December 15, 2004
-
WEDNESDAY MOVIES
Maria Full of GraceA 17-year-old quits her subsistence wage job in Colombia and is lured into traveling to New York as a drug mule, along with a close friend. They swallow dozens of wrapped heroin pellets and the tension builds from there. Catalina Moreno plays the role of the headstrong Maria with a quiet dignity and the interesting side note is that the writer/director, Joshua Marsten, is a young New Yorker no older than she who makes his debut with this film.
Monsieur IbrahimI had put off renting this from the videostore but eventually got it from the library. Omar Shariff (still gorgeous as an aging corner store owner in Paris) befriends a boy who is abandoned by his father just at the point where he is becoming a man. Together they fill each other’s empty spaces. Much wisdom and coming to terms. Both of these films are remarkable.
Deep Thought: “If you want to sue somebody, just get a little plastic skeleton and lay it in their yard. Then tell them their ants ate your baby.”
Today I am grateful for: 10 more shopping days till Xmas
Guess the Movie: “You see, Mrs. Walker, this is quite an opportunity for me. For the past 50 years or so I’ve been getting more and more worried about Christmas. Seems we’re all so busy trying to beat the other fellow in making things go faster and look shinier and cost less that Christmas and I are sort of getting lost in the shuffle.” Answer: Miracle on 34th Street, 1947.
Winner: thenarrator.
Getting Out of Iraq: A Letter to the US Peace Movement
by Mike Kress
America is now enmeshed, much like Israel, in a spiraling cycle of violence. For the sake of Iraq’s people and our nation’s future – and for the benefit of all humanity – we must end the occupation of Iraq. The question is, how?
Gene Sharp, a leading nonviolence educator and author of The Politics of Nonviolent Action, teaches that change is possible when a movement adopts a strategy that undermines a regime’s “pillars of support.” The Bush regime’s pillar of support in Iraq is the military. The peace movement’s adoption of a strategy that reduces first time military enlistments and the number of current service members willing to serve in Iraq could make the occupation unsustainable. (Rest of article here.)
End of Day: 8:39 pm
+ = Actually bought some slipper socks today after being reminded they exist by a xangan.
- = They’re kind of creeping me out.
Comments (9)
I’ll check out whether these two movies are in the library here too. Thanks for the link to Mike Kress’ article.
that is a film I want to see! RYC: will look into that…
Miracle on Thirty-Fourth Street… absolutely
These look like awesome films. I wonder if I can find them out here in nowhereland.
They’ve both been in the videostore on the current release shelves.
And you know all – M34th St. is Right!
I heard a review of Maria Full of Grace on npr a while bad. It sounded very interesting. In the interview they were discussing that the actors did not get the entire script at once and had no idea how the movie ended until the it was time to film it. Very interesting sounding film, thanks for reminding me about it!
99% of Omar Sharif’s movies are noteworthy, . . I’ll be on the lookout for this one.
ooooh, must look into these films!
We watched Miracle on 34th street last year and the year before and the year before ……………………. Guess its time.
oh these sound very pleasant, I’ll check them out.
Thanks