Movies You Should See

You may not have heard of some of these movies (or films) but the are very worthwhile and I've even given some of them as gifts. These are in no particular order - they'll are great.

Ghost Dog - The Way of the Samurai - 1999

I never thought I'd enjoy this kind of movie - but it's great. Forest Whitaker does an amazing job as an ex-hit man who lives by the ancient code of the Samurai. The music along makes it worth watching. The serious yet noir comical ‘mob bosses' and other interesting characters are fascinating. It's one of those films that you can enjoy on the surface, but also contains a boat-load of metaphors and depth.

Amélie

This film directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and starring Audrey Tautou and starring

This one has it all, plot, excellent acting, romance and a mystery. This French film is one of those movies where you miss the characters when it's over. It's light and funny and I love it. French with English Subtitles

Elling

Elling is a delightful and funny drama from Sweden. Two men who have not experienced the ‘real world' because one lived with his mother and was a recluse and the other comes from an institution, are thrust into Oslo and told they must make a new life with the help of their exasperated social worker and each other. Elling decides that he will be a poet and goes to some extreme and amusing ways to get his poetry read. His roommate is focused on women and food (not necessarily in that order). Some hilarious and also heartbreaking scenes. Swedish with English subtitles. Rated R

Cold Comfort Farm

In the early 1920's a young woman, Flora Poste, is left penniless and orphaned, then taken in by a very odd family of relatives on Cold Comfort Farm. The extended family is ruled over by a mysterious older relative who ‘saw something nasty in the woodshed' when she was a young girl and took to her bed and was waited on hand and food from that time on by her family. Flora decides to become a writer and sets about penning her first novel, but ends up sorting out the family and saving the day. The mood and plot are perfect. It's very entertaining and very different.

Crossroads

We're music fans and enjoy listening to blues. Crossroads is an older movie with a wonderful cast. It's about an amazing guitar player who is a student at Guiliard, but who's heart is drawn to the blues of the deep south of the USA. He is seeking the 30th song supposedly written by Robert Johnson (a early blues legend who was supposed to have sold his soul to the devil to be the best blues player or guitar player). Robert Johnson is a real person. Excellent movie.

The Honeydripper

This is a similar theme as Crossroads, but this time Robert Johnson is a ‘friendly ghost' who helps an elderly blues club owner save his business when a jazzy new one opens up across the road in the rural south of the US. Steeped in music history, fake names are used, but anyone with knowledge of the music of the south will recognize the characters, and if you don't you'll still enjoy a rousing good movie.