blog the cat

Sometimes I feel there must be more to life than being a drone. Don't get me wrong: I don't want to cure a terrible disease, write a great work of literature, or go off to some Third World country to help people. I just want the to see a purpose rather than slow decay. At times like these I find watching a non-Hollywood movie is as good as taking two pills and going to bed, so I went off to watch a movie about a middle-class French couple being sent video tapes of their own life. A film that won numerous awards.

Okay, I went to see a film that had Juliette Binoche in it, 'cause she's hot and I'm one step from buying a raincoat.

"...recognises that a garden wall is of little practical use."

It was a Sunday afternoon, so I'd hoped the cinema would be near empty. Instead it packed around me. People were arriving, trying to find seats, even after the film had started. Why do people arrive late at cinemas, forced to look for a seat here and there?

The film was too long for my short attention span.

"...the briefest flash of insight."

"Fine, you've shown the audience that they're unaware what's the film and what's film within the film. Now let's move on. Um, is that a camera up there?"

Perhaps it's to hide the message, but I found some of the film too blatant. I mean, we returned to the corridor, but the camera angle was reversed. In an action movie we'd surely smirk at the director's mistake, but here it can't be mistake ... ah yes, the observed is also the observer. Perhaps we should have watched another hour of his grief.

"...a demonstration that those brought up on Willis and Chase need more than subtitles."

That's not to say I didn't walk out of the cinema with questions unanswered. Why does the observer sit between us?

What are we to learn from this movie? That the past cannot be Stalinised? That we are alone even when together? That while we may grow older, the new youth will use our bitterness against us? Or that I should stick to watching Bruce Willis movies?

Everyone stayed seated while the credits rolled.