movie weekend

movie weekend:

• the grocer's son: the lead male's presence alone makes this movie entirely watchable, but it has many other appeals, as well. a french movie that centers around a young man's need to reconnect with his hometown past via customer service skills required for carrying out the family business during his father's illness. americans would say it's ironic that a french movie pushes the value of friendly customer service, but whutevs.
  
  dysfunctional family relationships abound, and a crush he has on his paris neighbor doesn't seem to stand a chance against his need to not-connect with others.
  
  gorgeous scenery -- one wishes that one could live in such a picturesque village, while still enjoying what the city has to offer, but that's probably unrealistic. fun characters in the collection of townies that lead boy needs to deal with. a series of ups and downs, but ending with that lesson learned. a recommendation.
  
  
• precious: finally! pretty compelling, great characters throughout. a few surprises here and there (particularly as it applies to the mom-character's level of hostility, and mariah carey's presence in general), but nothing detracted from the title character's journey. my only concern: why was the father character completely absent? i know that happens in real life, but movie-wise, he kinda got off the hook, there. a recommendation.
  
  
• gay | not gay: i've seen many short movie collections that are homo-centric, and generally speaking, the entries are pretty odd in their undeveloped characters and premature endings. are the gays so shallow, or can they not tell a story in 15 minutes or less? this collection, though, has an interesting premise: the interaction of a gay with a non-gay. a couple came off entirely "odd", but one was somewhat affecting, cowboy forever, from central america. i guess because it was done so much as a low-budget first-person documentary, with lots of non-actors, that this viewer kinda fell for the authenticity.
  
  float, from south africa, wasn't bad, though i always have issues with depictions of artists in movies (usually childish and not in touch with themselves), compounded here by an on-again, off-again OCD condition. and again, the ending wrapped up a little too quickly, a lot too easily. sort of a recommendation.
  
  
• mammoth:
intersecting story lines a la crash. slow-paced, but still engaging from start to finish (thank you, english-speaking gael garcia bernal). just a little disappointment on where gael's story goes, but not unexpected; michele williams seems like a real adult for the first time; the philippines angle got creepy...but again, not completely unexpected. potentially too much kid-trauma, but it doesn't really get horrible. i was even able to watch without averting my eyes, a rare occurrence. a recommendation.