I may complain about movies a lot, but this year I saw a number of terrific ones. Some have been dark and disturbing ("House of Sand and Fog''), while others have been light and fizzy ("Something's Gotta Give''). If a movie is made well, it's always a pleasure to see it, no matter what its subject is.

I still haven't finished seeing all the Oscar nominees, but here are my takes on three very different movies that were thought-provoking and willing to take a different look at the world.

All are playing here or at the Midtown Cinema in Harrisburg:



"Cold Mountain''

It isn't quite the movie all the publicity said it would be, but there is plenty here to remember.

It's beautiful to look at (filmed in Transylvania, of all places, it represents mid-19th century North Carolina), and is wonderfully funny at times and thoughtful.

Jude Law (who is beautiful to look at too) plays Inman, who has a fleeting moment with Ada (Nicole Kidman) before going off to fight in the Civil War. She gives him her picture, and he has one made for her.

After a brutal battle, Inman deserts and begins a long journey home.

For Inman, Ada's photograph is a talisman, a way to find enough faith in life to carry on.

For Ada, the war is a catalyst, forcing her to find strengths she never knew she had.

For me, the power of the movie isn't so much its romance, which ultimately is fairly predictable, but its strong anti-war message.

Wars ruin people. They ruin soldiers who see unspeakable things, they ruin families, and they ruin the people on the periphery who get sucked into the savagery of the world around them. It's a lesson we always need to remember.



"Monster''

I didn't really want to see this movie about Aileen Wuornos. Feeling sympathy for a serial killer isn't my cup of tea. But Charlize Theron was getting so much acclaim for her performance, I felt like I had to go.

Theron is tremendous in a raw, frightening and aggressive performance. She bristles with rage, she swaggers, and her unfocused energy turns dangerous without warning.

Watch her trying to get a job, and you see how totally unfit Wuornos is to live a normal life. Not everyone with a bad childhood -- and she had a horrid one -- turns into the monster Wuornos became, but this movie gives us a stark yet compassionate explanation of how she did.



"Girl With the Pearl Earring''

This is the most beautiful movie I've ever seen.

Ever.

It's based on Tracy Chevalier's best-selling novel about Griet, a young servant in the house of the painter Vermeer who becomes the subject of Vermeer's painting, "Girl With the Pearl Earring.''

The movie is wonderfully subtle (remember subtlety?) and overflowing with dramatic tension.

Vermeer (Colin Firth) is married and a leading citizen in his community, but he finds a soul mate in the lowly Griet (Scarlett Johansson), who in another world and another time might have been an artist herself.

They barely talk to each other, yet it's clear they've connected on some deep level that nobody else can quite understand.

Cinematographer Eduardo Serra makes every scene look and feel like a magnificent Dutch painting, yet the movie's stunning beauty doesn't slow the film or lessen the tension.

"Girl With the Pearl Earring'' is the best movie I've seen so far this year. Don't miss it.



Jane Holahan is a New Era staff writer. Her column appears on Wednesdays.

blog comments powered by Disqus