Broken Flowers

More like broken movie... what is this, some ADHD test for the insane? Every shot in this deadly film was static, silent and way, way too long. It's movies like this that make me glad I don't sink ten bucks up front just because Bill Murray was good in his last movie. Yeah, he's got that deadpan look down pat. It looks like his whole face was dipped in Botox. Any small facial expression would have been appreciated in this bore fest.

He meanders aimlessly from one very slow, quiet old girlfriend to the next even slower, quieter ones looking for meaning and a child he never met, who may be looking for him. It's a good concept, but one I'll never be awake enough to see fulfilled in this movie (and I use that term loosely). Music, a pan, anything. I'm now watching some close up take ten seconds to zoom in on Bill sleeping in a plane. Fascinating stuff. What, is this a student film? Maybe that's why there's no director's commentary, or any commentary, or any movement.

As with In Her Shoes and the trendy hook of shoes running throughout.... this one has... you got it... broken flowers. I'm sure they represent something deep and meaningful about life, boring lives, lives that are slow and boring. Yes, now I think I understand what the director is trying to say. Stop, slow down, smell the broken flowers. Life is painful and disconnected and my boring film is so much better. OK, got it.

Seeds

Seeds
Originally uploaded by Intervisions.

Each seed starts out tiny
And grows its form intact
Circle after circle
Growing outward, some retract

Expanding ripples touch
Forming patterns bigger
Some swirl into others
Forming newer figures

Each grows to its destiny
The shape stays somewhat static
The ways they come together though
You can't predict the pattern

Grown up to their boundaries
Till they blend, merge and change
There's a window of time
For things to be arranged

Is the same true of people?
Do we ever really change?
Or just ride the waves of others
Until we realize we're not the same?

Do we see to the core of others?
Do we understand their needs?
Do we ever see who they really are...
Or just colored circles around their seeds?

In Her Shoes

Songs that are designed to become big pop hits must have a hook. I guess it's the same for films. In this sentimental big budget comedy with Oscar darling Toni Collette and the ever bankable Cameron Diaz, the hook is shoes. If you don't pick up on that from the title, there's the closet containing countless pairs and of course the big line for the trailer; clothes never look good, food makes you fat, but shoes always fit... or something like that.

It's the story of two sisters dealing with the legacy of a mother who committed suicide in a single car accident when they were small children. I really started relating to the film at this point because I'm familiar with a real life incident like this and I do wonder about the kids and how they grow up wondering about the "crash" that killed their mother. It's hard enough to lose a parent but these two girls had to grow up surrounded by the lie that their mother was killed accidentally when in reality she was mentally ill and committed suicide. Even in progressive towns today, there is still great denial and shame and whispering. If one dies of a physical disease, it's one thing, but we still attach great stigma to mental illness.

What's also interesting is how different these sisters are (yes, they have only their SHOE size in common). Diaz is dumb and dyslexic, Toni is the plain, studious lawyer. But, although Toni is very functional, she can't really connect with Mister Right and carries great pain. The sisters do discover some truth and connection along the way.

There's no commentary track and Shirley MacLaine sleepwalks through this, but, I guess it's worth a pick on Netflix.