Movie Land

In my attempt to NOT doomsurf Twitter yesterday, I came on one of those tweets where you’re asked to name your favorite band, artist, movie, whatevs.

In this case, the request was to name four movies that you were certain you loved more than anyone else.

My quick list?

Brother From Another Planet

The Brother (Joe Morton) is an alien and escaped slave on the run from his home planet. After he lands in New York City, he tries to adapt to life on the streets of Harlem. Although the Brother is mute, he does have great abilities at fixing machines, and he gets a job. As the Brother tries to blend in with his new culture, he finds an apartment and gradually makes friends. Meanwhile, he is pursued by two agents from his home world who are intent on returning there with him. (source)

I totally fell in love with the star, Joe Morton AND the director John Sayles. I was familiar with him from the abso-brill Return of the Secaucus 7. The Big Chill, which came out three years later was a GIANT, slick Hollywood ripoff of this wee indie hit.

I haven’t seen a lot of Sayle’s films but I’d love to do a binge-watch weekend of them.

Second on my list is Run Lola Run.

The setup: Lola gets a phone call from her boyfriend Manni. He left a bag containing 100,000 deutsche marks on the subway, and a bum made away with it. Manni is expected to deliver the money at noon to a gangster. If he fails, he will probably be killed. His desperate plan: Rob a bank. Lola's desperate plan: Find the money somehow, somewhere, in 20 minutes. Run, Lola, run! …the story of Lola's 20-minute run is told three times, each time with small differences that affect the outcome and the fate of the characters. (source)

All I can say about this is that it was a fab thrill ride. Mesmerizing.

Third: Truly, Madly, Deeply. This came out soon after my bestie, my love Kevin Scott died. I was devastated and didn’t know how to handle my monster grief.

"Truly, Madly, Deeply," a truly odd film, maddening, occasionally deeply moving. It opens as the story of a woman consumed by grief. Her man has died and she misses him and his absence is like an open wound. Then he returns. He steps back into her life from beyond the grave and folds her in his arms, and the passion with which she greets him is joyous to behold.
~~~snip~~~
the movie takes a turn toward the really odd, as various new pals of the man return from the next world to join him. This eventually leads Juliet Stevenson to deliver one of the most memorable lines of dialogue of this or any year: "I can't believe I have a bunch of dead people watching videos in my living room." (source)

I sobbed shamelessly in the theater along with the Juliet – I totally felt and understood her grief. When the movie shifted to the odd fantasy bits, I got it. We grieve forever but the sorrow becomes less oppressive/easier to bear. Us survivors – we can get the most out of life at the same time we hold our lost loves in our hearts.

The last of the four feels like a cheat because everyone, or so it seemed, LOVED Wings of Desire – the Wim Wenders' original versus the Hollywood remake

The angels in “Wings of Desire” are not merely guardian angels, placed on Earth to look after human beings. They are witnesses, and they have been watching for a long time--since the beginning.

...We follow two angels: Damiel (Bruno Ganz) and Cassiel (Otto Sander). They listen to the thoughts of an old Holocaust victim, and of parents worried about their son, and of the passengers on trams and the people in the streets; it’s like turning the dial and hearing snatches of many radio programs. They make notes about the hooker who hopes to earn enough money to go south, and the circus aerialist who fears that she will fall, because it is the night of the full moon. (source)

It’s beautiful, luminescent and transporting.

I believe I’ve found a way to make it through these awful last (BETTER be the last) months of the Treasonweasel administration. I'll escape into movies that take me to another, possibly soothing, place.