Muriel's Wedding

Muriel's Wedding is a tragic comedy set in the town of Porpoise Spit, Australia. The movie is about Muriel, an ugly-duckling, and her one motivation in life --- to get married. Her motivation arises from the fact that all of her friends from high-school, the ones she tries so hard to fit in with, are walking up the aisle.

After her family has found out that she stole money from them for a trip to Hibiscus Island, she runs away from home to Sydney. There, she changes her name to 'Mariel' to represent her new life. When called by her old name 'Muriel', she doesn't hesitate to quickly correct it to 'Mariel'.

As my own big wedding day is coming closer, lately I've been corrected many times as well. While practicing my wedding vow, the vowels in my fiancees name wouldn't exactly come out like they would in her home country.

'Miryam', 'Maaryam', 'Mirjam'--- I'm still trying to get it right.

Starting a new life by getting married sounds easier than it is. It's all in the name.

To Catch a Thief

'To Catch a Thief' is a Hitchcock film, but the movie seems to belong to Grace Kelly due to her personal connection to the location of the story: the south of France, in and around Monaco. Not only did she marry Prince Rainier and became Princess of Monaco in 1956 after making her last movie High Society, in 1982 she died from a car accident as she was driving along the southern coast of France not far from Monaco. The scenery and movie location are spectacular and 'To Catch a Thief' was nominated for an Oscar for Best Cinematography.

Attractive location - not only important when shooting a movie, also important when you want to pick the best place to propose to your girlfriend.

When I first started to think about a location where I could propose, Santa Fe seemed like the perfect spot as we would be going there for a long weekend in August. But while we were playfully discussing the possibility of getting engaged, my gf asserted that proposing during a weekend trip would not be a big surprise. I didn't respond to her remark but realized that I had to change my plans. 'Don't panic', I thought, there are always other possibilities. Despite a two week waiting list, I'd been thinking of making reservations to 'Boulevard' for a long time. Boulevard is one of the top Restaurants in San Francisco and I know that my gf had wanted to go there for a long time. It would have been a great location to propose if not for the fact that one day before going to the Restaurant, my sweetie mentioned that proposing in a Restaurant would not be memorable. So dinner came and went by.

Luckily, sometimes a solution offers itself, even if you're not actively seeking it. On a hot summer day we decided to cool off in the Stanford Movie Theater in Palo Alto. "To catch a Thief" was playing there and I entered the theater with an engagement ring in my pocket. After the movie uncovered the thief, I felt safe to take the ring out of my pocket and proposed - while the Wurlitzer Organ was playing during the credits.

Catching a thief caught me a wife!

Conversations With Other Women

It only takes one night to change a life:

A man and a woman meet at a wedding reception. They begin some sharp comic banter with the effervescence of a good champagne. She jokes that she was the seventh choice for bridesmaid, called only after one of the earlier chosen ones was unable to come. The woman has flown in from London for the wedding and will leave the next day. As the couple (their names are never given) flirts, their previous connection is eventually revealed.

"Conversations With Other Women" is a narrative on undying, irresponsible love – undying in that time only erases the bad memories and irresponsible in that sometimes the good ones should be forgotten, too. Shot entirely in split screen, the rekindled love affair between exes expertly embodied by Helena Bonham Carter and Aaron Eckhart unfolds with each layer of Bonham's bridesmaid dress: secretively, guiltily, and exuberantly.

After we got engaged more than 2 weeks ago, my fiancee and I have had many converstations about the wedding. So much so, that we decided to get a break and go out for a movie to just relax and talk about other things. But through "Conversations With Other Women", we still ended up with "Conversations About A Wedding".

It only takes one night to change a life but it takes more than a night to change the topic of a conversation.. :)

The Color of Paradise

"The Color of Paradise" is a beautiful film from Iran that centers around Mohammad, a blind 8-year-old who has used his other senses to become attuned to nature and to win over the staff and other students at an institute for the sight-impaired.

Unfortunately, those abilities don't really impress the boy's father, Hashem, a widowed laborer who believes his son is an unfair burden. Rather than take the boy back with him after the school year is out, he pleads with administrators to keep him through the summer vacation. Eventually, he does agree to take Mohammad home, and there the boy quickly thrives under the guidance of his two happy-go-lucky sisters and his grandmother, who runs the family farm.

There, the real reason for Hashem's fatherly reluctance is revealed — he is planning to marry a woman from a strict Islamic family and fears his son will embarrass him. So he schemes to give Mohammad away to a sight-impaired carpenter, hoping the boy will at least learn a trade.

