Rhythm and Gravy

For some odd reason, both Blockbuster and West Coast Video moved out of Squirrel Hill in the last year, leaving my with no convenient movie rental place in walking distance, which is a bummer for me this weekend since all the folk are off visiting family this pre-holiday weekend and I’m here until Monday morning. In addition, it seems like it never occurs to us to borrow DVDs from each other; instead, we pay four or more bucks to see something that our neighbor might lend us for free, with no late fees. Towards that end, I intend to list the movies I own on this site (see Movies, in the sidebar), with reviews. If you want to borrow any of them, let me know, maybe we can swap some movies..

I’ll start with Roman Coppala’s CQ.

It’s the story of Jeremy Davis, an American guy in Paris in 1969 who is brought in as director of a struggling pulp sci-fi film in order to finish off the problematic ending. The film beautifully captures his earnestness as he works on his own personal film project, titled ‘69-70′, and the way it transfers to his work on moon base, communist rebel leader, and beautiful astronaut/spy code-named Dragonfly. His struggle to finish the film is paralleled by his struggle to finish his auto-documentary, in which he must resolve his feelings for his temperamental French girlfriend and his fantasies involving Dragonly, and later the actress playing her. We also get a great perspective on the 1960’s Franco-American futuristic design aesthetic exemplified by movies like Barbarella.

I’ve always fancied in myself an ability to engage in the fantastic while staying firmly rooted in reality, which is exactly what this movie does, and is why I appreciate it so much. This movies leaves me with a great appreciation of the people in my life who seem blinded by their own imagination, but manage to walk determinedly where they want.