Mid-August Lunch (Pranzo di ferragosto)
Rara and I saw this together and while it was certainly charming, we were far from the target audience. Just as the Babies audience was full of expectant parents, Mid-August Lunch appealed very strongly to the white-haired set, particularly women. Rara was the youngest person in the audience (eleven) and I was perhaps the second youngest (thirty-three).
I loved the mood and the food, but I think my youth blinded me to the real value of this movie, or so I assume from my mother's response to it (she thought it was amazing) and the reviews I've read. I just think it's something that you get when you're old or maybe if you spend a lot of time with old women and understand them. I don't.
The best part of going to see the film was finding out about the existence of ferragosto, mid-August holiday. In the film, everyone says "Happy Mid-August!" as a toast which sounds so strange in English. The kind of thing to which Rara would respond "That was random!" But whatever, I'm always happy to adopt new traditions that involve eating and drinking and feeling cosmopolitan and not working.
Handily, we saw the film just a few days before August 15 when, even more handily, we already had plans to visit Hot Springs Cove. I mean, what better place for Ferragosto?
I had an idea that we would do a swanky Champagne brunch at the Wickaninnish before catching our water taxi to the hot springs at noon, but it didn't work out. Our Mid-August dinner that evening was highly memorable, though. We were staying at the Hesquiat Lodge across the bay from the park where the hot springs are located. The lodge is six little motel rooms in a row on the edge of Hesquiat village with a long deck overlooking the bay. It's owned by the Hesquiat nation and run by Bernard, who is also a public health worker. We had dinner on August 15 on Bernard's porch. Salmon, of course, given the time of year and the location. I can't say Bernard's cooking rivals The Pointe, but man it was a cool experience. Hesquiat is home to only fifty people and there are no vehicles there. It is so beautiful and so quiet it's hard to believe you're only a 90-minute boat ride from Tofino, which isn't a bustling metropolis or anything but we did have to wait half an hour for a table for dinner the night before. So dinner, a rowboat across the bay, a rainforest hike, and a long soak in the ancient hot hot hot springs (several pools which get cooler the further you get from the scalding hot waterfall and the closer you get to the ocean) another hike, another row, and a glass of wine while listening to the loons and ABSOLUTELY NO OTHER SOUND. Happy Mid-August indeed!
(Gratuitous photo of Deetman: "I can surf too, Mummy!")
Tobias, Rara and I are all fans of Jean-Pierre Junet, but Micmacs fell flat, at least for the adults in the group. I agree with one reviewer who said that the audience doesn't bond emotionally with any of the characters, so while the movie has the charm and whimsy of Amélie, it lacks to emotional impact. Also, it wasn't nearly as funny. Rara gave it a nine out of ten, however, and I think kids will like this movie, provided they can stomach a bit of sexy time and a moment of goriness where a forehead gets sliced open on an operating table. So probably 12 or 13 is a good age threshold.
The concept is cool so when you're in the part of the movie where you're learning about the concept, it's super engaging. But then, once you know about it, it gets dull. The action sequence at the end is interminable and not-at-all-suspenseful. I don't know if it could have been edited differently and if that would have helped, but I just felt bored for most of the second half of the film. I also really like surprises and twists and there pretty much weren't any. Well, one teeny one, but nothing that was key to the plot. Good acting though.
Iron Man (rented)
Superfun. I wish the action scenes and editing in Inception were as good as they were in Iron Man. Also, I find action/comic book movies palatable only when they're jokey. This one was so cute in that respect and I loved Gwenyth Paltrow in it.
