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Half Way Home
New York, 3rd July
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Does the title of this piece strike a familiar chord? It is now July, the
seventh month of the year, so half the year has passed. Next week is the All-Star Baseball Game, the traditional 'halfway' point of the baseball season. Actually the true half-way point for baseball is July 1st
— meaning three months are in the books and there are three months remaining. But the expression still rings true. We are halfway home.
Accordingly, I'd like to briefly discuss a couple of movies that touch on the theme of "Home". One of the films you will know and for sure, most of you enjoyed this film. The second film will not be as well known ... but its themes are universal.
Macaulay Culkin played the 8-year-old Kevin McAllister inadvertently left behind as his family rushed off to a holiday vacation in Paris. His situation was the movie's title,
Home Alone. As the runt of the litter (he's the youngest child in the family) Kevin has to take a lot of guff from his siblings. Occasionally he gets disgruntled and he even wishes his family would disappear. When in fact they do, by leaving without him, he is initially thrilled to have the house to himself. He binges on ice cream, sweets and so forth. So we get the first sub-theme of the movie
— be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it!
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But then we find out that his home is being cased by a couple of crooks looking for an easy holiday score. Little Kevin has an innate sense of smelling the rats out, and he sets many traps for the inept thieves. We are both amazed and awed by little Kevin's ingenuity, bravado, and coolness.
When Joe Pesci, as the bumbling burglar Harry says, "We know you're in there..." we have no doubt that Kevin is going to win the turf war for his home-front, hands down. And this is sub-theme #2
— when the going gets tough, the tough get going. Eventually Kevin foils the burglars, conquers his fears about the scary old man next door, and his family returns home. Cue the feelgood music, everyone is happy, and there's no place like home. |
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The second film is from China and is called
The Road Home. The lead is gorgeous Zhang Zihi who later was featured in
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The story is simple. A young engineer returns home after the death of his father. The village is
in a remote region of Northern China. His mother, now a wizened old lady, wants to honor a traditional custom by having the body carried on foot by local residents the considerable distance from the hospital back to the village; her husband's last journey on the road home. It is the winter and director Zhang Yimou paints his cinematic canvas in the blue and gray of winter scenes.
We then watch via flashback how the love story of this couple began more than forty years ago. At once the screen is filled with the lush colors of spring, and summer, and fall. The settings are so harmonious and gorgeous that you literally don't care that the home has no electricity, or running water, or central heating.
Zhang Zihi's character is the prettiest girl in the village, and she falls in love at first sight of the new school teacher. She won't be trapped in an arranged marriage. No, she wants a love match. We watch and are drawn in because Di (as she is called) virtually throws herself at the new guy in town. He notices and soon returns, albeit shyly, his interest in her.
What is compelling is the sheer visual beauty of the film's images which the director presents to us, and despite the lack of conveniences which today we take for granted, in the homes of the film's characters, there's no doubt that their humble homes are grand in their hearts. This cinematic love story is heart warming, inspiring and a visual treat to watch. At the end of the film, as the villagers do bring the husband's body back home, we can only hope that our own last journeys will likewise be on
The Road Home.
We know that this introduction was about places I wanted to show you
— a couple of special homes in two of my favorite movies. The characters in these films have stories which we watched and experienced with laughter and warmth. But like all of us, these characters lived at home. And isn't it true that most days you can't wait to leave work, leave school, and head home.
But I know where you want to go next
— to those places where you can see naked 'wimmen'. While the year still is only half-way home, your journey to the sights and sounds of beautiful, big breasted ladies may begin right now. There are no
tokens or toll booths; no tickets needed. Just punch those fast forward buttons directly
below.
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