Movies That make Me Cry...Inspired by Andrew at "Encore's World of Film.."

I follow some interesting and wonderful blogs that I am happy to showcase here.  One that captured my attention in a big way was a 30-day Movie Meme offered by Andrew at Encore's World of Film and Television. 

Topic #6 is Movies That Always Make You Cry.

As someone who gives himself freely and unashamedly to my emotions watching movies, this post is irresistable..

So before I plunge in to other topics that are crying out for me to discuss, I will take a little side trip of the heart,  and copy my own list of tear-jerkers, which also appears in the Comment (Walking in the Park) section of Andrew's post.

I liked Andrew's choices, especially THE HOURS, which has special resonance. 
Lots of movies make me cry. The biggest tear-wringers are these:


THE YEARLING (1946)..tearing up now just thinking about it! A boy loses his pet fawn, and childhood ends.

THE RED BALLOON (1956) Yes, a 30-minute children's film with no dialog, but the final image packs a wallop..

BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S (1961) Two people in love and a nameless cat in the rain, and "Moon River"...

SOPHIE'S CHOICE (1982)..We can't help but grieve for this woman...

HARRY AND TONTO (1974)...A lovely meditation on one's final years, and the bonds between man and animal.

 

A ROOM WITH A VIEW (1986)..Tears of nostalgia and joy!

BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN (2005)..This most of all..my own heart exposed on the screen...an astonishing portrait of helpless regret.



Better stop here....before I start to wallow....  
 
 
 

Preview: Prop-8 and Don't Ask Don't Tell; "Inception" and the Generation Gap; Animal Notes

As the weekend approaches, I'll assemble more material for my Blog Pipeline.  Some new films hold interest, including documentaries on nuclear weapons ("Countdown to Zero") and Afghanistan ("Restrepo", if I can find it); and maybe a second visit to "The Kids Are All Right" in honor of Judge Vaughn's decision to declare the gay marriage ban in California, Prop-8, unconstitutional.

Here's what's coming up on this Journal...And your comments are always welcome:

Prop-8: Thoughts on the decision, and the appeal on both sides.  I need to sound out on the claim that the judge's decision wrongly overturns the wishes of the people.

Don't Ask Don't Tell: While the Prop-8 decision is a battle won, there is another battlefield being ignored--and military personnel are still getting discharged for their honesty about being gay.  What's new with the survey the military has distributed to military personnel and their families?  I'll look at this, and why the survey is offensive.

"Inception"--is there a generational divide over those who like or dislike the film? I'll respond to a Chicago Tribune article published this week, and frame the issue in a different way....and argue that this is not at all a new phenomenon...

News from the Buddy Foundation:  A happy ending for a troubled dog...and my emotional reaction...

Other Animal items, including how a terrier "diagnosed" his owner's diabetes in a really bizarre way, and a tragic story of puppies traveling by air.....

A long-promised review of more Chicago architecture...without "Transformers"!

Forgotten Oscar Nominees...."The Dresser"..."Cries and Whispers"..."Secrets and Lies".....

Time to rest up...I have a lot of writing to do!  Thanks for visiting....

Tough Questions on the Road to Reinvention--A Very Personal Wednesday Journal

Is re-invention worth it?  Am I trying too hard?  Not hard enough?  Have I merely fought against a natural state of equilibrium?


Feeling discouraged...tired....as alienated as a teenager, but without the cultural support or consolations I used to find....


Need to step back, and see where I am heading....


A big question: Do I spend too much time dwelling on what has been, and casting an overly-critical eye on what's happening in modern culture?


Some may argue that yours truly disdains technology.... instead of regarding it as just another tool...
that "the past" is just that...
that I am caught in a time warp of my own making, what with my love of "obsolete" artists like Joni Mitchell, Federico Fellini, and so on...
and that my lack of appreciation for things like "Avatar", the latest  electronic book readers, smart phones and home theater technologies renders me "irrelevant".


I argue:

Technology is another tool, but  a tool for what? What I disdain, if anything, is our obsession with the tools (or, "technology"), and less with what they can do for us.  So many line up for the latest phones, but few will use their Kindles to read about the latest scientific breakthroughs.


We are all a product of our pasts. As long as our memories serve us, the past will always be with us...The past, too, is a valuable tool, a tool for understanding.... The past is never "just that."

