Holiday Movies: Dark Waters, Little Women, & Judy

Our holidays were filled with fun family gatherings, lots of eating, and lots of movie watching.

Dark Waters, the true story about the lawyer that exposed DuPont’s dumping of toxic chemicals in West Virginia waters, made me paranoid about my cookware. I know I’m not alone in thinking I have to replace a few old non-stick frying pans. Scary and sobering and a reminder how important science  is and how government regulations and oversight must continue to protect consumers.

Renee Zellweger convincingly plays (and sings) Judy Garland in Judy, a biopic about the star’s last concerts in London. While it’s well known about how she was mistreated as a child star with starvation diets and pills to keep her young looking, what’s extremely sad is seeing how this affected her entire life. Despite being beloved in London, Garland is separated from her children, adding to her depression and substance dependency.

See Knives Out, a fun who-done-it caper packed with stars.

Then there’s Little Women. At first I resisted this one, as I’m still unsure about having classics rewritten and reinterpreted. I also loved the 1994 movie starring Winona Ryder and Christian Bale. But the film has received so much publicity; it seemed every time I turned on the radio or television I heard an interview with Greta Gerwig, the director. It was a rainy afternoon and the movie was showing nearby, so we went. My husband was one of three men in the theater.

The film starts nearly at the end of the story and jumps around chronologically. It took a little getting used to. The setting is pure New England and the pond ice-skating made us both miss our own childhoods before climate change made that activity practically obsolete. My only complaint is the casting of Timothee Chalamet as Laurie. He’s young and very skinny and doesn’t seem too into the part. My husband didn’t understand my grumbling and I explained that every girl of any age that sees Little Women wants to fall in love with Laurie and this actor didn’t do it for me.

This adaptation makes the others seem a bit saccharine and sentimental. Life in the 1860’s   wasn’t so terrific, especially for women. Jo perseveres and becomes the writer we all dream about and it remains a lovely family story. I wrote about the longevity of Little Women here: https://cyclingrandma.wordpress.com/2018/10/11/happy-birthday-frankenstein-little-women/

Also worth seeing: Marriage Story, Maiden, and The Nightingale.

Any suggestions for others? I’m also looking for some good book ideas as nothing has grabbed hold for a while.

Happy New Year!