maybe it's because they're in english, which is such a treat after french all day-- or maybe it's because i simply love movies-- but i've loved every movie i've seen in france, even the terrible ones like "i, memory" with ryan phillippe.
last night we saw "the aviator." it was really, really outstanding and compelling and beautifully shot and creative and sad and everything in between. i love scorcese pics because he always leaves a touch of himself behind in each shot. in some movies, i forget there is a director at all-- the scenes are going along swimmingly and the story is nice or not... but with scorcese, at random intervals i am aware that there's a director behind that film, a visionary saturating the scenes with extra colors or giving a wide shot where you can see all the action and it's up to you to decide how you feel about the characters. not that i'm any movie critic but i don't think i've seen a scorcese pic that i haven't liked or at least appreciated.
anyway, it was so nice to get the whole gang together for a 5:00 leonardo dicaprio film. it's always strange walking out of an english movie back into franceland-- for 3 hours i'm watching one dimension and get tricked and temporarily swept away in a language i can understand on three dimensions.
that's one of the biggest things i miss about the states-- having a conversation in 3-D. i've mastered the first dimension here: how much for that bread? three stamps, please. i'll take the salad nicoise and a coke. where is the cathedral from here? etc. but i have yet to master: is it possible to see an itemized statement of my bank activity because my records aren't matching the receipts coming out of the atm.