MOVIE CRITICS

THIS IS A STARCHY bunch of folks who live here. While I may, at 77, be one of the younger ones, how can my outlook be so different from many of the residents? I think I should resign from being on the film selection committee. The complaints roll in and I realize that you can't please all of the people all of the time, but the movies I'm remembering as being enjoyable, when shown here, tend to offend right and left.

The first two years after we moved in, old movies were shown week after week. Rarely did I consider watching one of the films that are shown on weekends, simply because they didn't interest me. I didn't consider it a problem and it never would have dawned on me to register a complaint.

When I was invited to join the film committee, I called out titles that I remembered enjoying in the theater. I and the other three members of the committee met in the room that held a computer and we looked on Netflix to see how the suggestions were rated. Too, there was a short description of the movie which we took into consideration. Then we chose a list for the coming months.

"Billy Elliot" proved to be so shocking in the language used, that some people turned it off when the movie had just begun. A wise thing to do, if one felt offended. The executive director said at a cabinet meeting that he doesn't believe in censorship, save for self-censorship. Exactly what I feel. My own reaction, the second time around, was that probably in that small mining community that was exactly the language that was used and the story of the father coming to an acceptance of what his son was called to do (dancing), was superb and very moving.





When we showed "Chops", a documentary about high school bands learning to play jazz and competing in a contest, guided by Wynton Marsalis, one woman came to the committee head and remarked that she expected to be entertained, not educated. Mr. Bob and I liked it so well that we watched it that Saturday and again when it was repeated on Sunday. Different strokes, I guess.


We try not to offer too many of the same genre, but "young@heart", another documentary, didn't interest some of our elderly, even though the film was about a group of senior citizens who performed rock songs, giving concerts around the country.

No swear words, no fornication, in some cases, no interest.

Even "Amelie", which I remembered as a charming, innocent piece of film making contained, when it came to the Manor, an explicit sex scene which made me blanch.

Tonight, "Erin Brockovich" was on the menu. I remembered it as a true story, an important story, starring Julia Roberts. I had completely forgotten that this spunky, highly intelligent female also had a foul mouth that exhibited itself throughout this highly enjoyable movie. With each "offensive" word, Mr. Bob and I looked at each other and grimaced.

The movie screened at 6 and as we were enjoying supper ahead of that hour, one of the newish residents put forth the question, with a bit of a judgmental tone in her voice, "And who is responsible for choosing the movies here?" I should have said that we had a committee, but oh, no, I had to admit that many of them have been my own suggestions. Maybe I am, indeed, the Director of Smut. My mother would die all over again if she knew. She was rather strait-laced herself. My father was the bawdy one.

I think I'll make myself scarce tomorrow.

“Whatever course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

COMIC RELIEF

WHEN THE NEIGHBORS go to dinner each month, we meet at a Chinese restaurant where the waiter is willing to write separate checks for us so the evening isn't spoiled by figuring out math problems. We sit around a big table with a lazy susan in the center and in the beginning, about 6 years ago, there were 10 of us before we lost Gunars whose life on earth came to a close too early, so then there were 9. Last Thursday we numbered 11, because Jeff and Karen were able to join us. They're the young couple in our old neighborhood, still raising babies, whereas the rest of us have children old enough to be giving us grandchildren. Karen is a physical therapist. Years ago I wasn't sure what that meant, but recent years and many P.T. sessions have educated us.
Jeff is a writer

who nowadays comes up with a daily comic strip which is syndicated in 50 newspapers. I sat next to him the other evening and enjoyed chatting with him about the creative process. Certainly, my daily gibberish can't begin to compare with what Jeff produces, but we both agreed that some of our favorite writings don't get much response at all from our reading public, whereas other items that we feel are mediocre receive great acclaim. Go figure.

When Jeff asked me how I was using my time at the Manor, I confessed to being part of a 2 woman team in charge of the library, and compiling a staff directory and as an afterthought remembered that I'm now one of four members of the Movie Committee. Movies are aired on weekends in the Tea Room and the first 18 months we were here, it seemed that without exception the films being shown were produced a very long time ago.


It is with apologies that I admit that I'm not a classic film buff. I don't know why, but anything made much before 1980 holds little interest for me and I know that admitting that is akin to saying I don't care for cats......my character rating plunges in the minds of many people. But there we have it.


So when I was invited to sit on the film committee it was a natural thing for me to suggest some more recent movies that I remembered enjoying.


Enter, culture shock. "It's Complicated" found Meryl Streep cavorting between the sheets and was a noticeable departure from the cinema fare the residents were used to. My suggestion of "Four Seasons", starring Carol Burnett, Alan Alda among others brought forth a phone call and the words "the raunchiest movie I've ever seen" were uttered. 


The movies can be watched on each person's television set and the language in "Billy Elliott" caused more than one resident to turn it off before the story even got started. When it was time to show "Amelie" I was sure no one would be offended with this charming French film set in Paris. Wrong! Fornication appeared, however briefly, on the screen, startling even me.........I hadn't recalled that part at all.


One lovely lady resigned from the committee due to the nature of the films being shown. Oh, dear.


When I told Jeff that Nadine, the other librarian, and I don't approve of censorship and recently accepted into the library a book on bordellos in early Alaska and then shelved a donation of a book on Chicago's brothels in the early days, Jeff's comment was that I should be named officially as the Smut Director of Windsor Manor. 


When we moved in, one of the directors commented that she was counting on us to liven up the place, but I'm not sure this is what she had in mind.

"At the height of laughter, the universe is flung into a kaleidoscope of new possibilities."  ~Jean Houston


"Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion.  I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward."  
                                                                ~Kurt Vonnegut


"Laughter gives us distance.  It allows us to step back from an event, deal with it and then move on."  ~Bob Newhart


"With the fearful strain that is on me night and day, if I did not laugh I should die."  ~Abraham Lincoln


"Laughter is an orgasm triggered by the intercourse of sense and nonsense." 
                                        ~ Author Unknown
                     

VALENTINE MOVIE

Another experiment is in the works, to see if you can access our Valentine movie.

In my retirement, I took up movie editing and in my usual pattern, spent hours and hours on the new interest. Mostly I worked on movies of our travels, feeling that in our dotage, we could sit back in our recliners and look at where we'd been. We're almost to that stage now.

The phase finally wore itself out to the point that today we don't even know where the video camera is. At the time, I derived great enjoyment out of the editing process and was so surprised at the results that I named the whole project Fluke Productions.

The results were usually of a much better quality than what you're about to view, but the time is right to share with you what I came up with as a Valentine tribute. Believe me, the original DVD turned out to be very acceptable. The transfer to the computer suffered in quality. Okay, let's not put it off any longer.

Let's see if this works.

ANOTHER LESSON

I've forgotten everything I learned last time, so bear with us while we relearn.