Time for love

Love is all a matter of timing.

Those are Mr. Chow's words to himaelf in 2046.  I'm not sure that he even believes them.  It's a comfortable lie.

2046 is an excellent sequel/companion to In the Mood for Love.  The ideas in it are also clearly in dialogue with both Ashes of Time and My Blueberry Nights, the other two Wong films that I have seen.  I am ignorant of any other filmmaker who is currently exploring romantic love at this level of depth and committment in such an adult way.  Rohmer comes to mind, but he's at the end of his career now.

Out of Sight is a cute little heist romance that has fun with the notion of love being a matter of timing.  Easy to watch and easy to like, the film is pretty perfect at being the trifle that it is.

Junebug is comparable in its ambitions to Still Walking.  Junebug fails by comparison as it teetertotters along the borders of melodrama.  This would be okay if the characters were fully established, but I feel like they are rather players in a grand directorial joke instead of real human beings.

Both brother characters seem underdeveloped, working as fleshed out stereotypes instead of being their own men.  Overall, I feel lukewarm toward the film, but I'm glad for more Southern stories on screen.  Also, the one scene where Johnny is trying and failing to tape the meerkats transcends the rest of this film and most other films like this.  It's just a beautiful moment of truth.  Love is all a matter of timing.

Those are three of the films you let me borrow.  I have to wonder if you recognized the common themes when you gave them to me or if it was just a happy accident.

I also watched Two Lovers.  It wasn't nearly as awful as I was prepared for it to be.  It is actually quite good, among the best American films of this year that I've seen.  Which may not be saying much with competition like Transformers 2 and Paul Blart: Mall Cop.

Like the films you loaned me, Two Lovers is about love and timing.  And it mostly succeeds in its modest attempt to tackle such important ideas without trying to provide answers.  Just feel the questions.     

Some of the writing is poor (only in the sense that shortcuts are taken), but the story is solid and the three main performances are all top-notch.  I hope that Pheonix changes his mind about his retirement.  

Gray is definitely a director to watch.  I'm excited to see what he does in the future and hope to get around to checking out his past films. 

I also mostly rewatched Julie and Julia at home with Abby.  I say mostly because i walked out a few times to do things and i fell asleep before the end.  Like Out of Sight, it is a trifle and it likewise holds its own by being more fun than it has any right to be. 

Finally, Munyurangabo is a great film. I highly recommend it.  I'm grateful to Film Movement for giving it DVD distribution in the States.  I don't know much about Rwanda or the genocide there, but I am familiar with the wickedness of hatred and the futility of unrighteous anger.  Munyurangabo made me want to get down on my knees and beg for mercy.  

Love is not all a matter of timing.  

It is all a matter of continuing sacrifice.  It is a matter of dying to self and living for others.  I still have a lot to learn.