view issue - PrimeTime Cape Cod

2
MAY 2011
Ou r Th O u g h T s
Making friends while
watching Movies
For the second month in a row,
Joan Harrison has inspired me
to write about PrimeTime’s
Making Friends. This column
is intended to help people
find others who enjoy the same activity
in the hopes that new friendships
will blossom.
This is especially important in a
retirement community like Cape
Cod. Some people move here
after an illness or divorce, others
retire here, but almost all
washashores are faced with
rebuilding their network of
friends. Making Friends gives
you a way to reach out to
others in your area who
share your interests.
This month Joan talks
about her love of “films.” It
made me laugh out loud, first because
for two people with drastically different
tastes in movies there were actually
a few on her list that I agreed with, and
second, because there are people who
refer to movies as “films” and those
who call them, well, “movies.”
Perhaps my “film” tastes were hamstrung
by being exposed to such uplifting
numbers as “The Marriage of Maria
Braun” and “Fitzcarraldo” before my
formative mind was able to consciously
reject depressing European fatalism.
No matter how great a movie “Das
Boot” is, you’ll never again convince
me to spend two-plus hours of my life
with guys I come to care about, only
to be given two in the heart. Ditto,
“The Unbearable Lightness of Being.”
You said it, unbearable. I always end
up screaming, “What’s the point?” In
other words, I was reared on too much
Masterpiece Theatre and not enough
Disney.
But movies certainly are a fun topic
to share with people. Another way to
build on Joan’s discussion of how a
movie can remind you of an actor, who
in turn reminds you of another movie
or a different actor, is to add in the
book angle.
Joan likes “To Kill a Mockingbird,”
which I like too, especially since it was
so loyal to Harper Lee’s book. “Cold
Mountain” also did well by Charles
Frazier’s novel. That book I chucked in
the trash because the ending frustrated
Erin C. Healy
me so, but I bought it again and well, ...
he was a deserter.
I’m so lucky that more often than
not my husband and I agree on movies
we like – and don’t. We both roll our
eyes whenever someone mentions
“The English Patient” for example, but
we could, and often do, watch other
movies repeatedly. We both love “No
Country for Old Men,” even if
directors Joel and Ethan Coen
tinkered with the Tommy Lee
Jones character, making him
a doubting Thomas and a
bumbler with an aversion to
guns, none of which he was
in the book.
But that reminds me of
another Cormac McCarthy
book: “All the Pretty Horses,”
which Billy Bob Thornton
directed into a movie that definitely
warrants a second viewing. Speaking of
Tommy Lee Jones, he’s unforgettable
as Woodrow Call in “Lonesome Dove,”
a TV movie, but a classic none the less.
Now my tastes are starting to show.
If it’s a western, I’m liable to like it.
Have you ever noticed that Ethan and
his sister-in-law are in love in “The
Searchers”? Even though “Appaloosa”
steals from the Gus and Call relationship
of “Lonesome Dove,” Everett
Hitch is truly a unique character. The
dialog in the new “True Grit” is terrific;
the lack of dialog in “Jeremiah Johnson”
is also terrific.
I could relate to Joan’s dislike of
“The Silence of the Lambs,” which
I loved – because I did walk out of
“Hannibal” – and we all know why.
“L.A. Confidential” is a must-see, as is
“Zodiac” – notice how the color palette
shifts from yellow to blue as the trail
gets cold.
You get the drift. What a fun way
to make new friends: Start a movie
group (see Page 20). Just remember
that movies, like all art, are a matter
of taste, and we all have our opinions
about what makes one memorable – or
forgettable.
Editor
ehealy@capecodonline.com
508-862-1156