Comfort Food

Movies are like my comfort food. Some people, when they're really upset, go eat a special food or go on a walk or do something important to them that calms them down. When I'm upset, I watch a movie. Sometimes I can't decide on a movie. Then I'm really upset.

I crave movies like people crave food. Lately, I've been craving Billy Elliot, not sure why, I have. So when I was visiting my cousins last weekend in Seattle, we rented it. It's a really good movie. I was reminded again just how talented Julie Walters is. It was directed by Stephen Daldry, who's directed three feature length films, all of which have received Oscar nominations. Pretty good track record. The whole piece is a lovely juxtaposition of UK Miner's Strike, very macro drama, and the Billy's coming of age (of sorts), very micro drama. Robin Black told us to always have two story lines going - that way one can support and play off the other.

To continue in the Stephen Daldry vein, I'm in a The Hours mood. (I've mentioned two of Daldry's three films, kudos to anyone who can name the third) I feel a bit like that scene in the kitchen with Meryl Streep and Jeff Daniels where she totally loses it and starts sobbing against the oven. I feel a bit like that. I wonder what my shrink would think of that.

But I know myself well enough to know movies, as much as I love them, will not solve my problems. They'll make me feel better, but they won't sort things out for me. That'd be pretty cool though. I bet Humphrey Bogart could handle my life much better than I do. Unfortunately Bogie isn't available, so I can't hide in a movie, I have to go figure it all out for myself.