Sudu's Views & Reviews: March 2006

Coolish Building on Locust Street, Philadelphia

Chelsea Market

Mmmn Beer

Fire Escapes, NY

The Ansonia- 73rd & Broadway

Horse Buggy @ 15th & Pine Street

Re: Movie Updates

As the ski season winds down (when was it ever up and running, one might ask) the blog is crying for an update. I have been busy in terms of movie watching. In no particular order movies which I saw recently--

Love, Ludlow
This was a brilliant movie, which played I believe at the Sundance and Big Apple film festivals last year. It is based on a play 'Finger Painting in a Murphy Bed' by David Paterson. Set in Queens, it is the story of Myra and her brother Ludlow, who is a finger painter and has special needs seemingly suffering from social anxiety, insecurity and manic episodes. He spends all of his time in the apartment and Myra takes care of him since their mother passed away five years back. She meets soft spoken Reggie at her work and he takes a facination to her. Myra is hard as nuts and has no time for an office romance, let alone a steady boyfriend, but she relents to go out with Reggie. The rest of the movie just plays out as the three characters come alive. Real heart warming drama. The three actors are brilliant in their roles and the movie is worth a watch for anyone who likes an independent film.

March of the Penguins
The oscar winner for best documentary, does it deserve it? I would not know since I did not see the rest of the movies on the list, but I can definitely attest to the fact that this is a stunning movie to watch. The movie follows the migration of the Emperor Penguin to central antartica and the breeding cycle through winter. They certainly lead hard lives. The narration of the movie is by Morgan Freeman. I might have liked to watch the whole movie with less narration mainly because it seems to add to humanization of these magnificient animals. I do think the makers of the movie try too hard to sell them in terms of human emotions, which I do not think was essential. But that said, is definitely a great movie to watch, National Geographic and Animal Planet combined.

Winged Migration
Among the best movies I have ever seen, the visual beauty is stunning. The movie made over 3 years follows the migratory patterns of the birds. Not your usual national geographic special on avian migration. This is a cinematic achievement, the fact that such a movie could be made makes one want to watch it. More than just the cinematography the movie has excellent editing to make the whole movie coherent and unimaginably beautiful. It is about birds as they are, I unfortunately did not get a chance to watch the making of the movie, just for which I probably will watch it again.

Microcosmos
This was again a movie which could be described as a nature documentary. This is as up close and personal as one gets to the creepy crawlies. The absolutely brilliant cinematography manages to capture a world of insects which one can barely remember as a world which one has peered into as a child looking through a magnifying lens.