Monday, January 29, 2007


Easily swayed
#7-#19

It's not like I'll do anything. I won't do a shot of the mustard/horseradish/mayonnaise/hot sauce/ketchup combination that my friend Tom will do. I won't root for the Pittsburgh Steelers. I won't rebroadcast, reproduce, or use a game without the express written consent of Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, or the National Hockey League. Well, maybe without the NHL's consent. And I will most certainly not walk across the room to talk to that hot chick.

But I will watch whatever movies Salon's Beyond the Multiplex column tells me to watch. At least the one's that I can find in my library system. And that are supposed to be good. And that were independent films in 2006.

When added up, it equaled 13: "The Beauty Academy of Kabul", "Brick", "CSA: Confederate States of America", "The Death of Mr. Lazarescu", "The Fallen Idol", "Gabrielle", "Oldboy" (OK, not really on the list, but the first in a trilogy of movies that ends with a movie on the list), "L'Enfant", "Nathalie", "On The Outs", "The Road to Guantanamo", "Somersault", and "Zizek!".
"These will all be great!" I thought. "A great way to spend cold, snowy evenings!"

Ummmmmmmm, yea. More like a decent way to spend cold, snowy evenings. Or an OK way to spend cold, snowy evenings. They weren't BAD movies -- "Somersault" (co-starring a very good Sam Worthington, the newcomer connected to James Cameron's new project, "Avatar") and "On the Outs" proved worthy of recommendation. "Brick" starred that kid from "Third Rock From The Sun" and tried to turn Most of the rest had at least something worth mentioning, even though I'm not going to mention it. Only "Gabrielle", a French movie set in the early 1900s about the fallout of wife's choice to leave her cold husband, was one I wished I hadn't watched.

I did keep statistics:
  • 6 movies were subtitled or partially subtitled.
  • 4 movies featured naked women
  • 3 movies featured naked women and subtitles
  • 1 movies featured a naked old man and subtitles
Really, I would imagine just about any list worth its salt that is of independent movies would contain this ratio of movies with subtitles and naked women. And naked old men. It's to be expected.

I'm not sure if this exercise taught me not to be so easily swayed. I still love year-end lists. And I still like watching movies on cold, snowy nights. I'm still not going to do a mustard/horseradish/mayonnaise/hot sauce/ketchup shot. And I'm not rooting for the Pittsburgh Steelers, ever. I guess I'll have to suck it up and talk to the hot chick across the room so she can come home with me and help me decide if these movies really are any good or not.

As long as that doesn't result in more movies with naked guys on my list, old or not.

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