Welcome to the kitchen table on movie night! I have developed a Netflix habit -- it's an affordable way to watch movies while I'm stitching -- and I've really been enjoying the whole streaming experience. So every couple weeks, I've been sharing some of my finds, offered four at a time, mostly things I would never have seen if it were not for an internet movie catalogue like Netflix.
Tonight's movie subject is:
Love
Movies are below the fold!
The Magic of Belle Isle
Morgan Freeman and Virginia Madsen have tremendous chemistry in this heartwarmer, a real treat of a movie. Morgan Freeman plays an angry, bitter man who is confined to a wheelchair. He's just lost his wife and is busy drowning his self pity with bottle after bottle of whiskey when a relative brings him to a small resort town for the summer. Next door is a mother of three girls who is going through a divorce (Virginia Madsen). These people are nothing alike but their spirits touch in an amazing way -- and the Morgan Freeman character, once a famous writer of western novels, finds his muse again. This one will have you reaching for tissues but smiling at the end.
Watch the trailer for "The Magic of Belle Isle" here.
Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge
Bollywood movies are an acquired taste. I find them fascinating for they are a different art form from American cinema -- lots of color, music and high drama. In fact, the degree of melodrama that works in Bollywood, just naturally, never would in our movies. "Dilwale Duhania Le Jayenge" is the story of Raj and Simran, two young Londoners of Indian descent. They meet on a European trip, right before Simran's family moves back to the Punjab to marry off Simran to someone from the old neighborhood. It's an arranged marriage -- and Simran isn't happy about it but she dares not cross her father in this. Raj follows her, determined to worm his way into the bosom of the family and win over the patriarch, in essence, carrying away the bride. I loved this film -- and hope you might like this foray into Bollywood.
Here is a trailer for "Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge.
Romantics Anonymous
This is a light comedy from France about two neurotic people who are shy to the point of complete paralysis, socially. He runs a old time chocolate factory that is in danger of going bankrupt. She is a chocolatiere who made chocolates anonymously for a famous cafe -- but alas, the cafe owner suddenly dies and she is left with no work. Everyone remembers that cafe's chocolates with great fondness but no one knows that she was the genius behind them -- and she is too timid to let anyone know the truth. She gets a job at the rundown chocolate factory -- as a saleswoman, something she is not suited for... And somehow, our two heroes are thrown together and fall in love. Bite into this movie when you are in the mood for a sweet truffle...
Watch the trailer for "Romantics Anonymous" here.
Arn: The Knight Templar
Here is a medieval story from Sweden, based upon an historical figure, about two lovers separated from one another for many years. Cecilia is confined to a nunnery, Arn is sent to an abbey and then to the Holy Land for the Crusades. While in the Middle East, Arn saves Saladin from bandits and earns his friendship (shades of Sir Walter Scott) -- so when he finally makes it back to Sweden, he's got some wealth as well as military experience. Our lovers are reunited -- but that is not the end of things. For underlying this whole saga is a feud between great families, and that feud comes back to haunt everybody. Of course, the Templar Knights were a fighting force to be reckoned with -- and Arn was a particularly good one -- something the local warlords hadn't bargained upon. Here is romance with buckle and swash and great period setting.
Here is the trailer for "Arn: The Knight Templar".
Have any favorite films about love stories? Please share!
Prior Streaming Movies on a Friday Night subjects:
At the Table
Ghosts
Resilient People
Kitchen Table Kibitzing is a community series for those who wish to share part of the evening around a virtual kitchen table with kossacks who are caring and supportive of one another. So bring your stories, jokes, photos, funny pics, music, and interesting videos, as well as links—including quotations—to diaries, news stories, and books that you think this community would appreciate.
Finally, readers may notice that most who post diaries and comments in this series already know one another to some degree, but newcomers should not feel excluded. We welcome guests at our kitchen table, and hope to make some new friends as well.