Surely this must represent some kind of pinnacle in the career of French director Jacques Audiard. I mean, how much better can he get? To be part of a room full of people suppressing the urge to vomit (during the murder scene) may not be everyone’s “Tasse de thé”, but it did make for a bonding experience… and from that point on, there could be no questioning the seriousness of Malik’s plight. He did well to survive.
Happy ending? Kind of.
More about this film on IMDb 
Can a child who committed a heinous act at age 10 be rehabilitated? That is the underlying question posed (and unanswered) in Boy A. We had been keeping this one locked up in our box of overlooked gems, and after the previous week’s action-packed block-buster screening, it seemed like a good moment to pull it out and pop it in the player. Just when that decision had been made and the email had been sent out, the horrific details of the Haiti earthquake started coming into clear focus. For a while, we thought of just canceling MovieNight for the week, but then that started to feel silly. What purpose would that serve?
Although Boy A had what most would consider to be an unhappy ending, and it is inconceivable that a happy ending is even a remote distant possibility for the people of Haiti, our lovely MovieNight guests stepped up to the plate (tip jar, actually) and we made a nice donation to the American Red Cross. Thanks everyone.
In honor of our new puppy, Flea, we decided to do a repeat screening of the hysterically funny Christopher Guest mockumentary, Best in Show. In the end, we decided that Flea might be a bit overwhelmed by the substantial crowd. I’m sure he’ll introduce himself to y’all next season. He is heavenly.
A few years ago, I had the good fortune to be introduced to “Nine Good Teeth” and to its director, Alex Halpern (by Bob, who at the time of writing is running just one very small point behind leader Andy in the Successful Suggesters list). Thanks to her grandson’s charming monument to her, Mary Mirabito Livornese Cavaliere, who many of you “met” for the first time on the MovieNight screen as “Nana”, continues to command admiration from the grave. Nana died in January of last year at the age of 107.
As you can imagine, we try very hard to generate interest in upcoming MovieNight features, not just for the sake of just getting butts on sofas, but more importantly to introduce folk to great movies that they might otherwise miss completely. That process involves making a tempting “snippet” of visuals and sounds, and finding a good review to post on the web page. In this case, mostly becaus the film was so little known, it was impossible to find a good review, so I ended up having to use material from the movie’s own website. There were bad reviews, mind you… critics seemed to be bothered that this movie “doesn’t go anywhere”. Who gives a %*$# if it doesn’t go anywhere? It travels around the heart like a shot of Danny Bo’s chocolate vodka. To me that’s going somewhere.
Judging from your reaction last night to Nine Good Teeth, you agree.
Like last week, another fine example of a director returning to form after wandering around in a desert of mediocrity. Although Mr. Demme borrowed heavily from Thomas Vinterberg’s excellent “Festen” and the Dogme ’95 manifesto, there comes a point where “Rachel” simply transcends all of that and becomes its own movie. Ms. Hathaway’s performance is riveting.
Somewhat unusually, I was prepared for MovieNight this week when the first guest arrived. The down side of that? I took the opportunity to shake myself up a Beefeater gibson at the beginning of the night, rather than much later. Of course, one gibson lead to another, and another, and another. My head hurts. In the words of Dorothy Parker:
I like to have a martini,
Two at the very most.
After three I’m under the table,
after four I’m under my host.
Rather realistically, she stopped at four in this quote, so I’m not sure what she would have been “under” if she’d had as many as I. Ground? It doesn’t rhyme. Hey, how about this?
After five I’m somehow still able,
after six, “Goodbye” I’m toast.
Live and learn. Will I ever?
It’s taken rather a long time to write this post, but this was a fun MovieNight. Woody was completely back to form on this one. Part of me wishes that he’d been the narrator, and another part of me is thankful that he wasn’t. You know. The projector performed beautifully, just like it had done before I sent it for repair. I will be writing a separate page about this. Soon.
Speaking of parts of me… perhaps not all of you know how I almost cut the end of my thumb off recently. I’m expected to make a complete recovery, aside from a bit of feeling. Time will tell how the nerve heals. If you’re curious about this injury, you can see a few graphic pictures. Not for the faint of heart.