Marilyn Hotchkiss’ Ballroom Dancing & Charm School

I’d not heard of this 2006 gem until recently, in spite of the star-studded cast, which includes Marisa Tomei, Mary Steenburgen, John Goodman, Sean Astin, and Robert Carlyle. Carlyle plays a widow who, through a chance encounter on a highway, makes a promise that leads him to a dance class. Once again, dance proves to be a reviver of lost souls. I particularly enjoyed the theme of gentleness in the face of difficulty, expressed through Carlyle’s portrayal of Frank Keene.

All Over the Guy

Another recently discovered older film, All Over the Guy is a romantic comedy, but the main action is man action. Yes, there are sex scenes, but they’re on the timid side if compared to many heterosexual movies in the romantic comedy genre. Besides enjoying the movie’s whacky humour and the way the story unfolds, I was drawn to the very real struggles the main characters navigate through in order to grow up and grow closer.

The Fall

Whew! Fasten your visual seat belts. When a young girl with a grand imagination and a man (played by Lee Pace) with a talent for storytelling meet in a hospital in 1920s Los Angeles, they take a strange journey together. What we see is the man’s struggle in the hospital and the man’s story as told to and seen through the mind’s eye of the girl. This unlikely pair changes each others’ lives. Filmed without special effects (which will boggle your mind – scroll down on the Amazon.com page to see the trailer) in 26 locations in more than 18 countries, The Fall will take you away and return you filled, awed, and revived.

Lars and the Real Girl

If The Fall is a wild ride, Lars and the Real Girl is a slow slide. I avoided this movie for a long time, uncertain about its flavour. Too sad? Depressing? Now I can’t seem to see it often enough. Ryan Gosling plays Lars, a man who’s kind, but also intensely introverted – to the point of painfulness. This story of Lars creatively finding a way into a healthier life – and the community that finds ways to support him as he does so – is full of small moments of well-crafted meaning, humour, and revelation. I particularly like the doctor who helps Lars, because of her way of being wily yet kind-hearted as she prompts Lars forward. Lars and the Real Girl turns out to be much more than the sum of it’s careful, beautiful, small parts.

~

{ GEMS display remarkable sparkle }

Related reading: British TV Crime Dramas (Part One) and Part Two