Hashem has been working very hard to raise the dowry and gifts that are necessary to get her hand in marriage. Consent is given by the woman's family after he presents the gifts.

My parents, sisters, nephews and nieces are all living in Europe and buying gifts for everybody is the most time consuming part of a trip when I fly back to see them. Considering that my gf's parents are from Iran, I never thought my 'gift' buying skills' would come in handy for marriage proposals as well :)

Buena Vista Social Club

In the documentary "Buena Vista Social Club", Wim Wenders follows Ry Cooder to Havana to record and interview some of the old but still-living great names of Cuban popular music. With the eloquence of weariness, the aged musicians calling themselves the "Buena Vista Social Club" embody the spirit of their home city of Havana. Today Havana is a decaying city of pastel palaces, decorated with laundry hanging on rusty but still ornate iron scroll work.

Despite the decay, the musicians are like the Bulgemobiles from the 1950s, gorgeous in their dotage, rolling through the narrow streets of Havana.

However, when placed in a foreign and complete different environment such as New York city, the visiting legendary musicians suddenly look helpless and confused. They marvel over the skyscrapers in Manhattan ("Where's the Statue?" "It's over there." "No, it's over there" "No, that's not it") or have problems to name the different souvenir statues of celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe and Louis Armstrong which are displayed in a shop window. They even don't recognize a statue of Cuba's invader, JFK, when they see him.

The experience also causes them to contemplate about the choices they made in life: "If we'd followed the way of possessions, we would have been lost long ago. ... We've learned to resist both the good and the bad."

This weekend, I experienced the same feeling of being "helpless and confused" when I was was in location that was foreign to me: the Giftcenter & Jewelrymart in San Francisco. It's the ultimate place to buy an engagement ring. My gf used to date a jeweler and in an attempt to schmooze the sales associate, she asserted "I gave up a diamond man for him, but he is more than worth it".

My luck that she resisted the way of posessions as well. Except for this one ring off course... :)

Puffy Chair

The Puffy Chair is not a movie about furniture; it's a little gem about relationships that stayed with me long after the film finished.

Josh' father's birthday is coming up, and he has found the perfect gift: A big purple La-Z-Boy just like Dad had years ago. Josh found it on Ebay, and now it's only a matter of heading south from Maine, picking up the recliner, and continuing to Dad's house. Josh takes along his girlfriend Emily, with whom he is having some relational difficulties and to Emily's chagrin, their "romantic" twosome is spoiled when Josh's hippie brother Rhett manages to invite himself along. By the time they reach Dad's house, Josh has learned a few things about life, love, painful choices such as whether to commit to the next step of marriage, and the feeling of confusion during an age when you should have it all together.

After arriving at his Dad's house, Josh asks his dad when he decided that he wanted to marry his mom. His dad explained that when he and his mom found out that some not-so-cool friends got married, they thought 'if they can get married, why can't we as well'.

Last weekend, my gf and I made a trip to Chicago. As M's name is similar to a name on a immigration watch list, we sometimes need assistance from an attendant for clearance which can take up a some time. So while we were driving back to the airport in Chicago with her sister and brother in law, I naively suggested that that my gf should change her name to avoid future check-in hassles.

After a short silence, three pair of eyes looked me in the face, making me realize that I am the one who should make that happen :) Movie moment-worthy...

King Kong (2005)

Last year, Peter Jackson made an spectacular update of the country-ape-meets-city-girl love story, King Kong, passionately commemorating the original while adding chills, frills and thrills. In the famous final scene of the original movie, the defiant Kong is standing atop the Empire State Building while circling aircrafts are trying to take him down.

Jackson's ending is different in that Kong's death is not caused by bullets. Because he cannot be with the woman he loves, Kong chooses to take his own life by plunging down from the building. At least that's what my gf told me....

I didn't see the movie myself because I was lucky enough to get some real sleep during our flight back from Amsterdam. During our stay in Holland, my 4 year old nephew had been so endeared with my gf, that although his English vocabulary only contained two words, he was able to articulate that he loved her more than me :) But there was some consolation: my gf informed me that just like Kong, she would love me to death too.

A happy ending - just like the movies...

Immortal Beloved

Nowadays, with hip hop and metal dominating the charts of the most popular music and MTV reaching out to audiences across the world with videos full of controversy, car chases, sword fights and extreme partying, classical music is perceived as stuffy and outdated.

However, movies like 'Immortal Beloved' show that composers like Beethoven were all but stuffy. 'Immortal Beloved' is a film enriched by drama and turbulence. It shows Beethoven as a man with more passion, ego and raw power than the Sex pistols.

