not a movie review at all

i loved it, loved it, loved it. don't make me say anything else about it or i'll burst into tears.

math, math, math

this article is interesting - it's mostly about how to stop yourself from staring at disfigured people. honestly, it may be common, but it's not something i've ever had a problem with. i think i'm pretty skilled at not staring at disfigured people, actually. but one of the methods they mention is mentally doing "a simple math problem" to re-engage the higher-thinking cortex (instead of the emotional, hormone-releasing part of the brain, the amygdala). and that's a technique i use all the time to keep from crying in public! i summon up my cortex by doing simple division, usually, like dividing by fives or threes. fives and threes work the best for me, for some reason. they're so businesslike. i find odd numbers less emotional than even numbers. okay, i'll stop now, before you begin to think i am a bit of an autistic savant and can't stop staring at me the next time we run into each other.

two movies that made me cry this week

chop shop, ramin bahrani's second film:
























the kid at the center of this film is not a professional actor, and i was kind of prepared for that to be glaringly obvious. but he was amazing - a real kid, in a situation that was heartbreaking and authentic.
























and wendy and lucy:

























this movie filled me with anxiety, as it primarily involved car trouble, poverty, and a lost dog. michelle williams was perfect in it, understated and lost and ageless in an odd way (she could've been 17 or 30). and the poignancy of wendy's love for her dog lucy, the only creature in the world who needs her, made me weep. the tragic love of a good dog is among the most moving of all relationships (and considering the short lifespan of a dog, it's always tragic). this movie was somehow bleak but not without the tiniest glimmer of hope - kind of perfect for the times we live in right now.
























i love this quote from the new york times, explaining the film's R rating:

The rating seems to reflect, above all, an impulse to protect children from learning that people are lonely and that life can be hard.

rachel getting married, redux

i saw it again this weekend with the dancer, and i liked it just as much. and i cried just as much. and i cringed even more during the "rehearsal dinner speech" scene -- i could barely even look at the screen during that scene, actually. i really think this is my favorite movie of 2008.