WORKSHOPS

Letting you know about Books, Films, Television Programs and Special Events
The Life Kitchen thinks are worth checking out.

 

FILM REVIEWS


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Jocelyn Brewer

LARS AND THE REAL GIRL

Lars_080327090724305_wideweb__300x392.jpgby Jocelyn Brewer

Lars doesn't think he has a problem. He is functional. He goes to work and to church. He has routine and order. He has a girlfriend. He has a purpose. He is ok.

Ever wondered what would happen if you went loopy? Loco. Lost the plot. Tripped out. Dropped out. Freaked out. Would you get locked up? Would someone be there to catch you? Reason with you? Support you? Tell you it was going to be ok?

Lars and the Real Girl is not about a weirdo who buys a sex doll. It's about the extremes that someone will go to for companionship and to satisfy some unwritten social norm. Lars bends what our narrow world accepts as "normal" and appropriate, and challenges us to draw our family and community close. Rather than label and stigmatise, this film shows a refreshing approach to treatment and therapy of mental wellness and difference (not "illness").

Lars challenged me more than I expected he would. My uncomfortable giggles gave way to a real warmth and compassion, elicited by an excellent performance by Ryan Gosling, who hinges Lars just on that crack between quirky and strange, harmless and creepy.

These days, someone like Lars might be labelled as having Asperger's Syndrome. Only a few decades ago he very well may have been institutionalised. Patricia Clarkson's portrayal of the local GP with a sagely patience and insightful manner, would make a perfect training video for doctors around the world. If only it was that simple.

The community that comes together to support Bianca (played by herself) shows imagination, openness and a playfulness that you'd expect to be lacking in a snow covered middle American town. It topples the weird and makes it wonderful.

See Lars. Feel real.

Diving%20Bell.jpgTHE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY

by Jocelyn Brewer

I love a film that can make me hide behind my hands one minute and sit perched on the edge of my seat wide eyed the next.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Director Julian Schnabel is one of those films, a particularly obscure but fascinatingly real story of the power of an eyelid.

It took me on a wildly stunning visual journey, evoking a fascinating range of emotions and reactions. It left me feeling, but simultaneously didn't leave me. Like being on a boat, it kept gently rocking me for a few days.

The capacity of humans to choose is incredible. We adapt, or we don't. We express, ourselves or we don't. We love, or we don't. This is a film about choosing.

For someone always dashing through life, it showed me the anatomy of patience, diligence and determination. It reminded me to be here now, not just in body but complete mind, spirit, soul and heart.