I defend:


The criticisms I have imagined against myself may not be fair; in a world that screams at you in order to distract you, I try hard to keep myself informed, to learn things, and have new experiences, without losing sight of what brought us to where we are.
I appreciate good things, no matter how "old" they are.
The "time warp" contains much beauty, and messages of comfort or caution, which only the perspective of time can truly bring into focus.


I will try to keep my sense of humor, and console myself that for my age, and among my peer group, I have come a long way.

Can we learn from the past?  Or not?  can the past help to move us forward, or does it hold us back?
Dogs have the uncanny ability to thrive in the "here and now"...and demand that we do the same....Which is why the dogs in my world are a way of navigating a troubling present.
But then, even dogs remember the people who were good to them....or cruel...and respond with the appropriate tail-wag, or fear-posture. If only as self-preservation....


I am rarely comfortable with life as it unfolds, and only gain real appreciation for my "present" later, after reflection and gaining, perspective....
...Even as a child I was not content to enjoy the things that I was expected to enjoy....So, it is just my nature to cast a cynical eye to the things that I am told are "relevant"
....don't forget my Betamax, LOL!


A Declaration:


We can and must learn from the past, and embrace it to some degree....
We cannot reinvent ourselves otherwise. 
When young people are fluent in the language of popular culture, but ignorant of cultural traditions, they are thought of as "visionary".  When mature people express appreciation of the beauty and universality of neglected culture, and challenge the assumptions of popular culture, they are regarded as irrelevant.  Why?

When you get down to it, popular culture has always depended on who has the buying power.  

What interests me is that which lasts, that which helps us to understand ourselves and where we're going, regardless of age. 

As far as reinvention goes, I can feel at peace with my fondness for old things, for past culture, and am happy to furnish my mind with them as a refuge in a difficult world that nonetheless has a place for me, as I continue the processes of learning, and changing, and giving. 

And yes, I wish Fellini were still with us. Fortunately, his work still speaks to us, if we only watch and listen.

Chicago is "Transformed"...While A Few Feet Away, an Old Masterpiece Unfolds

It was too good to pass up:  vintage Fellini back on the big screen in a new 35mm print, at the Gene Siskel Film Center, one of the city's best screening rooms.  We had to go...

So, while walking through Downtown Chicago yesterday, there was a huge mob of people gathered at Wabash Ave. Then I saw the rubble...the street "torn up", and also the cameras and lights.....Oh yes.."Transformers 3".

Behind these people, some of the most beautiful architecture in the world loomed, ignored....Director Michael Bay promised to make the city look beautiful in his film.....which is ironic, and laughable. Even if he manages to capture a few seconds of the Wrigley Building, Tribune Tower...few in the audience will notice, or care, just like that Sunday crowd.

"Transformers 3" would have been a good candidate CGI instead of location shooting; it doesn't strike me as substantial enough to deserve the awesome locations Chicago can offer a truly monumental motion picture. 

And just two blocks away, in a quiet 200-seat screening room on State Street, one of the most unusual and interesting films was on display....and I would bet that 90% of those in that mob never heard of it...

"8-1/2". 


In my fantasy, there would be a sellout crowd lining up to see this masterpiece of cinematic invention, while the mindless labor-intensive exercise on Wabash went virtually ignored.


Although Fellini did not pack the house, thank goodness the Siskel Center at least had a respectable showing.....


I assumed that the Transformer toys lost their "coolness" a while ago.  Were young adults being courted by movie companies to play on their nostalgia for their toys?   I now know that Transformers never really went out of fashion. 

I, too, am susceptible to the allure of a location shoot in my home town, of the awesomeness of seeing the streets and bridges you cross every day being blown up, courtesy of the relative safety of the Special Effects and Art departments. 


Not every movie can be (or should be) as rich as this by Fellini;  I only want there to be something in between to capture undernourished modern filmgoers  and to prepare them for the artistic feast of an "8-1/2", a film which offers so much that it's disappearance from popular culture is almost obscene.


Last year's musical film "Nine", which was inspired by "8-1/2", was so reviled and misunderstood, that it did not help expose a new generation of filmgoers to Fellini; rather, the critics succeeded in alienating potential Fellini-philes.



In "8-1/2", Guido Anselmi, a world-famous director, is poised to create his next film...and despite the skeptical scrutiny of his public, the urging of his cast and crew, the prodding of his co-writer, and his ever-present fantasies he seeks for inspiration, he finds that he has nothing to say.

That was Fellini's own dilemma as he struggled to create his "eight-and-a-half" film (Fellini had already made something like seven full-length movies and one short film, hence the title.)

