Let’s face it: this is a difficult year for many of us to be thankful – at least if we’re focusing on the news (and how could we not?). 2016 has taken so much and so many from the world, it’s hard not to greet Thanksgiving with the kind of benediction Wendy (Christina Ricci) delivered in The Ice Storm...
Dear Lord, thank you for this Thanksgiving holiday and for all the material possessions we have and enjoy. And for letting us white people kill all the Indians and steal their tribal lands. And stuff ourselves like pigs, even though children in Asia are being napalmed.
But it’s worth taking a moment to be thankful for those brief glimmers of hope and beauty that help keep the darkness at bay. Never has there been a better time to find solace in movies, television, books, and music. It’s not so much escapism as the balm that heals us so we can stand up and fight another day.
On that note, here are some of the things I’m thankful for as the holiday season approaches...
All of the colors in La La Land – the colors that pop and sparkle and sing as lyrically as any of the songs. But especially the colors of the dresses worn by Mia, reminding us that Emma Stone should always wear emerald green. Except when she’s wearing sapphire blue. Or sunny yellow. Or...
The diner scene from Moonlight – shades of In the Mood for Love, with its pent-up longing underscored by the wistful music and lovingly prepared food that convey what the two protagonists can’t say.
Andrew Haigh and Kenneth Lonergan for consistently giving us characters who talk, interact, and most of all feel like real people, messy and flawed yet sympathetic in recognizable ways.
Ralph Fiennes and Alden Ehrenreich playing off each other like the world’s best comedy duo in Hail, Caesar. Would that it were so simple!
“The Riddle of the Model” from Sing Street: the first number that made clear the movie was going to get the ’80s exactly, delightfully right.
Léa Seydoux’s smile in The Lobster – so rare but so exquisitely, sadistically expressive when it appears.
Viggo Mortensen’s lovely, nuanced turn in Captain Fantastic as the father who discovers he doesn’t have – and more importantly, doesn’t need to have – all the answers.
The Americans finally getting long-overdue Emmy recognition (though no wins).
Sarah Paulson getting the role of her life in The People v. O.J. Simpson, and knocking it out of the park.
All the movies left this year that I can’t wait to see: Nocturnal Animals, The Edge of Seventeen, Allied, Rogue One, Jackie, Julieta, 20th Century Women, Fences, Hidden Figures, and so. many. more.
Above all, I’m thankful to Nathaniel & the Film Experience for giving me an opportunity to share my ramblings with such a simpatico community. I value you all more than ever, and wish you a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Lynn Lee is a government lawyer who spends most of her time outside work obsessing over arts and pop culture. Her current fascination is with "The Americans" on FX. Her first love, though, will always be movies, thanks to parents who raised her on an eclectic diet of Ingmar Bergman, talky French films, 1960s musicals, Star Wars, and Spielberg blockbusters. You can find her occasional musings on movies and TV on her blog.
You can read more about Team Experience here.