I’ve been on a really high-stress schedule, that the only times I evade the weight of the pressure of real life stuff is when I shop online for a few minutes (Retail Therapy works for me, I’m sorry to admit it) or watch stuff on my computer. So far, my sister and I have been on a Woody Allen kick. Again, I’m sorry to admit that I can’t really hate him, but that is an entirely other story that I won’t get into. Because I don’t want to.
Anyway. My sister and I were looking for Woody Allen movies (mostly her, but I facilitated the search). We both love Annie Hall, so I looked for a film I’ve wanted to watch for the longest time: Everyone Says I Love You, which I first encountered at an LFC event called “Under the Stars.” The concept of Under the Stars is kind of like a movie screening… under the stars, lol. This was what they picked to show when I was a senior, only the event wasn’t conducive to focused watching, so I never got to view it properly.
It’s a musical comedy (!) with a lot of it narrated via V.O. by Natasha Lyonne’s character, Djuna. She’s the offspring of Joe (Woody Allen) and Steffi (Goldie Hawn), who’s now married to Bob (Alan Alda). Bob and Steffi have several children under their roof, but they all get along and are fairly level-headed despite being in a typically dysfunctional situation/environment. Although the synopsis is propelled by the love story of one of their children, Skylar (Drew Barrymore) and Holden (Edward Norton), as well as its later tenuous state caused by Charles Ferry (Tim Roth!!!!!), I find that part to be a bit minor when held up to the rest of the goings-on.
The pace and the dialogue are quite snappy. A lot of things happen in the first half hour. I like that he was able to tell such a rich story in a fairly short amount of time, because it almost seems impossible to do these days… I mean, look at this post, even. It’s dickishly long and I didn’t even say anything substantial yet. Ahem. I loved watching this film. I’m so glad I picked it to watch. There were also TONS of cameos including Natalie Portman, Gaby Hoffman, Billy Crudup, and Liv Tyler.
The next film I picked out was The Purple Rose of Cairo, which sounds really, really boring (to me, at least), but it was so exhilarating and fun. I literally had no idea what this movie was going to be about, except that Mia Farrow was in it and played a waitress, so all of the twists and turns were so unexpected.
It stars Mia Farrow as Cecilia, a super frustrated and sad waitress who comes home to a jerk of a husband who does nothing and takes all her money to spend on dumb shit instead of looking for a job and taking care of her. She whiles away the time and her problems at the movie theatre, where she gets to escape, specifically into the film showing then: The Purple Rose of Cairo. One of the characters, a dashing explorer named Tom Baxter (Jeff Daniels) notices her and steps out of the screen and into her life. The rest, as they say, is history. I mean, just watch it for yourself. I don’t want to spoil anyone.
This is such a great film; it asks so many questions and kind of drives the idea of film as an escape but also asks a lot of interesting “What ifs?” Then, it proceeds to answer the questions with the most outrageous answers.
As for the “Oscars Movies,” I’ve only seen Gravity, which launched me into a claustrophobic hopeless panic that I had never experienced before and also made me want to shear off my hair and wear gender neutral sleepwear 24/7; Her, which was so freaking depressing and sad but also so beautiful—funny how that works; and The Wolf of Wall Street, which I rate a hundred douchebags and a half. But it was a good movie, and also: Spike Jonze, lol.
In choclate-y news, I’ve consumed this entire bar of Ghirardelli Peppermint Bark by myself. I am crazy about Peppermint Bark and it’s quite possibly my favorite thing about the holidays. (A joke.) This was Sarie’s pasalubong from her holiday in the States. I don’t know if I like it as much as I like the peppermint bark my college classmate, Jamie, used to make.
I suppose that’s all for now. I have actually a bit of other things I want to write about but I need to work/sleep now and there is always another day for all of that. I mean, presumably.
P.S. Happiest birthday to my grandpa, who is lovely and kind and one of my favorite people. I never really told you that you have always been a hero to me, but I’m pretty sure you knew that already.