El Norte

Dad and I finally watched this. Eliza had recommended it. I'm not sure Dad liked it all that much, but I thought it was well-done. I liked the music, the scenery, the costumes, the native influence - Guatemala is a beautiful place - if indeed that is where they filmed part of it.

And the characters were well-drawn. It was sad - but then it was talking about a very sad situation - many immigrants do feel that they don't belong anywhere. If they felt like they belonged, they probably wouldn't leave!

There was some comic relief in the stereotypes portrayed - sometimes that part failed to deliver - but other times it was just the right touch - especially when Rosa couldn't figure out how to work the washer, so she scrubbed the clothes by hand and laid them out on the lawn of this mini-mansion to dry!!

And the scenes in the sewer as they crawled to "freedom" were wrenching and powerful I felt. It is indeed a good companion piece to La Misma Luna.

Jericho's Fall

I've read Emperor of Ocean Park and Civility, both by Stephen Carter. And I enjoyed them. The review I read of his new book was pretty enthusiastic, so I got it.

It was pretty good - but I wish I'd waited and checked it out of the library or something instead of buying it. Although I won't feel bad if I lend it out and lose track of it - which actually happened to the other two.

I think it's perfect airplane fiction - I should have saved it for our upcoming trip.

So now I will go finish My Life in France!

Sisters

"It's not that their mother capriciously encouraged one and discouraged the other from following the same path. The order of their birth made going to college a different act for each of them. There is no equal protection clause in the family constitution. . . .

"You were born into the same family. But that's an illusion; it's a different family when each child is born. A sister is like yourself in a different movie, a movie that stars you in a different life. . . .

"If I wanted to be like my older sister, she wanted to be like . . . herself. We all seek to figure out and show the world who we are. Having a sister adds an extra image in the mirror. Understanding who you are means discovering who you are in relation to her. And to find your place in the world, you need to know how close to or far from your sister you want to stand.

"Closeness is the holy grail of sister relationships. I frequently heard, 'I wish we were closer,' but never, 'I wish we weren't so close.' "

I read this article today as I leafed through Sunday's Post and thought you might be interested, particularly if you read You're Wearing THAT? by Deborah Tannen that Mom sent around. (I am still reading it.)

Her latest book, coming out this week, is called You Were Always Mom's Favorite!: Sisters in Conversation throughout Their Lives.

Monday Night at the Movies

Dad and I seem to be in a rut - FHE keeps ending up being Monday Night at the Movies - although we do enjoy it!!

This one was lots of fun - I recommend it highly - and it's squeaky clean too - no sex, no profanity - maybe the high speed motorcycle chase was considered violent or something!!

And a school called Webster Elementary School figure prominently in the plot line!!

That might interest some members of the family.

Movie Night With Eve

Eve came for her Grandma's Birthday Sleepover and chose this movie for Friday night.

It wasn't bad - a little slow-moving though. And I'm glad I watched it as a rental - I might have felt bad if I'd paid $11 to see this!

Monday Night at the Movies

When I read the book about GWTW, there was a chapter on 1939 being a bountiful year for great movies. So I thought I'd get some of them from NetFlix, so that I could be au courant in the world of vintage films.

We watched it Monday night - the character in the film has glioma - the same tumor that felled Senator Ted Kennedy. Kind of ironic.

The film has, in addition to Bette Davis, a very young Humphrey Bogart playing an Irish horse trainer. And an equally young Ronald Reagan playing a drunken playboy!! Those characters alone made it worth watching!

I enjoyed it - it was a little cheesy - but then old movies usually are - I think that's what audiences demanded then. And Bette Davis is truly amazing to watch in action.

Next on the queue: El Norte.