I can't do justice to Fellini's accomplishment here, his successful self-reflexive soul-searching through his protagonist, the specific set pieces he stages for  the women in his life who are his muses, his reflection on family and religious guilt and the pain and confusion of true creativity.....

I will review the film soon....

In the final sequence, I found Fellini's generosity toward his kindred creative spirits, his acceptance of "seeking and not knowing", and the desire to integrate one's past with the total artist (where the past can inspire, or paralyze, an artist), was a comfort....It was an overpowering emotion.  In a similar way, I found that I was striving to accomplish the same thing with this blog....especially in my nostalgic previous post.....Fellini's final image, just like my own, is of himself as a little boy....

"8-1/2" (and "Nine") inspired me....

Personal Items I Re-Discovered ..Thursday Journal

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This should be sort of fun...a look at some odds and ends I recently found before I moved, when I finally opened some drawers and closets containing boxes and items I had not disturbed for years..


I just moved out of my condominium after having lived there 16 years.  I have occupied the home I share with Mark for just over a month, and I'm still putting things away and rearranging.  Some of the things I came  across have made me laugh, or just stare in smiling disbelief.

--My Betamax Machine:  In the mid-1980's, my family jumped on the bandwagon and purchased one of the first pieces of equipment for in-home movie exhibition.  The big name was the Sony Betamax, an impressive (for its time) metal machine with a popup slot on top in which you inserted a small videotape and pressed it down to start playing.  Tapes were available for rent from video stores. This machine must have weighed over 50 pounds, and was trimmed in wood to match our console television set.
In just a few years, our Betamax had become obsolete in favor of the VHS format.  Beta was supposed to have been better resolution, and the tapes were more compact, but VHS won out. 
There is still debate as to why VHS won out. The reason I give credence to is the fact that Sony did not allow pornography on beta tapes, but the manufacturers of the VHS format did.  Not that it matters now...I have hundreds of VHS tapes now in my collection, too!
It was a good dose of laughs and nostalgia when I found this behemoth of a machine wrapped in a large towel in my storage locker.

A Couple of Souvenir Movie Program Books  Major movies at one time were released as "road-show" attractions.  A film would play in one luxury theater in a city for several months, before being distributed to outlying suburbs.  Sometimes tickets were sold in advance on a reserved-seat engagement, similar to a live play.  And, like a theatrical play, souvenir program booklets were sold.  I have two of them: "Oliver!" and "The Godfather Part II".  These books functioned like DVD extras do now, with glossy, beautifully reproduced photos of the making of the film,  with essays and anecdotes, as well as biographies of cast and crew.  I found the "Oliver" booklet on line, but not "Godfather II", leading me to believe it is rare indeed.  If anyone else has one or knows if one is available for sale on-line, let me know!

--An old photograph of me, my mother, and Cassie This was taken circa 1982.  Cassie was our second Saint Bernard, not as large as Tippi, but just as lovable.  I laughed when I saw myself in my Justin Bieber hairstyle.  I was also struck by how much my eyes resemble my mother's.  She was on the brink of years of emotional struggle at that point....  The porch is still the same, will never change...

A Family Tree...on My Father's Side:  Before he died, my father's brother (my uncle Martin) began a family history. This he accomplished years before on-line searches.  He was able to trace my paternal ancestry back to 1749 and Franc Juzef ... This is not my Italian side... and I know very little about my father's family, so this was a valuable find....
According to the document:  "(Our) family came to the U.S. in 1885 from a small village located between Kartuzy and Danzig within the Kashubian Corridor or West Preussen, then Germany, now Poland."
Page 10 of the document lists my grandparents and my father and his 10 siblings.  Only he and his youngest sister, my aunt who is a nun in a convent in Ft. Worth, survive.
My grandmother's name was Mary Wierzbanowski. She was born in 1884, and died in 1943 when my father was 15 years old.
My Grandfather was also Martin.  That is my Father's middle name.
My sister and I are the last two names on the document.
~

A Kindergarten School Portrait  This five-year-old is filled with hope and innocence.  He has not changed too much since then...even before he lost his baby teeth, he had a gap in front, as he does today.  He has the look of a kid who wanted to please, who wanted to be happy, and learned too early of the pain and disappointment of the world..until dogs, and some close friends and mentors, came into his life.  Fortunately,  after many fashion disasters, his current hairstylist saves him from embarrassment.   Andy Warhol would have loved the double-image photo...