Props to Julianne Moore

Julianne Moore in "Still Alice"

Don’t you just love Julianne Moore?  Her portrayal of an Alzheimer’s sufferer in *Still Alice not only won her the best actress Oscar, but helped millions of people better understand this devastating disease and its effect on countless families. Many of us are watching or have watched loved ones wrestle with Alzheimer’s and know the pain and frustration involved in the sad process. In the film, Moore’s character, a superstar linguistic professor, delivers a talk about her experience with early-onset Alzheimer’s – particularly devastating to someone whose identity was wrapped up tightly with her brain’s ability to function. In the talk she says, “I’m not suffering. I’m struggling . . . struggling to be a part of things, to stay connected to whom I was once.”  To me, that line best seems to sum up the experience of Alzheimer’s patients and offers a clue about how we can more compassionately begin to understand the disease from the inside. Struggling to be a part of things, to stay connected to oneself. It’s all any of us really wants, isn’t it?  That, and others’ compassion when we’re a little “off.”  So, today, I join many of you in raising my glass in a lusty toast to Julianne Moore and everyone involved in Still Alice for shining such an insightful light onto this relevant issue. Cheers! And, Julianne, if you’re reading this (HA), congratulations from one of your many fans.

*Still Alice was directed by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland is based on the bestselling novel by Lisa Genova.

Connection



Thanks to: CinemaBlend.com for this instructive image

Everything is connected. 

That sounds like a cliché, but it is interesting how often I need to be reminded of the phrase’s importance.  I may be the last person around who has finally encountered the amazing story of “Cloud Atlas."  The 2004 novel, by David Mitchell, and the 2012 film, Directed by Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski, and Lana Wachowski (which I just viewed via Netflix), explores how the actions and consequences of individual lives, delivered in six nesting narratives, impact one another throughout the past, the present and the future.  Reincarnation?  Maybe.  Connection?  Absolutely.  A fantastic story?  Well, I saw it two weeks ago and am still thinking about it.  So, yes. 

Read it.  Or rent it.  But, do enjoy it.





Tearjerker

With the Academy Awards coming up, I'm sure more than a few of you have seen the wonderful Les Mis.  Talk about a tearjerker.  There's something satisfyingly cathartic about crying through a film and if that's your goal, this film is the ticket.  In fact, if you aren't already singing all of the musical's songs, take another look at Anne Hathaway's version of "I Dreamed a Dream."  It'll turn on your waterworks -- in a good way -- because her rendition is utterly convincing.


I Dreamed a Dream -- Anne Hathaway





Texters: Beware!

There are a myriad of bad behaviors to be seen while out on the town.  It doesn’t matter if you’re going to the theater, the ballet, the symphony, an opera or a run-of-the-mill movie – there are certain things that polite, considerate human beings just do not do.  You shouldn’t wear tall hats, yak on cell phones, argue with seatmates, hit or yell at your kids, or take up more than your share of the allotted seating.  Patrons of public performance also shouldn’t scatter trash, eat or drink loudly, heckle performers or whisper running critiques of the experience.   

All of these breaches of public good manners are nothing, though, compared to the hair-raising experience of sitting behind or next to a texter.  Now, texting is certainly fine while on a bus or sitting at a hockey game, but there’s a reason there are always announcements against texting before any dimmed-light experience – texters, in effect, shine a flashlight into the faces of the people around them. 

I’m proud (and maybe a little embarrassed) to say that I have become the vinegar-lipped scold to those unfortunate few who dare text near me.  I don’t hesitate to tell texters to nip it, and now.  I must have perfected my teacher-face because, so far, texters have always immediately dropped their hardware and given me a sheepish look.  They know they’re not supposed to be peeking at their phones, they have just decided to risk it and hope nobody notices.   

Well, here’s a note to texters:  You’re noticed.  Of course.  When the lights are down and everyone is immersed in the hush and delight of the performance and you pull out your gadget and break everyone’s concentration . . . we notice.  We do!   

So stop.

*What’s your public peeve and what, if anything, do you do about it?



Movie Time

George Clooney's latest film, "The Descendents," is probably one of the best films he's ever been in.  Although this promotional photo makes the movie seem like one of those slapstick holiday feel-goods, the film is really one of the most thought-provoking commercial films I've seen in a while.  True, there are one-liners and moments of slapstick, but "The Descendents" goes beyond that to explore serious issues about relationships, death, money and the environment.  Check out the trailer by clicking below:

  The Descendent's Trailer