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Movie Quote of the Day – Middle of Nowhere, 2012 (dir. Ava DuVernay)
Rosie: Okay, don’t tell mom. This is a serious theory, okay?
Ruby: Okay.
Rosie: So, I was watching OWN and there was this lady on, she was talking about how to meet your mate, key word being “meet,” as in half way. Put yourself in the right places to meet who you want.
Ruby: Okay.
Rosie: So, if you want a man that is going to mow the lawn, you don’t go to the bar. You go to Home Depot.
Ruby: Oh.
Rosie: And if you want a man that’s going to take your boy to see fireworks at the beach, go see fireworks at the beach, bitch.
Ruby: Is that why we’re here?
Rosie: That’s why I’m here.
Female Filmmaker Friday: Middle of Nowhere, 2012 (dir. Ava DuVernay)
I watched this a few weeks ago when it debuted on Netflix and I was blown away. I wish I had written about it right away, though, because I was going to recommend you all go watch it, but it appears to be not available on Netflix anymore (and it’s not on DVD!) It’s aired on BET before, so hopefully it will again. I know the film was distributed by DuVernay herself, so perhaps that’s part of the reason it’s unavailable (distribution, in theaters or digitally or home video, is super expensive!) I’ll keep you updated if it becomes available, because this is an important film. I remember when it first came out in theaters, it was when I was still living in San Francisco, and it was only playing in one theater and it was quite the bus ride away, but I was determined to go, but then when I finally had the time to go it was gone! But this film was definitely worth the wait and I hope it becomes available on home video sometime soon, because it is beautifully layered (DuVernay won the Best Director award for her work at the Sundance Film Festival!) and deserves multiple re-watchings.
Los Angeles, Netflix and Summer Under The Stars: August 2014 in Films
So much like last month, I did a lot of television watching in August (The Knick, Outlander, The Leftovers, You’re the Worst), but I also did a lot of rewatching. Some were thanks to TCM’s Summer Under the Stars (I rewatched Marty, The Blue Dahlia, Shane, Citizen Kane, Portrait of Jennie, The Third Man and several others. I just couldn’t help it!) I also went to a screening series at AFI called Reel Grit Six Shooter where they played six films (mostly in 35mm), each film being introduced by an AFI alum and they didn’t tell you what the film was til right before. As it turns out, I had seen 5/6 of the films before and three of those five I’d seen on the big screen before, but it was still a delightful series and I got to see Rocky on the big screen for the first time and there was lots of tears (“What’s gaps?”), so I can die happy now. As always, below you’ll find all the new-to-me films I watched last month and a short discussions of my favorites. Although, most of I watched last month was great and I had trouble narrowing it to five, so I actually talk about more films than normal.
the diary of a film history fanatic 