Tired Road Warrior

When I was growing up in the 60s in East Lansing, Michigan, I had a friend whose parents were alcoholics.  My friend was a bit of a nerd.  He loved movies (this era was pre-tapes and pre-DVDs) and he would rent full-length movies on reels.  He would show them in his house for anyone who was interested.  We ended up spending a lot of time at his place.

His parents were always “three sheets to the wind.”  His mother once told me that she wished she had become a nun like she had originally intended.  His father, while I knew him, despite his drinking problem, was able to maintain a job with NCR.  But I understand he was let go after I left East Lansing.  Ultimately, I don’t know what happened to my friend’s parents, but the prognosis was obviously not good.

I was reminded of my friend’s parents when I recently watched the film Crazy Heart.  For his efforts, Jeff Bridges won an Academy for best actor for portraying the role of an over-the-hill country singer with alcohol and drug addictions.  When the film opens, the main character is playing the bowling alley circuit.  The movie also has a subplot involving a May-to-December romance.  Jeff probably didn’t deserve his Academy Award for this flic, but maybe he did for life-time achievement.

Anyway, I found the movie to be very derivative of an earlier movie:  The Wrestler.  The general plots are the same, just substitute a broken-down singer for a broken-down wrestler.  I’m not a country music fan, but I loved the music in Crazy Heart, which also captured an Academy Award.

I didn’t like the ending of Crazy Heart.  The “hero’s” rehab was way too easy and the ending was very unsatisfying.  The conclusion made logical sense (younger woman dumps older man), but lacked emotional punch.  Life just isn’t as clear cut and clean as the movie’s ending.  If movie goers want something that doesn’t pull punches, they should watch the classic movie The Days of Wine and Roses.  I saw the latter movie with some high school buddies, including the one mentioned above.  To this day, I wonder what impact the movie had on my high school pal.  I know I never saw him consume alcohol.

Cultural Definition of “three sheets to the wind”:

To be “three sheets to the wind” is to be drunk.  The sheet is the line that controls the sails on a ship.  If the line is not secured, the sail flops in the wind, and the ship loses headway and control.  If all three sails are loose, the ship is out of control.

The American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy

Two nights ago I watched the movie Everybody’s Fine, starring Robert De Niro as father and several other fine actors as his offspring.  In the movie Frank Goode, a widower played by De Niro, travels around the country visiting his adult children.  Learning their secrets leads first to introspection, then to a determination to make things right.  The important point for me was Goode’s desire to patch things up with his “less-than-perfect” kids.  To do this he needed to reconsider his past expectations for them.

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A few nights ago, I rewatched Clint Eastwood’s “Gran Torino.”  I love this movie.  It is rated “R,” principally for language.  At times, it seems like every other word is either a racial slur, the f-bomb, or a crude swear word.  Although it sounds almost obscene, I found myself laughing at some of the absurd and creative uses of racial epitaphs.

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Two articles in this week’s periodicals paint a less-than-flattering image of official and unofficial Mormons.  The first appeared in Time Magazine in a review of the movie “The Book of Eli.”  The second was the lead article (complete with cover photograph) in the National Geographic.  I have no particular comment on either article, but it is interesting to see how we are portrayed in the popular press.

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Below is a list of lesser-known movies that I recommend:

• Pi - Faith in Chaos (Darren Aronofsky director)  1998
• Twin Falls Idaho (Michael Polish director) 1999
• Sling Blade (Billy Bob Thorton director) 1996
• Run Lola Run (German, Tom Tykwer director) 1998
• The Station Agent (Thomas McCarthy director) 2005
• Gattaca (Andrew Niccol director) 1997
• Being John Malkovich (Spike Jonze director) 1999
• Kundun (Martin Scorsese director) 1997
• Sideways (Alexander Payne director) 2005
• Defending Your Life (Albert Brooks director) 1991
• Three Kings (David O. Russell director) 1999
• Ulee’s Gold (Victor Nunez director) 1999
• Hideous Kinky (Gillies Mackinnon director) 1999

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I recently went to see “Avatar.”  I give it an “A” for special effects (with reservations) and a “D-” for plot.

Here are my random comments about the movie:

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Years ago, before I could face the pain of dealing with our Regional Office, I stopped at what is now Carl’s Jr for breakfast.  After a delightful snack, I started back toward the SLC Federal building.  As I was leaving the fast-food joint, I heard someone call “Roger,” but I looked around and didn’t see anybody I recognized.  I then heard “Roger” again.  This time a bearded indigent man approached me.  It was an individual that I had gone to graduate school with, an economics major.

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Lately I’ve become obsessed with sub-Saharan eastern Africa.  It is a place that has been tormented by HIV/AIDs, war, over-population, corrupt and inept governments, and famine.  Just as you think things are calming down in the region, another disaster breaks out.  The current troubled area is eastern Congo.  Northern Uganda seems to be settling down, but Darfur is still a mess.  Kenya, where we thought there was hope, recently had a troubled election. 

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Wednesday night (August 7) and Thursday was movie day for me at the Salt Lake City gathering of the Sunstone Symposium. This 24-hour period included presentations involving: (1) background information on the television documentary The Mormons; (2) a revisiting of the movie/documentary New York Doll; and (3) a pre-screening and discussion of Richard Dutcher’s latest film Falling. Each was very informative, and occasionally gut wrenching. Each demonstrates the power that film can have in spurring discussion. And, as with all Sunstone activities, each had its share of weird.

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I watched the movie “States of Grace” last week and enjoyed it. The movie isn’t perfect, but it is by far Richard Dutcher’s (the director) best effort to date. Brigham Young University’s decision not to show it on campus is ridiculous. However, the movie is for older children and adults. It deals with many of the gray areas of Mormonism.

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