A Long Way Down

We've seen a bunch of movies this summer - a bunch. But I want to tell you about a couple that Em and I checked out at the Broadway Cinema, which is one of my favorite places in SLC to see flicks (generally no crowds, no kids, no a-holes showing up 20 minutes into the movie usually). We saw The Fall earlier this summer, on my birthday actually. Yes, that was a few months ago, but now it's on video (dvd, etc.) for you to check out. It's one of my favorite movies of the summer and I said to Em, "that's one of my favorite movies of the summer", and she said "yeah, I barely remember it". But, didn't you read this cuz you want to know what I have to say?

Let me tell you about this movie. There's this fella Tarsem, he's the director. You remember the REM video Losing My Religion? Well, he did that video way back in the early nineties. And since then, that movie the Cell with Jaylow. Not a bad movie, but this is much better. Synopsis: A girl with a cast on her arm meets a fella with broken legs in the hospital. He tells her a story, little bits at a time. But he's on pain medication, so the story is a little non-linear and messy. There's more to it than that, and I won't tell you everything. Just look at the trailer (link above). If you remember from the REM video, there were lots of people posed nicely in elaborate costumes and the photography was top notch. That's like this movie, but there's acting - and a story.

A couple things I'd like to point out that made it worthwhile: the little girl who is the star of the movie is so good. It's one of the best child performances I've seen in a long time. The opening and closing sequences of the movie are awesome. You really need to watch the ending of the movie - it makes everything else make sense in a way, and not in a cop-out M. Night Shyamalan kind of way.



We saw Man on Wire more recently. It's a documentary about this guy Phillipe Petit who successfully rigged and walked a high wire between the Twin Towers in the early 70's. You see, he was successful, he lived to tell about it along with all of his buddies who helped him plan this stunt for several years. Much of the movie is told in recreations and talking heads, but it's an inspiring story. Em liked this one a lot, as did I. Maybe that's worth something. In fact, there might have been some dust in the theatre during this movie, and in The Fall. I do get weepy in the movies. It's a family trait.

There was a power outage actually. There was a nasty storm that came through and shut off the power about 5 minutes before the end. But it came back on...whew.