Last night, after experiencing what I can best describe as a "beige day" (you know, the type where nothing really bad happens, but nothing really good or lively or "well, that was cool" happens either), I needed something uplifting. And not Christmas carols - I'm overdosed on those at the moment. Love 'em; don't get me wrong, but sometimes you need the less-treacly ones - "Fairytale of New York" by the Pogues comes to mind, and that just gets you a lot of very strange looks.So Stacked Librarian, who's always good at cheering me up when I'm on a downhill slide, stuffed me with pizza and we watched Waitress. Now, this is a movie I'd been meaning to see since it came out in the spring but, what with one thing and another, I never had managed. I wasn't sure about it - okay, Nathan Fillion, always good; one of my strengths is admitting my weaknesses. And a story about a waitress who pours her emotions into her strangely-named pies certainly has the curiosity factor going for it. But the story behind the movie is such a sad one. I don't want to go into gritty details, but the writer and director of the film, Adrienne Shelly, was murdered before the film was picked up for distribution, so she never got to revel in the well-deserved accolades the film received. She also had a starring role in the movie - it's hard to juggle those three jobs and often the results are overly self-indulgent, but not this time. Following her death, a non-profit organization was established to encourage other female filmmakers. No doubt a worthy goal, but I daresay her family, friends and fans would much rather have her among the rest of us.
Enough with the sad. It's a great movie. Really. Strong story, well-developed characters, funny, touching, and leaves you with that warm, fuzzy feeling without a nasty saccharine aftertaste. No need for a plot synopsis beyond telling you that I started thinking afterward about the term "happy enough" and being sure that I want more than that, even if it makes me unhappy along the way.
I think I need a piece of pie now.
5 comments:
I have been preoccupied with pie ever since Friday. And I hate the recipes for the pies mentioned in the film aren't available! The official website has links to pie recipes but they are to sites that are big recipe warehouses. And what could have been in the Naughty Pumpkin Pie?
Rumor has it that a special edition of the DVD comes with appropriate pie recipes. But that's all I can tell you.
I watched this movie Sat. and while it wasn't bad I didn't really like it either. It was very anti-marriage, not one character had a happy marriage and the end could be seen half-way through the film. But it wasn't all bad, I thought all the actors did very well, Andy Griffith was surprisingly good, there were some really funny and touching moments, and of course the best part of the film were the pies themselves. Between this movie and my fascination with Pushing Daises I've been having some serious pie cravings as well.
'Strue. Any movie that contains Andy Griffith uttering the line about "making sweet, sweet love" throughout the summer of '48 deserves to be watched.
Really Elizabeth?! Must get special edition DVD to obtain pie recipes. And I was thinking the same thing amnbdad! This fall is the season of pie it seems.
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