I have this thing I do. A sort of ritual.
I watch certain movies only during certain times of the year.
Like last weekend. I wasn’t feeling well, anyway, and it’s blustery October and the smell of fireplace fires in the air means it’s time to watch “Little Women.” The one with Winona Ryder and Susan Sarandon and a younger Kirsten Dunst. I know it may seem quaint or silly, but I watch that movie every year at this time and I feel FULL. I feel RICH. And I rewind over and over the moment where Mr. Laurence gives his little girl’s piano to Beth so that I can extend the good cry moment and sniffle accusingly through my tears what I always sniffle when a movie makes me cry: “stupid movie.”
I don’t know. For me, certain movies and certain seasons go together. And I’m not talking about “Oh, I watch ‘Miracle on 34th Street’ every Christmas.” (Which I do, but that’s a no- brainer.) I mean that other movies just FEEL like a certain season to me and so I must, I MUST watch them during that season. The funny thing now is that My Beloved has become an avid participant in the ritual. He tries to sound nonchalant, as if he’s just reminding me, but, ahem, he sits down and watches the movie, too. And this last weekend, he actually made sure we both had freshly brewed coffee and one of the pumpkin chocolate chip muffins I’d made. It was just cozy and warm in a way that San Diego isn’t usually cozy and warm. You have to be prepared to pounce if the day even hints at it — with coffee, muffins, blankets, popcorn, whatever enhances the coziness of it all.
But I wasn’t done when “Little Women” was over. No, because after that came my well-worn copy of “Sense and Sensibility,” another one of my “Autumn Movies.” I still just have it on VHS, so it wrinkles a bit at the end, and I have to plead with it to behave. But, oh, how I love it! Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet and the molasses-voiced Alan Rickman as Colonel Brandon. His voice kills me, but it’s his eyes I watch, all the subtleties that are there. And I do so love the moment when Marianne is sick and he’s been so unrequitedly in love with her and he’s loitering about her sickroom door and practically begs Elinor, “Give me an occupation, Miss Dashwood, or I shall run mad.”
Love it. LOVE. IT.
Oh, and the matchless Hugh Laurie in a small, but hysterical role as Mr. Palmer, the beleaguered husband to an annoying flibbertigibbet of a wife, who has a gift for prattling on endlessly. But I thank God for her character Charlotte (and really wonderful performance, by the way, from Imelda Staunton) because it gives Hugh Laurie the chance to have exchanges like these:
CHARLOTTE: Oh! If only this rain would stop!
MR. PALMER (from behind the paper): If only you would stop.
And that’s a little running gag in the movie — Mr. Palmer hiding from it all behind his paper and muttering these dry, sarcastic, hysterical lines.
CHARLOTTE: ….. Is it really five and a half miles? No! I cannot believe it.
MR. PALMER: Try.
(And he’s still hiding behind his paper.)
Ah! How I’m running on about this one! Well, this movie, too, has a certain resonance and richness to it FOR ME that just begs me to watch it in the autumn. These are just a few of them. I’ll spare you any more at the moment.
But when winter comes, I’ll share some of my “Winter Movies.”
Am I the only one who does this — the “this movie goes with this season” thing?
(And all you men can just leave off making fun of me for this. I’m warning you. With love. But I’m warning you.)
State Fair.
The only musical Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote expressly for the screen. We watch it in the fall, when our own State Fair is on.
How we love it – the farm kids falling for sophisticated city slickers: Vivian Blaine (of “Guys and Dolls” fame) as the band singer with a secret and Dana Andrews as the tough reporter, the pigs in love, the mincemeat everyone keeps sneaking booze into. Jeanne Crain’s outfits are priceless. And yes, that’s Harry Morgan as the carnival barker.
Oh, Sal — I love that! To watch it when your State Fair is going on. And hooray! I’m not the only one. 😉
So, are all the movies on this list Chick Flicks?
