1. It's hard for me to imagine ringing in a new year any more quietly than Debbie and I did today. I lost interest several years ago in college football so I did not relive the days of my youth when bowl games dominated New Year's Day. Debbie made squares on a pin loom and did some work for school. I worked puzzles and made a trip to the store.
2. Late in the afternoon, I seasoned two filets of tilapia with lemon pepper and baked them. Meanwhile, I boiled Yukon Gold potatoes and sautéed zucchini seasoned with tarragon. I also made a sour cream, yogurt, and garlic white sauce. When the fish pieces were cooked, I smeared the white sauce on top of them. Debbie and I each seasoned our potato helpings in our own way. The zucchini didn't need any more seasoning. It was a simple and satisfying meal. I only had one small regret. I wish I'd bought lemons when I went to Yoke's.
3. I've mentioned several times ever since I subscribed to The Criterion Channel that I thoroughly enjoy a regular feature of theirs entitled, Adventures in Moviegoing. Each new episode features an actor, director, or a lover of movies from another field. A host interviews the guest for 20-25 minutes about their history watching movies, who shaped their love of cinema, and how other filmmakers have inspired and influenced their work. Following this interview, the guests discuss a handful of movies from Criterion's collection that are among their favorites and clips from the movie accompany their reflections.
This series has introduced me to countless movies I wouldn't have known about otherwise and has introduced me to movie directors, especially, that I'd never heard of.
Case in point: today I listened to the interview with film director James Gray. I thought and thought whether I'd heard of him somewhere along the line and concluded I had not. His first movie, Little Odessa, hit the theaters in 1994 and he's directed a string of movies since then, including the recent science fiction story featuring Brad Pitt, Ad Astra.
The interview was fascinating as were the movies he discussed from the Criterion Collection. His understanding and articulation of the complexities of the human soul invigorated me and his willingness to see how darkness and beauty co-exist in us and, in the movies, this means that we often find ourselves feeling empathy for characters who do things we despise, but these characters are not fully defined by the awful things they do.
I spent the rest of the evening watching Little Odessa, James Gray's first movie. It's set in Queens and Brooklyn. It's about a hitman who returns to his Russian Jewish neighborhood in Brighton Beach (also know as Little Odessa) where he continues his career as a killer and visits the members of his family from whom he's estranged. Tim Roth plays the hitman brilliantly and I enjoyed seeing the young Edward Furlong playing the role of the younger brother. The mother and father are played by Vanessa Redgrave and Maximillian Schell -- I mean, James Gray, not even twenty-five years old, was able to work with superb actors in making his film debut. The movie is a violent portrayal of crime and family tensions, but also portrays tenderness and love, bringing to life the very complexities of the human soul James Gray discussed when interviewed for Adventures in Moviegoing.
This month, The Criterion Channel introduced a collection of New York movies by James Gray and I'm hoping, over time, to watch them all.
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