Sundance with my BFFs.

 My friend Gail and I met up in Macey's parking lot, ready to head north through the elements. The rain of the morning with Shannon, had now turned to snow. Thank goodness, once again, we could wait  inside for the second Sundance movie of my day!

                                                                    Elena

Elena is a Russian film with subtitles. When I think about Russian movies, I think of something stark, depressive, with a nihilistic theme. I don't know how I developed this opinion, it's not as if I've seen a lot of Russian movies. I must have seen one sometime and it stuck with me, but honestly Elena was pretty much spot-on with my expectation. It was a tale about unfairness, about how this woman was sometimes powerless, how this woman found a solution and about how things are pretty much hopeless either way. Yes. It was a Russian movie.
It gave us a lot to think and talk about on the way home. Russian movie or not, it is a common story, crossing cultural lines about women in general. Universal themes such as what mothers give up for their  children and husbands, dependency, regret, feeling powerless, feeling over, and ever, responsible.

So! As we sat in our seats, people were filing in, filling every spot and I was telling Gail about Oxygen Woman. I'll be darned if she didn't appear right over Gail's shoulder, eyeing the open seat next to me! She glanced at me and moved on down the aisle, as I covertly hit Gail in the thigh and gave her a pointed "look" to alert her to what had just happened! Gail looked and turned to me with her own "pointed look", nodding!
"That's her! That's Oxygen Gal!!" I whispered to Gail with glee!

                                                          

                                                                  Fathers Chair

Sunday arrived, the sun shining! The snow was gone and, once again, I was heading north with one of my bffs to see a movie! Life is good! Bridgette agreed, that it was great to be out broadening our horizons together! Some of you may be thinking, " going to the movies instead of church!? Broadening your horizons? the horizon of HELL!"
Actually, I think "playing hooky"  may have added to the pleasure, the novelty of the excursion. But then, I'm bad, so...

Fathers Chair was, this time, not about a woman, but about a man with unresolved issues of abandonment. (can they ever be resolved?). He loses his son, journeys through the, mostly beautiful, countryside of southern Brazil to find his son and finds his father and himself in the process.  We both agreed that when his father explains " I can't hear you!" in a wood shop, after all the years of their estrangement, he really can't "hear him", never could, never will. And the relationship, should he continue it from there on out, will have to be based on that knowledge. His father isn't able to give him what he wants. Can he be happy with what he is able to give? Can he accept his father's inadequacies?

We stopped at the clean and retro Village Inn where Bridget treated me to a piece of Rhubarb pie. I know...Rhubarb?? It just sounded good, and it was! We solved the world's problems, discussing acceptance, forgiveness, the kindness of strangers, familial relationships and disappointments. Like I said, these movies really give you a lot of "food for thought"...but that doesn't mean you still don't need a nice piece of pie with your bff!

Oh! And guess who was there? I'll give you ONE guess. hahahaha