Snapshots

Brief comments on film by Amy.
Some old, some new.  Domestic films and foreign too.

The Darjeeling Limited – Take the most unlikely characters and place them in the most implausible circumstances. Add a dash of rapid fire dialogue and strange but simple plot lines and you have entered a Wes Anderson movie. I say “enter” because I am sucked into this convoluted (but oddly coherent) world from the opening scene to the closing credits. In this case, the unlikely characters are three brothers and the circumstance a search for their long lost mother in the heart of India. They end up discovering more about themselves and each other than their mother, learning the lesson that it’s about your journey not your destination. For me, Anderson (with the exception of Rushmore, which I didn’t buy into) is a small cup of Ben and Jerry’s-you wouldn’t want to eat it for breakfast every day but one scoop is oh so yummy.

After the Wedding– This was a Netflix recommendation and while I wouldn’t say I loved it, it poses some interesting questions. I don’t want to give too much away regarding the plot, but to me it boils down to “Who is my neighbor?” The storyline stretches the elasticity of suspended disbelief, not to the breaking point but enough to cause a run or two in the old pantyhose. Jim found the editing a bit irritating but we both thought it was very well acted. I don’t know if I would give it a spot in my queue again (I guard my Netflix queue like a mother grizzly bear watching her cubs.) But if you find yourself in Blockbuster and it is between this and Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, definitely go with After the Wedding.

Baby Mama – With all the recent hubbub regarding Tina Fey, I was curious to see if she is as funny as people say. I had, until now, resisted the temptation because of the premise of the movie which is as follows: overachiever Kate contracts with accomplished underachiever Angie to act as her baby surrogate. The two have their ups and down and end up somewhere in the middle. While I greatly sympathize with those who long for a biological child and find themselves unable to conceive on their own, for me, surrogacy and it’s half brother, in vitro fertilization, take a legitimate desire a few steps too far. There were several scenes in the movie that qualified for a true laugh out loud moment but overall it left me with an unsettled feeling. Kind of like going out on a first date with someone that you hope doesn’t call back. Not because you didn’t enjoy your time together but because you know that you simply inhabit two completely different worlds that just aren’t compatible with one another.