A marginal review

I'm back! Life has felt so so small. Started a new job that takes up at least 8 1/2 to 9 hours of my day. How am I supposed to review movies?! I've been a bad movie reviewer again and of course Kathleen has been as on her game as ever. Never missing a beat. It's funny because I recently watched Lovely and Amazing and loved it, as well. The director, Nicole Holofcener takes a risk in that film because none of the characters is particularly relatable or likable--least of all Keener, who is her perennial muse and star. Keener played plucky, aging Homecoming Queen so well. She was entitled and spoiled but she was ABOUT SOMETHING. Sometimes the something was unclear...She was about making tiny, oversized figurines? She was about telling random people to "F*** off"? But she stood up for herself, at least. Holofcener is the Nancy Meyers antidote. Her movies are darker, more somber. Her films feature women who don't have sprawling mansions with breathtaking vistas. Her movies are real and sometimes they make you uncomfortable. I watched "Walking and Talking" a few years ago--starring Keener and Anne Heche. That movie was about losing your best friend to your best friend's boyfriend. Well, it was only marginally about that...Who among us can't relate to that? I remember meeting my sister's college boyfriend when I was an angsty sixteen year old and just hating him. I wanted my sister all to myself! He stayed in our home over winter break and I couldn't even make eye contact with him. Then, as now, I had very few social skills. Sometimes Holofcener skirts the question : What is female friendship when unmediated by men? The answer to that question is so much more interesting than the kiddie pool rom coms that can only ask : What is female friendship in relation to men? In the latter, the sidekick can only comment wistfully or wittily about the boyfriend/prospect. Who cares!?!?! Bride Wars I'm thinking about you....Women have thoughts, you know. Internal lives that don't always revolve around boys. Holofcener shows that. There are so few female directors in the limelight. I try to do my best to support them when I can.

One Memorial Day three years ago the three writers of this blog dressed up in all black and held an actual memorial for fallen soldiers. Foregoing barbecues and red tag sales we stood around a gorgeous hand dyed yellow flag and set it on fire. We talked about soldiers dying and how such a somber day could come to mean 50% OFF EVERYTHING!!!!! We talked about make up and the inexorable push and pull to it. Then we poured a bucket of water on the fallen flag and wondered how to get the smell out of our hair. See? Movies should portray women like this--making no sense, making little sense, making beautiful sense, making a scene...Trying to articulate thoughts that are ineffable. I love women.