three movies

We rented a bunch of movies over the weekend and, by some fluke, all of them turned out to be perfect for a snow-bound, tree-trimming weekend. Each was very different, but very good in it’s own way.

First we watched a Japanese animated movie called Paprika.

It had that sumptuous, colourful, dense, Hayao Miyazaki style imagery I am really digging these days. The plot was kinda trippy, (a company develops a machine that lets people enter each others dreams - but something is corrupting the dreams of those who use the machine) but not completely unintelligible - at least, not compared to say, a David Lynch movie. Compared to Mullholand Drive this movie was pretty straightforward. The eclectic/electro soundtrack was pretty cool too - the “parade” song in particular is definitely stuck in my head these days.

Then we watched a musical: Hairspray.

They filmed this all over Toronto last year, with the main street scene close to our old apartment in Parkdale. They transformed a whole, actual city block into 1962 Baltimore (the early sixties is my absolute favorite era). We visited one afternoon when they weren’t filming, and it was amazing the attention to detail they put into the thing. I was pretty wary of a big studio adaptation of such a classic cult film, but I was impressed first by their authentic sets, then by the thumbs up of John Waters himself (not exactly an easy thing to get from such a known curmudgeon) and then by the good reviews.

So we finally took the plunge, and gave it a go, and we were impressed. The singing and the plot ebbed and flowed naturally and didn’t take itself too seriously - and the music didn’t even suck all that much - pretty catchy, actually. With the possible exception of John Travolta (who wasn’t even all that bad, considering) the cast was perfect, and any opportunity to see Christopher Walken sing and dance should be taken.

Then we watched a small indie feature: Waitress.

You might have heard of this one, as the woman (Adrienne Shelley) who wrote and directed it was murdered shortly before it’s release - which I would normally be wary of, as films in these situation often get hyped out of control. However, in this case the hype was justified and it truly is sad that this unique voice was silenced.

It’s a bittersweet little film about a young woman (Keri Russell) who works in a pie diner and makes miraculously delicious pies. She gets pregnant by her abusive husband (Jeremy Sisto, duh), and then falls in love with her gynecologist. It reminded me a bit of The Gilmore Girls - snappy dialoge, eccentric small townies (including Andy Griffith!), and a general romantic quirkiness.

I mean, The bottom line is, this movie involves quirkiness and pies, so I am pretty much in love with it.