Flying Shortbread

Strangely, this movie was about Harvey. I guess there are rarely films of gravity and wit about men's lives, but you know I was there for the Emma Thompson's character's backstory. That would have been far more interesting to me. You know I love Emma, she can do anything! And frequently does. I love her expanding middle and I love her crows feet. Perfect realness. Real perfection. And this is not vitriol, just admiration. The film is 'nice', I don't always want to see issuemovies. And yet there were issues, just well disguised. Tangible. Not too funny, not too sad, not too surprising. Britishly well-restrained.

Wordplay is a fantastic documentary on crossword puzzles called Wordplay. Fantabulous! Extraordinary! Stunning! Beautifully done. Interviews all sorts of people - celebrities, puzzle makers, New York Times public editors, a guy who decided to make an annual event for the people holed up in their rooms to get out and meet like-minded puzzlers. The competitiveness! Worth keeping. The Indigo girls - and a brief shot of a concert - a sea of dykes. Heaven.

Coco Chanel was kinda nice, great cinematography - or shall I say, it wasn't linear but it was a bit been there done that. Her long-time lover was badly cast. But I loved the woman who played her, and there were great notions. Coco was wonderful.

Management with Jennifer Aniston - worth seeing for some very truthful scenes, but kinda yawn.

I love scifi, and I live in South Africa, 50 kms from where they made the movie. Our local film industry is very sad, but District 9 was great! Very very very very violent, very very very pointed about apartheid. Some hard bits to see, which made it great! But I could never see it again. Way too hectic. We South Africans are very gritty. I was just saying to one of my international pals on Facebook that we don't use the word nice here in South Africa - it would be too anomalous, too weird, too freaky, to unfitting. There are no nice situations here. It's hectic! No one is emigrating to South Africa.... unless they are transferred or living in a place where their limbs are getting hacked off because they don't fit in their social groups!

Just as it has been done for years in Hollywood, the roll of the black male in this movie is quickly reduced to that of weakness and ignorance. At every turn, the black man is portrayed as either powerless or out of control (Howard) while the white man gets away with murder, and more specifically in Dillon's case, saves the day (that is, saves the life of a black women he initially harasses both racially and sexually). Furthermore Dillon's cop character is classic American myth! Although it is established early on that he is deeply flawed, it is ultimately suggested that his sins are to be forgiven due to his heroics. Because Dillon's character is never held accountable for his repugnance and moreover in the end romanticized, "Crash" does more to uphold the subconscious structures of white supremacy than destroy them. Nate Mezmer