Friday, October 23, 2009

The Country Girl: a review

Saturday Morning
I beat the alarm this morning which I had set for six a.m.  I am up and at it this Saturday Morning. 
 
It is sunny early morning in Wuxi.  Since they don't have daylight savings time here, it is light very early and dark by supper time.
 
A review of Country Girl
What a great movie it was!  My choosing to watch it last night justified my decision to eschew most of the current cinema fare, and stick to watch the old classics.  Country Girl, a movie about alcoholism, spousal loyalty, facing responsibility, and a death of a child, really tugged at my heart strings.  And it came to some moral conclusions that are not fashionable these days:  we can't use personal tragedy as an excuse for bad behavior, and we really have to stick with the ones we marry through thick and thin.  And it also had some great music.
 
Bing Crosby played a drunk which is something I never imagined him doing.  It shows what a shallow impression I had of him.  I always knew was a major singing talent.  But even then, there was a bar scene where he sang a gritty, tough, and sensual song in a manner that puts the likes of Mick Jagger to shame.  He showed a range that I, ignoramus I am, didn't know he had.
 
Grace Kelly, who played Crosby's long suffering wife, was superb.  Her famous Grace only showed up late in the movie.  Till then, she played a forlorn looking wife.  I think I read somewhere that she got an Oscar for the performance.
 
The story and the dialogue were adult and sophisticated, without being vulgar.  I couldn't imagine the horrible way that such situations would be treated in a modern movie.
 
I am glad to be a nerd!
 
To bus it or not?
That is the question for me this morning.  If I take the bus, I will have to stand in the morning, and maybe have a seat on the way back.  So there is the chance I can do some reading.
 
Sore Tooth
I have a sore tooth that I will have to endure till payday,  I have been chewing gum and sucking on ice to deaden the ache.  The periods that when the pain disappear are pure bliss.

1 comment:

Malcolm Macfarlane said...

Nice review, Andis. Grace did get an Oscar for this. Bing missed out to Marlon Brando.

Malcolm Macfarlane
Editor - BING magazine