Movie Night(s)

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It's been such a long time since I sat down and watched anything on television other than news. I don't voluntarily watch the news, but if I want to sit down at all at night, I get it by virtue of being in the room, because that's what Doug watches. But, for two nights in a row I was in the room with the TV all by myself this week.

Thursday night I was alone while Doug picked his parents up from the airport, and I flipped through the list of programs that had been dvrd just to see if I had recorded anything for myself. I had -- back in July -- and by some miracle none of my children (or husband) deleted it. It must have been the title that put them off, The Nun. It was an EWTN special program about a Swedish girl who becomes a Carmelite nun. The focus of the program was on both the girl, and her devout farming family. Though it was subtitled from its original Swedish, the program was very entertaining, and I found myself fascinated by all she said about her life as a cloistered nun. If you see this show on EWTN's program schedule, be sure to watch.

Last night, I had a movie that I had picked up from the library -- Last Chance Harvey-- and I was all alone after putting Peach to bed because the boys and Doug were at a high school football game. I genuinely enjoyed this film about two characters seemingly destined to spend their lives single, but neither very happy about it. Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson play the pair, and though I would never have paired them together myself, they make a curiously good match. They meet in London, where he is visiting for his daughter's wedding. Through a series of unfortunate events, they come together and there's a spark. There is one very sad scene where Thompson's character admits to having an abortion ("It's what smart girls did") and I think it's clear the message the filmwriters were sending -- women are scarred by abortion. I would watch this film again -- I think it's the kind of movie where you catch new bits each time you watch it.


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