Comme Une Image (Look At Me)

My reading companion had to bow out due to a sore throat. I decided that I didn't want to go to the reading alone, and since I have no friends close by whom I can comfortably call up for a spontaneous outing, I decided not to go...

but then I got a brilliant idea. It had been a while since I'd gone to the movies alone, and I wondered what foreign/art house pieces might be available at the Rotunda Cinemathique, or The Charles.

After months of spending time as a link under my "Current Film of Choice" section, I finally saw "Look at Me." The Charles came through with this film, as I knew it would at some point. It was 12:49 when I saw the movie listed as a currently showing film on their site, with a 2:00 p.m. start time. Not long from my workout, I knew I would need to shower again, but given the relative close distance of my apartment to the theatre, I also knew I'd have time to clean up, get money from an atm, hail a cab, and get there with at least 20 minutes to spare.

Definitely worth the 6 dollars. I tend toward the French aesthetic in cinema. I enjoy the understated humour, the pathos, the themes of emotionally disenfranchised outsiders, love where you least expect it, and the desire to be counted...

The theme of this specific film resonated quite deeply. The principal character is an overweight girl who wants her father to acknowledge her, to see her, for once. But each of the supporting characters is also unseen in some profound way. The girl's myopia never really allows her to recognize that, fully, but there is movement in the character. In the end, it was a very satisfying experience.

Sidebar anecdote: I've noticed that The Charles draws a lot of older people, and by older I mean elderly patrons... I think it's wonderful that Baltimore has an 80+ indie film contingent. But... there was a senior couple in the movie today that I found just a tad annoying. Apparently the husband could't read the subtitles very well, or follow the plot visually, because the wife kept loudly 'whispering' "She's upset because she's fat."