Movie Corner

Bridget Jones's Diary--Not a bad specimen of the romantic comedy. Although Renée Zellweger gained weight for the part, she's still too attractive to be playing a dateless loner--but I've complained about that sort of thing before. Lit geeks should keep an eye out for the Pride and Prejudice allusions, while Christians will appreciate the importance placed on humility and forgiveness.

Lucia y el Sexo--I knew, of course, that a film with such a title would show a lot of skin, but I didn't think it would turn out to be nothing more or less than porn, although porn with a budget. Flimsy plot, undeveloped characters, enormous phalluses...I quit watching halfway through. I also find it depressing to see too much unattainable physical beauty (in this case, both the beauty of the Mediterranean environs and that of the lead actress, one Paz Vega).

Sweet and Lowdown--Woody Allen's semi-historical biopic of Emmet Ray, a jazz guitarist of the 1930s, is a minor but capable entry in the Allen filmography. A pseudo-documentary style, with talking heads of Allen and various jazz historians interspersed between scenes, belies the fact that this is largely fictional--or, in a weird way, perhaps largely autobiographical, as the portrayal of Ray as a man too obsessed with his own artistic ambitious to relate successfully to women could be a reflection of Allen's own problems. One problem I had is that swing guitar seems too chirpy to carry any deep emotional resonance, so when the characters in the movie went on about how Ray's playing is so beautiful it makes them cry, I was at a loss. (I bought a Django Reinhardt CD once and could only listen to it as pleasant background music.) But there are some good jokes and the usual Allen nostalgia for the jazz age makes this an enjoyable period piece.

Tomorrow afternoon I might see a matinée showing of Chicago, mainly to kill time between morning services and the evening potluck at church.