Thursday, June 25, 2009
Two Movie Gems
I recently saw two movies that I really enjoyed. I can't believe I had never seen the 1989 film Lean On Me. It's a movie about a high school that hires a new principle to clean up the horrible it has become and raise their test scores before they are shut down. Morgan Freeman and the entire cast were excellent in an emotional, highly charged movie that I thoroughly enjoyed. Morgan Freeman is really one of my favorite actors. His performances are always so effortless yet so powerful. This movie is certainly a showcase for Freeman at his best. And his scenes with Robert Guillaume were electrifying. 
This one was totally unexpected and an absolute delight. My enjoyment of movies like this may be tinted by the relationship I had with my grandma and how much I miss her, but if you can't be moved by a movie like this you have an important piece of your heart missing. The performance by Joan O'Hara (who died the same year the movie came out) was mesmerizing. There is a twinkle in her eyes that is hypnotic. And her line about only seeing the world clearly at the end was heartbreaking. Watching a cast full of gifted, older, character actors is always such a treat. And this movie has some truly great ones. Very moving, wonderfully acted and thoroughly enjoyable, I love sweeping yet simple movies like this.
