you talkin' to me?..........

I've had a few nights off this week, so I've been catching up on some movies that I had Tivo"d over the past few weeks. Some old favorites- Roseland, a Merchant Ivory film from the late 70's, set in the legendary dance Hall. Brian DePalmas Dressed to Kill - eeeeek. I also watched the big two part Woody Allen Documentary by Robert Weide that they played on PBS this week. Incredibly (mercifully) they were not begging for donations,so you could enjoy it from start top finish without interruption- 3 1/2 hours of bliss. It makes you want to lock the door and watch all 40 or so of his movies non stop.

If you are a fan you will love it, and the best part of the whole thing is the absolute last line, which Woody delivers himself and then laughs out loud. perfection

One of the movies i watched is Stolen Kisses, by Francois Truffaut. During his career he made 5 (I think) films which featured the character of Antoine Doniel. He began with the classic 400 Blows which saw Doniel as a schoolboy and then he would revisit the character every five years or so to see what he's up to.

The character became a bit of a dual autobiography of Truffaut and the actor who played him,Jean Pierre Leaud

At the start of Stolen Kisses, Doniel is thrown out of the army and spends the rest of the movie moving from job to job, trying to figure out what he should be doing with his life. At the same time he is trying to figure out ........women.

Who am I? What is love? Why am I here? .......... all your classic young man questions.

About three quarters of the way thru the movie he finds himself idolizing his bosses wife, while still pining for his sometime girlfriend, while continuing his quest to figure out who the hell he is.

This leads to this extraordinary scene= Antoine in front of the mirror, speaking the names of both women and his own. A single shot, 90 seconds- it becomes an aria as he builds to a wee bit of rapture searching for an answer. An incantation.

Watching it out of context you get a feel for what it's all about, but when you see it in the movie it nearly takes your breath away.

let's make a pact; we'll all promise to see one of our favorite movies this week. Something you haven't seen in a while, an old pal.