Three great movies!

I saw a marvelous movie from Romania, The Death of Mr Ladrescu. It is a real time story about a lonely, sick old man who needs a blood clot removed from his brain. A caring ambulance driver picks him up and drives around from hospital to hospital trying to get someone to care for the old guy. You would not think this realistic movie would be so damn fascinating, but it is. It is not sentimental and we all have been in the hospital with someone we know, or for our own problems. In any case this movie is brilliant, interesting and extremely well acted.

The other great movie is, Down to the Bone. It is about a young mother of 2, a supermarket clerk who is a coke addict. Very simply told, it is quietly good and coming from a family of addicts, it is about the most realistic movie about drug addiction I have ever seen. It's realistic that they portray the fact that some people, the main character's husband for example, can use drugs casually and not become addicted. Other people are not so lucky. Vera Farmiga, who plays the lead, is a wonderful actress and oddly pretty.

The third great movie is also about drug addiction. Little Fish, an Australian movie starring Cate Blanchette, San Neill and Hugo Weaving from the Matrix and Lord of the Rings. Australians are quirky and their movies are too. This movie is no exception. Really good acting and interesting situations abound. It is set in Little Saigon, the Vietnamese enclave in Australia. It is interesting to me to see how the immmigrant experience mirrors that of the US.

I also saw Oliver Stone's, World Trade Center. It was good, not great, but it did do one amazing thing. It made you feel as if you were trapped under the Twin Tower's rubble with the 2 cops. I was very tense during this movie. At one point I realized my hands were curled into claws. I don't think I have ever felt as much a part of the action as I did during this film. I am not sure is this is a good thing or not.