When I got to Grandma’s house, I found her curled up in bed watching a football game. It was late on a Sunday afternoon. I had delayed the outing a few hours for a work obligation and by the time we left for the film it was dusk and Grandma’s face, freshly-tanned-from-Hawaii, glowed gold in the front seat as we headed North on Los Feliz Boulevard. It’s been brisk in Los Angeles and I was foolishly dashing around in a summer dress and light sweater that day while Grandma smartly donned a large black wool coat. My goosebumped arms were envious.
We decided to drive to the Vista Theatre in Los Feliz, definitely one of the more lovely places to see a movie in Los Angeles. Grandma had never been before. It’s very rare we travel to a movie theatre outside of Burbank or North Hollywood and I was excited to drag her out of her comfort zone.
Although Grandma had a negative reaction to the film, its intensity has stayed with her. We went to “Atonement” the other day (blog coming soon!) and she kept reminiscing about how disturbing Daniel-Day Lewis is in “There Will Be Blood.” She said she thinks about his character when she can’t sleep at night, trying to make sense of his violent actions. I like to think of her like that, scowling into the dark at 3:30 AM wondering — why… why Daniel Day-Lewis, why?
When I first became obsessed with movies as a child, I would school myself by passionately over-dosing on whatever film icon I had most recently discovered. I’d watch every movie made by Stanley Donen or starring Fred Astaire or Betty Davis in one crazed weekend and then dance around the next week dreaming of dancing sailors, top hats and Baby Jane. Daniel Day-Lewis was the inspiration for one such weekend. How my twelve-year-old heart skipped a beat when he painted with his left foot or ran barefoot as a Mohican. So I understand his ability to stick with Grandma and her inability to shake him loose.
At Bob’s Big Boy for dinner, Grandma kept watching the door… claiming that groups of single men were filing inside in droves. “You should come here to meet men,” she said, “it looks like a hot bed of activity for singles.” And while I muse over the ridiculousness of this suggestion, imagining myself coming back to Bob’s Big Boy alone and locking eyes with a mysterious stranger a few booths down snacking on his patty melt and Arnold Palmer while I munch on some fries with ranch dressing, I can’t help but appreciate the simple loves of my loner twelve-year-old self. Who needed a real person when you could rent “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” and swoon over Daniel as Tomas, the Czech doctor?
Written by Diablo Cody. Directed by Jason Reitman. Starring Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman, Allison Janney and J.K. Simmons. USA, 2007.
We went to the new Arclight Cinema in Sherman Oaks. We had lunch at The Cheesecake Factory. We sat on the patio. It was a chilly day but the restaurant had strong outdoor heaters and Grandma was so warm, she took off her coat. We sat in the theatre with one younger couple and a few other senior matinee watchers. We watched them chatting it up with the newly-hired Arclight ushers who enthusiastically imparted the wonders of the “Arclight experience”. I will say, I love the Arclights’ bathrooms. They have the best skinny mirrors. We couldn’t find my car in the parking lot for a good half hour. Grandma was teary-eyed from the film, so I sat her on a stump while I ran from floor to floor looking for the wagon with a rusty bike-rack. Back at her house, I assembled her new vacuum cleaner. I was late for choir practice.
We are on vacation now, in Maui. That’s where we shot Gram’s written review and did the reenactment. My parents and twin brothers are here, too. Credit to my brother, Casey, for shooting the reenactment. Sorry for the lack of anything better than an on-board mic for most of the sound on this blog but we’re basically a one granddaughter band here, people.
Written and Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. Based on the novel by Cormac McCarthy. Starring Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Woody Harrelson and Kelly Macdonald. USA, 2007.
We went to the AMC, Burbank 16. As always, parking was an issue. I parked on the street and got a ticket. Afterwards, we went and ate Italian food. Grandma doggy-bagged half her pasta and ate it that night for dinner. Just in case you haven’t seen the film, the review has a minor spoiler… But Woohoo! Our first blog!
She is 73 and I am 24. We go to movies once a week and maybe more. Movies with grandma. Movies with Grandma Joy. I drive while she supplies the tickets but I’ll buy the popcorn. I like the indie flicks but she prefers Jason Bourne. Movies with Grandma. Movies with Grandma Joy. She’s cuter than Ebert and sweeter than Travers and I think her opinion really matters. Movies with Grandma Joy. Movies with grandma. Movies with grandma. Movies with Grandma Joy.
