Life can be rough for anyone. Even those who have what seem to be perfect lives suffer with boredom from time to time. Starting from childhood, many kids use their imaginations to escape into worlds that they create for themselves. These imaginary places can be a refuge from torment or magical lands filled with adventure. A big reason why people love movies is because films allow them to sit back, relax, and be placed into a story that may not be uniquely their own, but feels as though it could be. Have you ever seen the movies below:
A. Meek's Cutoff
Kelly Reichardt's commendations for Rivers of Grass, Wendy and Lucy and Old Joy might not have won her a huge budget for Meek's Cutoff, but they did help her secure a great cast, including Michelle Williams, Bruce Greenwood and Paul Dano for this little Western set in 1845. The film examines a group of settlers encountering a native culture they don't understand.
B. Of Gods and Men
Of Gods and Men depicts what happened to a Trappist monastery in Algeria during 1996, events which largely consist of the monks attending to their normal monk business while the country around them is collapsing. Of course, a movie like this has a heavy spiritual component, and director Xavier Beauvois highlights this by breaking up the monks' daily business in fields and helping the town where they live with spiritual ceremonies. These are all heavy on singing and chanting, and they speak of something going on beyond what we see on-screen. What we do have of a plot is inspiring, with the monks all gradually accepting their fates and staying with their town despite almost certain death.?aSean Gandert
C. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
When it comes to sheer impenetrability in film, there's everyone else and then there's Apichatpong Weerasethakul. Even avant-garde filmmakers like Stan Brakhage or Jonas Mekas at least seem to have a logic for what appears in their films, but Weerasethakul's choices are hard to fathom, such that even when you're largely aware of what he's trying to do, things don't get any easier. Anyone interested in watching Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives should know going in that what they're about to see makes David Lynch look like Chris Columbus, and whether or not that's a good thing is very much in the eye of the beholder. Still, it's undeniably groundbreaking, and while the film's experiments miss nearly as often as they hit, that doesn't detract much from how mesmerizing of an experience it can be.?aSean Gandert
D. Midnight in Paris
Late-era Woody has been an interesting phenomenon to watch, as his occasional hits (Vicky Cristina Barcelona) and stupefying misses (Scoop) come hard on each other's heels. This year's offering in his recent "Cities I have Loved" series is set in Paris, and of course, given the setting and the auteur, is a heady love story. But more importantly, Midnight in Paris is also an exploration of nostalgia, the artistic impulse, and even happiness itself. It's an entertaining and sometimes hilarious film that belongs squarely in Allen's "hit" column.?aMichael Dunaway
E. Beginners
As 2011's first deserving candidate for best director and screenplay, Beginners sets the bar high. Based on the story of writer/director Mike Mill's own father, the film follows Oliver (Ewan McGregor) as he deals with the death of his father (Christopher Plummer) and the beginnings of a serious relationship. Through flashbacks we learn that his father, after his wife's death, reveals that he's gay and completely ecstatic about living a lifestyle that had been unavailable during his 40 years as a faithful husband and loving father. While Plummer is wonderful as always, it's McGregor who gives one of the best performances of his career?awith an assist from a little dog.?aTim Basham
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