Pretend it's last October...here's a Re-post

BIRTHDAY MOVIES

So I'm 27 now. Some of you may know that I had certain fixed ideas about events that would occur at 26- not like people who have year by year goals or anything, but 26 had been sticking in my head since about the age of eight as a fairly significant year- and I now realize that I'd never spent time thinking about 27. I've thought about 42, 61, maybe even 33, but never 27, so I'm now in No Man's Land (pronounced Nomunslund) and that's interesting. I'm now older than my sister-in-law when she gave birth to my neice Abby. (Subtext being that I'm older than people older than me who've had babies were when they had babies)

But aside from thinking about that whole adulthood-child-bearing-where's-my-chubby-hubby- kind of stuff, my birthday brought me back to thinking of my birthday movies of the past few years.

This year on Friday Oct 20 (night before my birthday) I went to see Sofia Coppola's MARIE ANTOINETTE with my sister in law Rebecca. This reminded me not only of when I visited her in Seattle when I was seventeen and she was still living with girlfriends from college, and we went to see to GOOD WILL HUNTING becuase I actually remembered Matt Damon from Courage Under Fire and was curious about what kind of movie he would write that would get Robin Williams in it and Gus Van Sant to direct. Rebecca and I loved it so much (and Matt Damon) that we found another theater that night that was showing The Rainmaker just to see more Matt Damon. RAINMAKER of course left no impression on either us, critics or anyone who saw it, but it was a memorable night with she whom I knew to be my future sister-in-law. But this also reminded me of when I was fifteen and my brother Matt was working at a camp all summer, Rebecca spent purposefull time with me, her boyfriend's little sister, and introduced me to A ROOM WITH A VIEW and the preciousness of watching Simon Callow run around a sylvan pond naked like a giggling toddler.

So this past Monday night, since I couldn't get the movie out of my head, I went back to see MARIE ANTOINETTE again with my new friend Lucy Spiro from Mars Hill who is an angel and who also bought my ticket as a birthday gift. So in three days I saw MARIE ANTOINETTE twice, and I'm pretty sure that makes me the only one. but I'm totally haunted by the film, the story, the history and just a whole hecka lot of things that connect to it. Again, Kirsten Dunst proves her worth against my late '90's dislike for her. Ever since THE CAT'S MEOW I've pretty much liked everything she's done, and I am also glad that Sofia Coppola is so young cuz hopefully she'll keep making movies every two years that totally bring out the girl in me and the lonely thinker in me.

So last year in October, my birthday movie was EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED which i first saw with Kim and James Zatalokin early in October on the day of the St Marks yard sale where I totally bought a 1919 ballroom group photo from Molly Ringwald which is hanging on the wall behind me right now next to the 1917 military hospital group photo that Kim gave me for that birthday to continue my collection of turn of the century black and whte large group photos. Any one else want to add to it?

So I LOVED EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED and went back to see it by myself a week later after ushering with Garth on a matinee at New York Theatre Workshop. And I've found myself listening to that soundtrack a lot this past week (soundtrack given to me for my birthday as well last year).

So that was '05. i think '04 birthday movie was I HEART HUCKABEES which i had very high hopes towards becoming obsessed over, but never actually did. i like the movie and would like to revisit it, but it didn't kindle anything execpt an appreciation for some comic genius work by Naomi Watts- and it was nice to see Mark Wahlberg again. [2007 correction: I'm now officially obsessed with Huckabees and it's coming in the mail from amazon any day now. i guess second time's the charm} i Think Rick and Kim and the gang went to see it with me as a birthday thing. then again, Or it might have been for Rick's birthday, but that's only a week later.

so the most significant (and circle completeing) is birthday movie '03 - Sofia Copola's LOST IN TRANSLATION which was my first movie in New York City and which i saw three times in the theatre and which inginited my Japan passion, coinciding with my mom living and working in Japan for three months and sending me all Japanese-themed christmas presents. LOST IN TRANSLATION also made Rick and I sort of obsessed with Otafuku on St marks and their octopus balls or whatever it is they make there. i got yakisoba a lot this spring.

so Sofia Coppola has been there in Octobers where I've needed her, and hopefully she will be in the future as well. regardless, I look forward to birthday movie '07 which I'll watch with my Scottish/Korean/Tlingit comedian/minister/filmaker husband and our twin children Frodo and Baggins. Oh golly. when did I become a 27 year old?