassion and ceremony surrounding preparation of the dead in a culture somewhat different than our own. I left feeling warmed, hopeful, and enriched. Pretty hot stuff for a six dollar Saturday night in Zumbrota.


My one major complaint was the quality of the subtitles. They were in white lettering which often played against a light background, making some of the lines unreadable. The viewer was still able to understand what was happening, but it was distracting at times, and I would have liked a clearer, easier read.

A reviewer of this film on the website 'Spirituality and Practice' wrote: English novelist and poet D. H. Lawrence once observed: "The human soul needs beauty even more than it needs bread." When we left this film, we exclaimed, "It is just so beautiful!

by my friend Julie

The Fall, Guest Entry

A description of this movie will not do it justice. It wasn't until I saw the trailer that I really wanted to watch it, so if you're in doubt, go online and see the trailer....

The setting is a hospital in 1920's Los Angeles. A wounded stuntman strikes up a friendship with an immigrant girl. He begins to tell her an epic story, which comes to life in stunning brilliance (as imagined by the girl, which makes for some funny moments.) The stuntman has been betrayed by his girlfriend and is permanently disabled, so the story gets darker and darker, and the stuntman uses the story to manipulate the little girl. The story is unlike any other; the imagery is strikingly beautiful. Get your hands on it--you won't be sorry.

by Mary's pal, Deb. Thanks Deb.

Cassandra's Dream

I wasn't very enthused about Woody Allen’s latest dreary drama: a tale of two brothers who choose to become killers as a way to save themselves from financial ruin. The characters didn’t seem real or their actions plausible. I think the point was supposed to be that the lead characters were stupid and wouldn't it be funny to see them try to kill someone. But it isn’t funny. It’s just kind of painful to watch. I like seeing Colin Farrell and Ewan McGregor, the brothers, in everything they do, but this flick what was a dud for me. It certainly was no, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Woody Allen’s prior movie. That movie was so fun and alive. Cassandra’s Dream is more blah and dead.

500 Days of Summer

This off beat romantic comedy has great acting, Zoey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon Levitt, and does not follow the usual pattern of the romantic comedy. Right away a stern narrator tells us that this is not a love story. But the movie is all about romantic love and is from the perspective of the ultimate romantic, Tom, who becomes obsessed with Summer, even though she claims that she is not interested in a serious relationship and that she has never been in love. The struggle of the movie is about Tom trying not to reveal his intense longing for Summer. Levitt who plays Tom is great in this movie (remember him from 3rd Rock from the Sun?). He somehow comes off vulnerable, awkward, and sexy at the same time. He even does a song and dance routine that is one highlights of the movie; it’s a choreographed dream-like dance sequence that is joyous and funny. There were some moments in this movie that seemed too cute like the addition of the preteen little sister who advises Tom on his love life, but overall I found 500 Days of Summer to be an enjoyable summer treat!