Before Midnight

       Yes, see this movie, if you must, before midnight.  It is not worth staying up beyond that time. Maybe eight o'clock.  Is there snappy dialogue?  Yes, but too much.  Does the dialogue cover poignant subjects?  Yes, but again, too much.  How much to you want to cram into a movie.

This movie is pretentious and over-rated.  There, I said it.  Okay, perhaps I, too, am pretentious and over-rated, but then, as the juvenile cliché states, it takes one to know one.

The actors are attractive and can act, given a vehicle with life to it, which this not.  Clearly, this movie is a case of a sequel depending too much on its previous incarnations.  Neither the writers nor the director has nothing new to say.  Yes, people in relationships get older.  The relationships change.  If you are over a certain age, you learn this.  Most people learn this the hard way.  Yes, I know, some people never learn.

Richard Linklater and his team have no more to contribute about this theme and should move on to new ideas.  Okay, thanks.  I had to get that off of my chest.

Process and Story: Stories We Tell

  Sarah Polley's bio-documentary,"Stories We Tell", should be seen and digested for content, style, and execution.  I do not get to see documentaries that often, for one reason or another, but I will be surprised if this one is not Oscar nominated, and would be happy to see it win.  It is far more than just a young Canadian woman's search for identity.  What we have in this film, is someone grabbing onto a life-changing discovery like a slow running train in the opposite direction.
   Some would say that she is exploiting her family, and her own personal story for self-aggrandizing reasons, and there are arguments for that.  But if you can get beyond this perspective, this film is worth seeing for the way it is told and what it is saying about family, film-making and storytelling.  As somebody who loves literature and the importance of a rich family life, storytelling, as well as film and the art of filmmaking, I found this film irresistible.
   See it on the big screen for fun, but at least on video because it is a significant work of art as well as a compelling story.  Listen and watch Michael Polley particularly, Sarah's "Father", who steals the show and rightly so.