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Browsing through NetFlix’s online streaming collection is not unlike those late Friday nights spent browsing through the movie maze in your local video store. The search for that perfect movie is often tricky. Sometimes you have to deal with a fuming partner and/or a melting tub of ice cream in the car. The pressure is compounded by a listless, unhelpful store clerk in some cases. This column aims to be that clerk for NetFlix Instant Watch – maybe just a little less listless and little more helpful. This is what I waded through recently – at NetFlix.

Went Looking For…

Believe it or not, I sometimes do have a predetermined playlist while browsing for movie titles. Generally, there is a week between my adding them to the playlist and actually watching them. The movies under “Went Looking For…” are typically the movies that I had slotted as “Ended up with…” the previous week.

Far from Heaven

Recreating a bygone era must be a challenge within the celluloid frames. The attention to detail is very much evident in every shot of Far from Heaven. Costume design is of course a staple fair for period pieces. In Fair from Heaven it extends admirably to the set pieces as well. They are further complemented by Elmer Bernstein’s background score and Edward Lachman’s cinematography. Even the font used in the title credits contributes in taking the viewer to a bygone era.

Cathy Whitaker (Julianne Moore) is a 1950s Connecticut home maker caught in the eye of a perfect storm. She finds herself with a perfect life in the suburbs, complete with two kids and a husband (Dennis Quaid) whose career is in the upswing. This idyllic setting comes crashing down as she finds herself to be the wronged one in her husband’s infidelity compounded by his sexual orientation and she is also the accused one in a socially unacceptable inter-racial romance with her African-America gardener (Dennis Haybert). Ironically enough, the story begins with her being interviewed for a set piece portraying her as one half in a perfect marriage. The rest of the movie proceeds to methodically disintegrate every one of those perfections. She finds a semblance of inner strength out of the ordeal.

One can draw parallels with Revolutionary Road to a certain extent. There the leading lady tragically gives up but Far From Heaven’s Cathy is left with a choice to be a revolutionary.

At the box office, through strong word-of-mouth, the movie recovered its production budget and went on to score a profit with total revenue of $16 million. It was aided in part through Haybert’s popular role as the president of the United States in the first season of hit television show 24.





The Girl Who Played with Fire

As I write this, I am going through a zigzag route in the world of Lisbeth Salander. It started off with the Swedish movie version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I followed that one up with the book version of the second installment The Girl Who Played with Fire. Next on my list is the Swedish movie version of the same. After this I went back to the book version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I am waiting for the paperback version of the third book, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest and at some point I will watch the Swedish movie version of the same. All in all, it is a fascinating world of adventure, mystery and deceit that each medium and each part contributes to in unique ways.

As in many trilogies, the second edition proves to be a bit of a weak link. While the first edition gave equal importance to Salander and Blomkvist, here, the attention shifts decidedly in Salander’s direction. It looks very much like her story and this makes the coining of the series as The Millennium Trilogy debatable. The Girl Who Played with Fire adds to the mystical aura of Salander with glimpses into her past that include a tryst with a girl band, training with a professional boxer and most significantly, her family. Salander finds herself to be the prime suspect in a double murder investigation with Blomkvist being her only supporter to begin with. The police procedural forms the side story in the book but finds very little screen presence in the movie.

Ended up with…

Whilst checking out the above movies, I invariably end up fattening my instant watch queue with some new additions. These go into my “Ended up with…” list and the plan is to watch them during the week ahead. NetFlix keeps tempting me to move each one of them to the top of the queue but I resist. These are movies that I plan to check out in the days ahead.

Broken Embraces

Tempted by the successful director-muse combination of Almodóvar and Penelope Cruz, I’ve added Broken Embraces to my list closely following a viewing of Volver on Blu-Ray.

When in Rome

It might look like I am trying to offset an auteur’s work with a run-off-the-mill romantic non-comedy. However, I’ve found out that these hopeless flicks work when seen at the right time in the comfort of your home. Let’s see…