Oh, I almost watched Sense & Sensability this weekend! I took it down to my parent’s house, but never ended up watching it. And you captured both Alan Rickman and Hugh Laurie perfectly. The richness and love of the Colonel and then the dripping of the sarcasm by Hugh make this a fabulous movie.
I too only have it on VHS so I have to set up my normally not out VCR and watch it. I guess I need to go ahead and invest in the DVD.
Alan Rickman be tha BOMB, yo! He’s my favorite EVER.
I think I saw that S&S once, but I don’t remember it. I’ll have to give it another try.
I’m trying to think if I have seasonal movies….I can’t think of any right now (aside from Christmas movies). It might be the case that I prefer watching the LotR and Harry Potter movies in the winter, but that might just be because I’m used to them being released then (yes, I know HP III was released in the summer).
-M@
Cannot get past Halloween without watching Disney’s rendition of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”, narrated by Bing Crosby. Great spooky fun. *Are they shovels or are they feet?*
Can take or leave Charlie Brown, depends on my mood. We are also pretty fond of Garfield’s Halloween. All courtesy, of course, of having an English teacher for a mother. She shows her kids every year and then brings them home to us.
I realize these are not officially *movies* in the strict sense (and also that I’m outing myself as an overgrown 10 year old…) But it’s not officially FALL until Ichabod tries desperately to escape the Headless Horseman on a lazy field-plowing ass. Sorry.
It just seems wrong to watch baseball movies anytime but the summer. “The Natural” might be an exception, since it’s a fable told in a baseball setting, not an actual baseball film.
Here’s another question: who else likes films about a specific subject, within a genre? For example, I love movies about submarines, in spite of the fact that I would no more actually go down in one than fly to the moon. But I’m a complete sucker for any movie that takes place on one.
So what’s your fancy? Writing/authors, fashion, survival tales, a sport, what?
Now, Rev — I SAID to leave off the mocking. And maybe the “Chick Flicks” as you say work best for this because the movie has to generate a certain feeling that goes with the feeling of the season. That’s at the heart of the ritual. Both these pictures though have a little more resonance than what I think of as a typical Chick Flick. Both pictures were Oscar nominees and/or winners. If you do the “movie for all seasons” ritual, you, of course, may choose whatever non-Chick movies you like: Spiderman, The Matrix, Die Hard … whatever!
And to finish my smackdown of you, Rev, 😉
one of the movies in our ritual is “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” directed by Ang Lee — who, interestingly, also directed “Sense and Sensibility.” hmmm ….
WG — You should watch Sleepy Hollow by Tim Burton. It’s got Johnny Depp, girl. Johnny Depp.
Sal — GREAT question! Lemme think about my answer. Have you ever seen “Das Boot”? (Seeing it in the original German with subtitles is key. “The Boat” is the English-dubbed version and is just inferior.)
Maybe our Rev would like that movie. You should rent it, Rev. It’s excellent and it’s NOT a Chick Flick.
Now imagine I’m sticking my tongue out at you. 😉
ASM — Yes, we need to invest in the DVD.
In response to Sal, I am a total sucker for what I would call “pseudo-scifi-flying-bullets” movies.
The best example being The Matrix – the first one.
The most cerebral being Blade Runner.
Total guy movies, aren’t they?
Now, how I like watching movies is a bit different, I think.
I watch movies late at night, when the rest of the clan is asleep, when I can’t turn a TV up louder than a Mr. Rogers scolding. So, I watch movies (in DVD format, of course) on my laptop with headphones on. The screen is close enough to fill my field of vision like a bigscreen across the room, the headphones allow me to have the sound just shy of a Who concert, and if a sleepy little boy wanders in for a drink of water, I can close the lid and hide Neo dodging one of the bullet-fests.
So, am I hopeless, or resourceful?
Steve — You’re just being considerate. And smart. If any of those kids are awakened from the sound of the movie on the TV, YOU’RE the one paying for it later, right?
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