And since we're talking about movies

Are you tired of hearing about movies yet?  I cannot apologize for it as we do love them.  This week, as we are on the countdown to the Oscars, I thought I'd share some thoughts on film with you.

Why do we like films...well, they entertain, which is a statement to the obvious, I know.  We like a good action flick where the hero defies all odds, takes more beatings than humanly possible and still manages to win the fight but only after standing with head jauntily cocked and delivering some quip of bravado as he/she lands the final blow, dispatching the villain. Our chests swell with excitement as we want to cheer, shout, and know that good has won out.

For the romantic in us, we like the idea of love finding us.  We dream of the chance encounters, of seeing attraction bloom.  We revel in the beautiful moments where the character realizes that someone sees them, sees their beauty through the flaws and quirky habits, finds them worth fighting for or living for just as they are.  We identify with that heartbreaking moment when it seems like it won't work out, like the guy or the girl will let their fears or self doubts win over and not take the chance, when a part of each viewer is reliving that moment when we lost a love, when our heart was broken, or we didn't jump in and take that chance.  And then there's that moment. Yes, you know the one. Where the characters figure it out...that there is someone out there that takes them for who they are, that wants them without qualifications, and they run to each other, they kiss, and we, the audience, accepts that everything will be alright.

We like these types of movies. We like the entertainment, knowing that there is a completeness to what we will see, an ending that will fill us with hope and the security that things always work out in the end.

This is what entertainment is all about. We laugh, are excited, enjoy the thrill of it all, cheer on the underdog, cry at the touching moments, are inspired and perhaps envious of the lives we see on the screen.  But films are more than all of that.  They can be and in many instances are works of art.  The entertainment value of a film aside, the way the film is crafted, put together, how the story is told, that is what makes them incredible.  It may be the strange and witty dialogue, the cinematographic feel, the boundaries a director has broken in traditional film-making, or the emotion the film is crafted to evoke within its audience.  This is really why we like and talk so much about films here.  We have all watched those entertaining and blockbuster films, but the rest...the unique and artistic films...so many of those are missed.  And here in the library, we collect those.  Films like this year's August: Osage County, which stayed true to the artistry of its writer, Tracy Letts, whose strength is in dialogue.  Originally written as a play for the stage, to be performed on a very basic stage setting, the film kept to those principles.  With only a few sets and no extras (only 12 cast members ever grace the stage or the screen), this film captures that raw, gritty dialogue that comes from a family with issues and enough sass to say just how they feel regardless of consequences.  There aren't distracting scenes, music, or anything extraneous keeping the audience's focus entirely on the human drama enfolding in front of them.  This is art.  Or last year's To The Wonder which leads the audience on a journey of finding and losing love without the dialogue or intensity of Letts.  Rather, director Terrance Mallick tells the story through images, moments, glimpses.  His use of light and sound is incredible, conveying emotion and the path the characters are on even when there aren't any actors on screen.  This is art.  

So we'll watch the awards shows in hopes that the world will step out of the its film-watching habits and try something new, experience the world through new perspectives, find the artistry in new works, be inspired to create something new, and perhaps even be entertained in the process.