There are also very touching scenes in the movie focusing on the fact that at a later age Beethoven finds out that he was going deaf, adding yet another dimension to his musical genius.

Sometimes, when my girl-friend asks me a question, I'm not always hearing exactly what she's saying. Therefor my prosaic reply isn't always a direct answer which causes confusion. However, after seeing 'Immortal Beloved', I feel that she should recognize as well now that my 'hearing problem' is actually adding a dimension to my genius ;)

The Ring

"The Ring" is a psychological thriller about the mystery behind a deadly videotape. Despite some flaws, it is a compelling film with a moody cinematography, focusing around the contrast of black and white, dark and light, and with images rendered in color only to provide clues to the mystery.

The story of "The Ring" centers on an urban legend -- a videotape full of terrifying images that heralds the death of anyone who views it. The tape comes to the attention of journalist and single mom Rachel Keller (Naomi Watts), who hears about it following the sudden death of her teenage niece. The videotape contains a string of odd and seemingly unrelated sequences – a solitary chair, a woman in a field, and footage of a sparkling, ring-shaped light.

Recently, "The Ring" has become a part of my life as well. Ever since my girl-friend showed me a book about engagement rings, I start to see them everywhere. Every women I see at a party is wearing a ring with a huge diamond, every magazine I read seems to contain full page ads with rings from Tiffany's. Even when I enter a Starbucks, there are couples sitting at a table to discuss their wedding with a photographer with the bride to be wearing a big ring around her finger.

I'm sure my girl-friend will tell me that I can escape The Ring... by giving one to her :)

Finding Nemo

Finding Nemo is the story of a little clown fish named Nemo (Alexander Gould) living off Australia's Great Barrier Reef, who is scooped up by a scuba diver and relocated to a fish tank in Sydney. Nemo's father Marlin (Albert Brooks) and his new found friend Dory swim all the way to Sydney to try to rescue Nemo and bring him back to where he belongs.

Dory, an enthusiastic blue tang, is one of the funniest characters in the film. At one point in Marlin and Dory's journey, they meet and are swallowed by a whale. Fortunately, Dory speaks whale so she is able to use their predicament to great advantage. The way Dory 'speaks whale' is by using regular words and pronounce all the vowels looooong and sloooowly.

I had to think about Nemo after coming back from a wonderful trip to Hawaii with my sweetie. Humpback whales choose Hawaii as their winter destination and it was fascinating to see them during our whalewatch cruise or even just from the beach.

The other reason I had to think about Nemo had to do with 'talking whale'. In the Hawaiian language, all vowels are pronounced individually. I mostly think that I am able to do about anything but where my sweetie was able pronounce Hawaiian names such as Haleakala, Wailea, Pu‘u Ula‘ula, Hali‘imaile, Ho‘okipa, and Pi'ikea, seemingly without effort, the most accurate word to describe my own efforts toward pronouncing those words would be 'whale talk': Haaaleeeaaakaaalaaa.

And maybe that's why sweetie and I are such a good match - what I can't do, she can. And visa versa off course :)

Elling

During the opening credits, we learn that the title character in Elling is a "momma's boy." When she dies he is 40 years old, and he has to be removed from the house and is taken to a mental institution where he has a roommate named Kjell Bjarne, a large man who is obsessed with food and women - although he is quite naive about the latter. Elling makes up stories about women, which Kjell Bjarne initially takes as the truth, but even when he finds out that they are fiction he asks Elling to continue telling them.

Since I moved to the US, I'm actually talking with my family more often than I did in the past when I was living less than a 30 minute drive from all of them. It also means that I'm talking to my mom almost every week as well. But as I'm over 40 and have my own place to live, I don't consider myself a "momma's boy"; I'm proud to say that I'm a "momma's man!"

PS. "Elling" is funny and highly recommended.

The Usual Suspects

When you hear that a movie has a surprise ending, you’re no doubt inclined to pay even more attention than usual to its plot. The movie The Usual Suspects is a meticulously scripted and faultlessly acted masterpiece that stands up to repeated viewings; even when you already know the true identity of Keyser Soze, you will still get a shiver when the surprise ending unfolds.

I still get a shiver when I think about the surprise I received last weekend.

To celebrate my birthday, M told me that we would be doing something special. It would be intense, I would have to wear formal attire, judges would be involved and to not ruin the surprise, I had to leave the house between 1-2PM because something would be delivered that needed assembly and if I would see what it was, it would give away the surprise. I was puzzled – how could an intense activity require formal clothing? And what needed to be assembled - a kite? A cooking device? Or a fishing rod? Surprising other people always gives me great pleasure but being on the receiving end felt different.

