“No mysteries?” he says. “What’s love then?”
“A Bordeaux blend.”
He laughs. “I know you like your wine,” he says,
watching me sip it, “but surely you can do better than that!”
“Bordeaux is nothing but a word. No Bordeaux grape
exists.”
“It’s a region in France.”
“And it’s also a Big
Idea. And the idea says that if you blend
a combination of grapes – any combination; two or more – from a set of very
real varieties: Cab Sauv, Cab Frank, Malbec, Merlot and Petit Verdot – from
that French region, yes – you will get a very special complexity of flavour; an intensity of flavour; a special wine; the Bordeaux blend. And that is love: an idea that arises from a special feeling; an intensity of feeling which is nothing singular but only a combination of real
connections, from a large set of possible connections: attachments, dependencies and the like –
within the brain. It’s the accumulation of attachment. It’s the weight of them… Love. Which is why every
love is different. We like to think that there are different types of love –
for the lover, the family member, the dog… No. We are addicted to patterns and
programs and labels so we think that way, but no. Every instance of love is a
complex unique formula. A special blend.”
42. Ice Castles (1978, USA)
Lynn-Holly Johnson, Robby Benson,
Colleen Dewhurst, Jennifer Warren, Tom Skerritt,
Love of sport, father and boyfriend and the extra pressures which weigh
on each, pull a sensitive young Olympic figure skating hopeful in different
directions, threatening to tear her apart. Is it ultimately too much? How she
will escape – or how she will claim her ground?
It could be claimed sappy or schmaltzy I suppose! But for me, and I know
many others, it tore at my heart throughout and the ending is strictly unforgettable.
Writers: Donald Wrye, Gary L. Baim (Ice Castles 2010)
Director: Donald Wrye (Death Be Not Proud)
Budget: $9,500,000
IMDB rating: 6.5
43. Juno (2007, Canada/USA)
Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Jason
Bateman, Jennifer Garner, Olivia Thirlby, J.K. Simmons, Allison Janney
In 2004, young actor Ellen Page graduated from such Canadian television
projects as Trailer Park Boys and I Downloaded a Ghost, taking on eight
theatrical films in two years, culminating in the starring role here – which “she
killed” as youth would say... I think.
Brilliant! She was nominated for all four of the grand slam awards for Best Actress. Cody took the Oscar for best
screenplay.
And of course Michael Cera and the meek Paulie Bleeker role were just perfectly
made for each other. It seems like every other Cera role struggles to eclipse a
mere shadow of Bleeker.
Writer: Diablo Cody (Young Adult)
Director: Jason Reitman (Up in the Air)
Budget: $7,500,000
IMDB rating: 7.5
44. Lars and the Real Girl (2007, USA/Canada )
Ryan Gosling, Patricia Clarkson,
Emily Mortimer, Paul Schneider
The premise sounds untouchably weird. Yet this is one of the most
charming stories ever filmed. It speaks to the great diversity of love, our pitiable
fears of love, and the capacity of love within the family and within the community.
This is a comedy which makes you laugh out loud and yet accomplishes so
much more than that. I can’t think of any other film which touched me in quite the
way that this one did.
Gus: Well, it's
not like you're one thing or the other, okay? There's still a kid inside but
you grow up when you decide to do right, okay? And not what's right for you;
what's right for everybody. Even when it hurts.
Writer: Nancy Oliver (True Blood)
Director: Craig Gillespie (Fright Night)
Budget: $12,000,000
IMDB rating: 7.4
45. Brokeback Mountain (2005, USA/Canada)
Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal
Jake Gyllenhaal was only sixteen the first time he read this script and,
in his own words, swore he wanted nothing to do with it. That was 1997; a
society already evolved thirty three years beyond that dark age which serves as
this story’s setting. And still it took a further seven years before we were
ready for this film, and the shooting began. At twenty-three, Gyllenhaal re-read
the script and claimed, “It’s too beautiful to say no.”
Though missing out on Best Picture Oscar, any look across the broader film
critic and film award landscape reveals Brokeback Mountain the most heralded
film of the year.
Like Romeo and Juliette: a desperate fight in the name of love, against
all odds. I believe this is partly what Bruce Cockburn lamented, in addition to
the AIDS crisis, in Lovers in a Dangerous
Time, when he sang: Nothing worth
having comes without some kind of fight; Got to kick at the darkness ‘til it
bleeds daylight.
Director: Ang Lee (Life of Pi)
Budget: $14,000,000
IMDB rating: 7.7
Short List:
Biutiful (2010, Mexico/Spain) Javier
Bardem, Maricel Álvarez, Hanaa Bouchaib
Arthur (1981, USA) Dudley Moore,
Liza Minnelli, John Gielgud
Mask (1985, USA) Cher, Eric
Stoltz, Sam Elliot
Out of Africa (1985, USA/UK)
Meryl Streep, Robert Redford
The Big Chill (1983, USA) Glen
Close, Tom Berenger, Jeff Goldblum, Mary Kay Place, Meg Tilly, William Hurt
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1 comment:
Oh, yes, Lars and the Real Girl is such a wonderful film, would join you in highly recommending it.
martine @ silencing the bell
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