Film Reviews

Good evening, Ms J. Happy Monday. How was your day? Mine was fine, thank you. I was bored this morning when I got home from work so I turned on the television. I get about seventy channels and there wasn't one that held my interest. Cooking shows. Talk shows. Soap operas. Infomercials. "The Shopping Network." Oh puh-lease. I walked down to the video store and rented a couple of DVD's. Three of them, actually.

- Life Is Beautiful
- What Dreams May Come
- The Wool Cap

I slid "Dreams" into the machine and went horizontal in the recliner. It stars Robin Williams as a man who dies and goes to Heaven. I like Robin Williams. I thought I'd like the movie. But I didn't. It was artsy-fartsy crap. And I fell asleep in my chair. When I woke twenty minutes later, I replaced that disc with "Life Is Beautiful."

It was better, Ms J, but the damn thing was filmed in Italian and I was forced to read the English subtitles. It was a good thing, though, because it kept me awake. It turned out to be a fabulous movie! It was written and directed by an Italian film star who cast himself in the prime role. I watched the "added features" later and learned that the movie and the man, Roberto Benigni, had received dozens of awards and accolades from the international film community on both sides of the Atlantic. It was a delightful film, Ms Journal. It's a film about Italian Jews during the holocaust. It's a film about Love and about being a Light that shines in the darkness to provide hope. I thoroughly enjoyed it, subtitles notwithstanding.

I had my lunch and then went over to the church to help Karen put away the groceries she'd bought for the food bank. At home again afterward, I still had time for one more movie before I had to return to work. I opened the drawer of my new DVD player, and swapped "Life Is Beautiful" for "The Wool Cap." "The Wool Cap" is an American film starring William H. Macy and based on a book - "Gigot" - by legendary funny man Jackie Gleason. Macy first became known to me as the inept fraud artist in the movie "Fargo". I am a great fan and admire Macy's skill as an actor. This movie was outstanding!

Macy plays the mute superintendant of a run-down apartment building in New York. As testament to his acting abilities, he does not utter a single syllable, yet shows such intense emotion. He befriends a young girl whose mother is a drug addict and together they learn about unconditional Love and about forgiveness. I wept like a woman at the end.

So that was my day, Ms J. T'weren't very thrilling, but it was enjoyable. Damned enjoyable!

G'night now.

***