tightrope

wednesday is the only weeknight when something isn't going on after work, so it's come to feel much like a sunday. in celebration of going straight home, i left work, cracked a beer, cooked myself dinner, and sat down to watch a movie: man on wire.

i was expecting only a documentary about a frenchman who walked a tightrope rigged between the world trade center towers in 1974. instead i was sucked into the story of phillippe petit's unrivaled passion and obsession with the seemingly impossible. not only was the story well told by those who lived it, but it was visually translated with some stunning black and white scenes, old photos, and playful quirks. the music was also great, making the mission's risk and its resulting tension tangible.

the story took an abrupt turn in the last, maybe, 10 minutes when the petit of the story--this creative, vibrant, incorrigible youth--crashes into the petit of present--this arrogant, self-centered, pompous man. after accomplishing a feat like that one has to change--there's no choice. and while the movie doesn't expressly mention it, it shows his once-best friend alluding to the fact that relationships were broken as a result of the feat. with a little smirk, he said it "didn't matter because, well, because we succeeded, and..." and then a few minutes of silence and he comes to absolute tears.

the story's tone so quickly turned from this amazement and euphoria to this heartbreaking nostalgia that bordered on regret. that said, the fact the film showed this downturn and ended there made it so much more complex and real.

when watching i wondered what petit felt when he learned that the two buildings, these two buildings that he thought were built for him and his tightrope, were destroyed. the answer didn't fit into the movie but it did make me wonder about the connections he have to non-living things and the "lives" that those things "live".

* * *

today i came home and after going through the mail picked up this book i'd bought at target earlier in the week. i knew it was about some event happening in new york in the 70s but not more than that, and i only bought it because it won the national book award and was on sale. from the book's jacket, "In the dawning light of a late-summer morning, the people of lower Manhattan stand hushed, staring up in disbelief at the Twin Towers. It is August 1974, and a mysterious tightrope walker is running, dancing, leaping between the towers, suspended a quarter mile above the ground. In the streets below, a slew of ordinary lives become extraordinary in bestselling novelist Colum McCann’s stunningly intricate portrait of a city and its people."

french friday

comme tout le monde sait ce que on n'utilise pas, on perd. pour cette raison j'ai décidé d'écrire en français ici de temps en temps, même si le poste est plein de fautes comme résultat.

alors, une langue différente mais toujours le même problème: de quoi j'écris?  peut-être juste un petit sommaire du semaine? comme d'habitude il me semble qu'il y a beaucoup de coïncidences. je sais que souvent c'est simplement la tête qui reconnais et donc fait cette connections--qu'il y a toujours des événements qu'on peut reconnais, et c'est seulement quand on veut les voir qu'ils deviennent un .  n'importe! 

mardi j'ai déjeuné en dehors avec une amie de boulot. après nous avons fini, elle est allé pour faire un visite à trader joe's pendant que j'ai cherché un bon coin dans le soleil. le petit tache que j'ai trouvé c'était sur les étages de l'église où se trouve une autre amie de boulot que j'ai voulu voir pendant pratiquement le mois d'août entier. nous avons parlé et puis un homme avec qui j'ai eu se croisent. hier soir, c'était même chose sauf qu'un autre homme. mes parents et leurs amis, nous avons en train de manger au resto. en rentrant de la salle de bain, mais voilà-- il était là aussi, avec une fille belle. ça suffit de mon passé pour quelques jours. 

le prochain hasard est beaucoup moins mélodramatique. juste une décision de préparer du quinoa pour le dîner. pendant que je le mangeais un ami me dit que ce jour était la première fois qu'il a entendu de ce grain! un peu bizarre, non?

il y avait un ou deux de plus, mais j'ai les oubliés.

j'ai vu le film cœur en papier ce semaine. au début, j'étais un peu déçu. la vedette, charlyne yi, me semble complètement affecté--comme hyper conscient de son apparence aux yeux des autres même si elle est fameux pour ne penser pas de cette choses. mais, comme le film a déroulé j'ai oublié ce criticisme pour penser sur les idées que le film a nous présenté. à la fin, il n'y a pas des grandes conclusions au sujet d'amour. quelle surprise! mais j'ai trouvé une consolation dans ces personnages familiers--mêmes émotions, mêmes problèmes... et là dans cette confusion était la clarté.  pour maintenant je ne cherche pas; seulement prendre plaisir dans ce que j'ai. et avec ce qui je l'ai.     

random notes on revolutionary road

i'm willing to bet that revolutionary road is one of the top three films i see this year, full realizing that it's only 18 days into 2009.

when leaving the movie, a couple on the elevator was discussing the movie.
man: i don't know, i just didn't find it that interesting. a husband and wife screaming at each other for 2.5 hours just didn't do it for me.
woman shrugs shoulders
man: i get enough of that at home.
woman: oh, shut up.

in a way, i can't argue with the guy. but whereas he saw a boring story depicting two people fighting, i saw a fascinating portrayal of the turmoil that can dismantle any serious relationship. the film took something so basic and yet so universal and tailored it to a fictitious couple to whom, i imagine, anyone could relate.

beyond questioning the functionality of the couple's relationship, the film examined what it is to be *normal*, revealing exactly how subjective it is but how frequently it's asserted as something objective-- something that can be measured, something you meet or fail to meet. after the couple shares their plans to leave their current life in the suburbs with their friends, you later see the friends discussing how immature and unrealistic they felt the couple's plans were, which i felt revealed their own insecurities about the life they were living. it seems that their friend's decision to push beyond the status quo registered with them, but only enough to dismiss it as something childish because it inserted discomfort into their lives.

truth was another heavily explored element of the movie-- not just honesty with each other, but with yourself as well. the most honest character was also the man who had recently spent time in a mental institution of sorts and was labeled as "crazy" several times.

i appreciate that the movie didn't side with the husband or wife. it gave a pretty straight view of both sides and let you decide. more than letting the viewer decide, however, i think it aimed to show how two people who are seemingly so similar, in interest, in values, etc. can have inherently different approaches to life.

one scene gripped me unlike almost any other. it's one of the last of the movie and is so brilliant in how it takes the colors of the set and allows them to speak. it's subtle, undeniable, and nuanced all at once and when the camera zooms out to reveal the horrible stain on her skirt and the growing blood on the carpet it's chilling.

so much of this movie was horrific but not in a scary way. horrific in a this-could-become-my-life-so-easily kind of way. you would think one might actively have to choose a life like that but it seems like it so easily occurs. and maybe that's why-- it takes action to stay engaged and alive.

happy-go-lucky

tender film with a lead that warms up to you as the story unfolds. the funniest and most heart-breaking parts occur during poppy's driving lesson's with scott. the parallel between his suffering and her student's difficulties at school was an interesting and subtle way to show the importance of someone like poppy-- someone who posses that attitude towards life and believes change can occur. overall, an accurate portrayal of an average life lived in a not-so-average way. not sure what role the youngest sister played in the movie, though.