2008-05-11

The day dawned rainy, windy and ornery. All day it either misted or softly rained while the winds gusted to 50 miles per hour. While it was only squally here, southwest of here tornados took the lives of four people. As the Ra group said, “the inconveniences have begun.”

We had a lovely day, warm and dry inside. After our morning’s “cleanliness is next to Godliness” routine, with Mick cleaning house and I singing the service at St. Luke’s, we settled into a triple feature, which turned into a double feature when, for the third time, the DVD of Reservation Road would not play on our machine.

Over lunch, we began with I’m Not There, a non-linear look at Bob Dylan’s music and generalized life experience so far. Seven actors played Dylan, the most successful of them being Marcus Carl Franklin and Cate Blanchett. This very personal and affectionate film was awash in Dylan’s music and rang with the genius of his words and melodies. I greatly enjoyed the movie and would recommend it to anyone who likes Bob Dylan’s work.

After a break to brew some popcorn, we settled into our second film, The Brave One, with Jodie Foster playing an urban victim turned predator. It is the next vigilante film in a long series of American films which focus on the theme of a person being victimized by criminals and then turning on those who victimized him. Foster did a very good job with the role, but the action was predictable and there was the inevitable tendency to generalize and moralize, which limited the film’s appeal. The production values were excellent. Foster was most appealing, as was Terrence Howard, who played a policeman trying to help Foster.

When we could not get the DVD of Reservation Road to play, we found I, Robot on the tube and watched that instead. Will Smith owned this film and carried it nearly single-handed, squaring off against some beautifully conceived, computer-generated robots. He did a great job. I love science fiction and enjoyed this film thoroughly, but it was indulgent, going over the top in its special effects to the point of the film’s occasionally lacking clarity and coherence.

Mick offered the closing prayer at the Gaia Meditation tonight.