This plot had more twists than the Usual suspects and I still didn’t get it when I got back to the house and I saw one of my friends driving his car down the street. When I opened the door, eight of my best friends were there for a surprise wine tasting / dinner party. I couldn’t have asked for a better b-day and the fact that M organized all this for me, made me fell the luckiest guy in San Francisco.

Single White Female

"Single White Female" has Bridget Fonda placing an ad for a roommate in the classifieds, and winds up with mousy Jennifer Jason Leigh who not only turns out to be a stalker, she tries to take over Bridget's indentity.

A far fetched and unlikely story? Sometimes real life is stranger than fiction..

M has a friend who as of late is showing a more than normal interest in our relationship. Little things that put together, might fit a pattern only thought to be seen in movies: asking just the two of us over for dinner, buying a wedding book after having seen a similar one in M's house, suggesting to join us on our trip to Holland after finding out that we'd be going there in May to visit my family..

It might be a little far fetched. And I'm not at all interested in M's friend. But I'm sure that for some men, women fighting over a guy would be like a dream come true.

Bean

One of the most memorable scenes in "Bean", exemplifies how one little mis-step, innocent by itself, can lead to another and snowball into a really bad situation.

In the scene I'm referring to, Mr Bean steps back to admire Whistler's Mother, America's most valuable painting. He tuts disapprovingly as he spots dust on the frame and blows it away. Some of the dust ends up on his nose, causing him to sneeze all over the painting. He takes out his handkerchief to wipe the spittle off in panic and then looks back at the painting. There now is a big blue mark right across Mrs Whistler's face. He checks his handkerchief and finds wet ink all over it caused by a leaking pen in his pocket. He takes out his shirt, spits on it and tries to wipe the painting, causing the ink to spread right over Whistler's Mother's pure white collar, completely destroying the painting.

Soooo, last weekend my girl-friend found herself in a similar situation when she tried to get an additional Costco membership card for me they allow for 2 cards per household. While taking the required information, the sales associate asked how long she'd known me. M answered "6 months" (almost true) and to justify the case, she added "He moved in 1 week ago" (not true). The associate replied "Nice that you're getting him a card; he'd better do something special for you on Valentine's day" M aswered "Yes, he's going to cook me a suprise dinner", fogetting that since I supposedly moved in, I'd do the cooking at her place. So the associate continued "How are you getting changed for dinner as he is preparing the suprise dinner at your house?"

Sometimes a simple "Yes" is the best answer...

Me, you, and Everyone we know

'Me and You and Everyone We Know' is an original, poetic and penetrating observation of how people struggle to connect with one another in an isolating and contemporary world.

The movie contains many memorable scenes such as the demise of a poor goldfish accidentally left on the roof of a family car, leaving you feeling more sorry for a dollar store goldfish than you ever had before. Another story line follows two teenage girls trying to be grown ups by enticing a man into leaving lewd notes on his front window.

And those lewd notes bring me to yesterday: I was leading my team meeting and was showing our latest business results through a projector on a big screen. While presenting an 'intruiging' pie chart, all of a sudden a window pops-up on the big screen for all in the room to see with the text 'Hi Marcello, I miss you'. I hesitated, the five seconds that the window was visible felt like 5 minutes, and after the window disappeared I continued, pretending that nobody in the room had seen the message.

Since seeing the movie 'Divorce Italian style', my girl-friend sometimes refers to me as 'Marcello'...

Lesson learned: disable your email notifier when using your laptop for business presentations.

Meet the Fockers

'Meet the Fockers' is a sequel to the movie 'Meet the parents'. After convincing his fiancée's parents to allow them to marry, Greg Focker (Ben Stiller) now has to deal with what happens when her father Jack (Robert De Niro) meets his own family. The movie received less favorable reviews than 'Meet the parents' .

Last weekend it was my turn to meet a new family member of my girl-friend: her sister. And although I haven't met my girl-friends parents yet, after last weekend I have to admit that meeting family members other than the parents can indeed result in a less favorable experience.

I had to address a barrage of questions - my shoe size, how long my mother had been feeding me, my dad's occupation - just to name a few of them. Her sister also told me that she thought of herself as a snobby person and wanted to know if I agreed. And as I did, the stage was set for an interesting conversation.

But apparently I withstood the test better than previous boy-friends so there still is hope.. :)