Movie Review: Secret of Moonacre

Secret of Moonacre  had been popping up repeatedly on my Netflix suggestions.  Yesterday I had the good fortune of being miserable enough to find nothing more enjoyable to do than sit on the couch and while away the entire day watching random movies.  This one finally had its day on my computer screen (we don’t have a television).  The film was absolutely delightful.  I will definitely watch it again.  It was humorous, dark, light, very colorful and quite charming.  I found the climax lacked a climax, but its lightheartedness made it a good choice for our whole family (in other words Annaliese found the ending plenty scary while the rest of us just bounced along pleased as punch to be watching a movie in the middle of the week).

My favorite, favorite part was the costumes.  They were gorgeous!  I loved how they took a period movie and made the costumes so very modern and magical.  The construction details were amazing, the fabrics were beautiful, and it was all so delightfully creative.  I seriously want every single one of those dresses hanging in my closet just to look at and be inspired by.  Wow!

If you haven’t seen this movie and have kids I highly recommend it.  If you love sewing I double recommend it.  And if you are like me, who has kids, loves sewing, and can’t soak up enough nineteenth century costume (and early twentieth century), then I triple recommend it.  Again, don’t hold your breath for an amazing ending.  But the journey is well worth the trip.

Evening

I watched the movie, Evening this past weekend. I thought I would throw in my two cents as a movie review for anyone who has not seen it. (A caution: it is PG-13 for a reason.) It is a drama about love, life, death, mothers, daughters, and dying. I thought the acting was superb on virtually all counts (Claire Danes, Vanessa Redgrave, Toni Colette, Natasha Richardson, Glenn Close, Meryl Streep). Although I thought the "incredibly handsome" love interest only looked "incredibly handsome" when he smiled (which was rare).

One of the more memorable lines of the film is: "There's no such thing as a mistake. You get nervous, but you sing anyways." While I disagree with the sentiment of mistakes not existing, the point was that life is simply a mix of experiences, both positive and negative; and we make of them what we will by our subsequent attitudes and choices.

Perhaps my firm belief in "mistakes" is part of my problem. Maybe I need a paradigm shift. Maybe if I saw my life as a series of experiences, and stopped judging them as successes or failures, but simply experiences, things wouldn't be such a big deal. And I wouldn't be so hard on myself.

The film moves in and out of times and places and reality with great fluidity and focus. It was touching without being sentimental. This movie spoke to me about what it means to be human and to be alive. What it means to be a mother, a daughter, a sister, a friend. What it means to be in love. That life is full and rich with so much to experience . . . and so many songs to sing.