movies

Yesterday I saw My Mother Likes Women, a Spanish film that our local free citypaper had described as Almodovar-like -- I'm not sure about how strong that influence was, but it was an enjoyable film. Three adult daughters are forced to confront their own issues when their mother gets romantically involved with a woman. It's not entirely comic, in part because the pacing between drama and comedy was not pat Hollywood. But it has, ultimately, a generous spirit. And visually it was a treat -- the clothes, their apartments, Madrid, Prague -- everything was fabulous to look at. And in a nice touch, the mother is a concert pianist, and their divorced father an author/intellectual -- which in a Spanish film doesn't come off seeming so unusual as it might for something set in, say, Chicago. (NY, maybe. In the era of Woody Allen. But today?)

I tried to watch The Office, the British TV series I've heard so many things about. I made it through one episode, but couldn't bring myself to attempt watching another. Maybe it gets better. But watching a complete boor embarrass himself and others just isn't my cup of tea. There are enough boors in the world as it is, need we celebrate them?

Brokedown Palace turned out to be something rather different than I'd expected based on the trailer. The imprisonment/rescue plot is just a vehicle for an interesting depiction of close female friendship, it's strengths and difficulties. And it's nice to have a movie with a flawed heroine/narrator. There are some psychological twists and turns I didn't quite expect.

And in the total fluff category: Freddie Prinze Jr is charming as the nerdly character in Boys and Girls. Since he's usually the high school stud, it was a nice change. It's not in my top percentile for the fluff romantic comedy genre, but it had some good moments. It's sort of When Harry Met Sally for Gen Y.