Beautiful Feet

Is there anyone who doesn't know what "Two Thumbs Up" refers to? While at the TIFF Bell Lightbox to see the Scientology movie (see review, below), I popped into the gift shop. Everyone knows that gift shops are like Costco: they're Hundred Dollar Stores, 'coz you never leave without spending $100.... Hence my purchases of Roger Ebert's The Great Movies and the biographical DVD Life Itself . The former lifted me up, the latter not so much. I decided I would buy the book if one of his 100 essays were about Kieslowski's  The Decalogue : ka-ching! Okay, how about The Passion of Joan of Arc ? Bingo! Was The Wizard of Oz too low-brow? Nope. Did it include other genres, like the Up documentaries? I was thrilled. I'd never read Ebert before. Back in the days of watching TV, I saw him and Siskel bickering away like an old couple, often raising their voices over each other's. In his essays, I found a treasure trove of thoughtful and thought-pro...

First of all, don't get all freaked out about sensitivity to mental health issues because of my title: I guarantee you I am totally entitled to look on this subject with some wryness. That disclaimer out of the way, I want to discuss four films I watched recently which all deal with dealing with crazy people on some level. The Homesman (2014, Tommy Lee Jones dir.) is the most relevant to the title in the genre of fiction--you'll see what I mean later. This quiet but disturbingly sad film demonstrates tight direction of subject matter that could have gone terribly wrong: either saccrine or Mel Brooks-worthy. Mr. T-L Jones and Hilary Swank have to transport three young women who have lost their minds on the prairie, and they have to do it with them in a box of a wagon amidst Indians, bad guys and the elements. Minor roles by John Lithgow, Meryl Streep and Tim Blake Nelson are tied up with a bow, and James Spader shows up later as...well, James Spader, but the two lead roles...

Okay, you can put me in front of a firing squad: I didn't love Boyhood (dir. Richard Linklater, 2014) .  I did love the concept of the 12-year filming, although Michael Apted's got that beat by several decades. And I thought the scene seaming was beautiful, with the year-older Mason going from one room to another, for instance. I even was pleasantly surprised by Ethan Hawke's performance (Patricia Arquette: okay). But I just didn't really care about the characters. Like Lorelei Linklater's. Note to Directors: just because you think your four-year-old's impression of Britney Spears is something to share and is reason to cast her in your major oeuvre doesn't mean you should.  Sheesh. Anyway, it seemed to be full of stock themes in coming-of-age stories--parental imprints, sibling relationships, teenage experimentation--and void of much substantive re-shaping of those stories. And come on: single mom goes to uni, and five years later she is teaching there? Yu...

I spent (unfortunately only) yesterday at RIC for their three-day symposium, a fourth annual event. With international speakers like Dr. Vanessa Schwarz, Dr. Marianne le Galliard and UCLA PhD candidate Nadya Bair, the talks and following Q&A sessions with audience members were informed and sometimes even a tad heated. Definitely setting aside the whole three days next year. Perhaps I've now blown this little gem out of secrecy? It was beginning to be standing room only already. Pod casts can be accessed by the links on this page .   I heard some gem quotes such as " There are four simple words on the matter, which must be whispered: Colour photography is vulgar " (Walker Evans, 1969) versus colour being spectacle and a commodity (Schwartz). I learned about Ansel Adams' zone system that helped him mathematically calculate his photos' composition. I also want to read the important text, Words and Pictures (Hicks, 1951).  I think Nadya Bair's dissert...

I've just returned from my first trip in yonks and will be back to reviewing and recommending soon. And I'm proud to say I did NOT use a selfie stick! La Camicia Bianca Secondo Me exhibit of GianFranco Ferre's work, Museo del Novecento, Milan

Toni Servillo. Photo courtesy of The Great Beauty press kit, www.janusfilms.com This weekend has given me three foreign films about life. Very apt for me at the moment. All three have given me pause to reflect. The first was The Great Beauty ( La Grande Bellezza ), a film by Paolo Sorrentino which won a gazillion awards, including a 2014 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year. The soundtrack (available in Canada under the Italian title) includes wrenching music like  Zbigniew Preisner's requiem and Arvo   Pärt 's  ' My Heart's in the Highlands' .  Anyway, this is best described as something you'd see if Wes Anderson re-did La Dolce Vita . It's funny, pathetic and scathing (mostly about the Catholic Church but no one is safe from the writers: botox users, performance artists, mafia, strippers, wannabe actors). There are over-the-top parties where everyone dances to house music and 'Mueve La Colita' (think rude version of the ...

One of my favourite films is Jesus Christ Superstar . I can watch it over and over. I like a lot of Biblical movies. But The Gospel of John has me excited in a number of ways. If I told you it was performed in Aramaic with the entire gospel read overtop it, would you want to run for the hills? Don't. This is a beautiful film, and the narration goes by quickly. The Gospel of John is available with reading in Spanish or in English with either the NIV or the KJV text. The cinematography is very beautiful, and that, together with the score, makes it arresting to watch. Filmed in Morocco and just released in December, this is one of the connected four gospel versions to come out in 2014-2015. Unfortunately, I don't see the 2014  Matthew version on Netflix yet, where I found this, so I can't draw a comparison, but I can't wait: Matthew is my favourite account of the life of Jesus. So this film surprised me because I have always found John's a bit cere...

  Forget Jian Ghomeshi. CBC Radio One has me reeling this weekend. Yesterday, Sook-Yin Lee was covering the topic of pilgrimage on Definitely Not the Opera, and today on Tapestry, they've crossed the predictable line and were talking about spirituality and film. (Finally. The best course instructor I had in my Masters taught film and theology--yes, you, Adelmo Dunghe, SJ!) You can hear the podcasts at DNTO and Tapestry . Lights, Camera, Religion! Photo Credit: Jessica Diamond Season 20: Episode 18 Can Saturday night at the movies remind you of Sunday morning at church or Friday night at temple? Sure thing, if you see Martin Scorcese's Raging Bull a passion play and the goofy comedy Groundhog Day as a deeply religious film. In this episode, we explore the movie theatre as a place of worship. When you go to the movies, are you tapping into some kind of religious experience? Our guests tackles that question.  John Lyden  is the editor of  The Journal ...

I had been looking for an updated, both-testament version of a Bible I have had for years: the Thomas Nelson Word in Life Study Bible . Then I found one, but was quickly put off when I read a review on amazon.com that said that The Modern Life Study Bible was just a repackaging of the earlier one. I took a leap of faith and bought it anyway because other reviewers were describing something much broader. It did not disappoint. Not only have the editors dispensed with the (frankly) lame line drawings of people and the simplistic maps, but the resources are myriad and excellent. Its themed sidebars are useful and current, the maps are topographical and clear, key verses are listed and summaries provided at the start of each book, and better and more biographies of relevant people are included. The preface also better addresses translation issues and editorial style choices used in this version. The appendices are expanded, and the typesetting and overall design is much c...

I found this lovely posting that was both personally relevant and in fact timeless. How many times I have felt these things in church--and in fact in most public places! The problem of invisible disability is frustrating, to say the least. We don't want to bring it up because people feel they have the right to ask us personal questions and then offer up their own experiences of pain and worst of all their suggestions for cure or symptom management. I have given up sharing it with new acquaintances and play it down with old ones. It's just too painful to try to get understanding. I salute Kit Watson for her contribution: 22nd December - The chronically ill Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Matthew 11:28-30 You probably know several people who have...