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cloning of evil In between bouts of fever dreams and headaches, I did manage to watch some good movies this week. Since I was in no condition to leave the house, I was grateful for Netflix and United States Postal Service putting these movies in my mailbox and providing such easy access to home entertainment. First on the list was the foreign film The Sweet Scent of Green Papaya. A few weeks ago I had seen another movie by the same director called The Vertical Ray of the Sun and liked it. As with that movie this one was very self contained and revolves around a single Vietnamese family. Life is far from perfect for them, but the Vietnam that they inhabit is saturated with color. I'm not sure if the almost idyllic setting is supposed to offset the emotional chaos that exists within the family, but that was the contrast that I saw. Moving in a completely different direction, I then watched the classic Nazi film The Boys From Brazil. Gregory Peck and Laurence Olivier are amazing. Plus I suspect that the screenwriter was somewhat of a Michael Crichton. There is a small element of scientific truth that is used to create something frightening. Before I saw it I had no idea what to expect from Neil Gaiman's Short Film About John Bolton. So the fact that the entire piece is a joke caught me by surprise. It wasn't until I watched the special features, that I learned the true origin of what Neil was doing. The half hour short film was funny, but what made the disc memorable were the special features. One of these was of Neil reading his short story Chivalry. I was in awe the entire time that he was telling it. To hear Neil give life to his words is far better than any concert that I have ever seen. |