Friday, December 05, 2008

French Movie and Bookbinder's Beverage

After the pho, my parents and I went to the Ritz to see A Christmas Tale. Immediately after the movie, I was a bit put off. There's this certain kind of French movie where a lot happens but the significance of any of it is a little murky. While I feel that I am generally an intelligent person, I must admit that I sometimes want my movies to be a little more straightforward with their message. Or this is how I felt. But over the last week, I have found myself thinking about the emotional makeup of some of the characters, trying to figure it out. And so I give the movie credit for engaging me and keeping itself open-ended enough for me to be unsure of its meaning...though I do not completely take it back...my initial sigh over the French (but damn their food is good).
Afterwards we passed Bookbinders and stopped in for a drink. My mother and I had some bubbly beer, like a fancy Blue Moon. My mother didn't like it. I liked it.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm with mom, Blue Moon is not to my taste at all! On the other hand, I agree with your movie assessment. Get ready, here comes the true Winter holiday, the longest night of the year.

Anonymous said...

My favorite line from The New Yorker review:
"...like getting to know a family other than your own by leafing through its scrapbooks and laughing at its photograph albums, while it bickers in the next room over stuff you may never understand."

Re: "A Christmas Tale"

Anonymous said...

I had wondered about this movie, and I am wondering if I want to see it...still may.

I had a Blue Moon, which I like a lot, last night in a bar that was scary in its smokiness, loudness, bad choices on tv while we are eating-ness. A friend's birthday bash. One of those friendships where I really like her, have no idea why we are friends, but her friends and family and significant other are like aliens to me! Needless to say there were some awkward moments trying to find common ground for casual conversation. I don't do NASCAR, football or college sports of any ilk so we were all at a loss....I managed to stay long enough to be polite, get my clothes hair coat and shoes smoke saturated and then gracefully skeddaddled!