Blessings #14

Roommate - Guilty Rainbow (2011)

He was a friend of a friend or maybe a roommate of that friend's friend. She wasn't really sure. The first time she saw him was that night they went camping. He was really cute, would be handsome some day but not quite there yet, still holding on to the dashing boy that was always grinning at the playground. Everyone spent the afternoon getting to know one another, half the people meeting at least someone new. She kept looking his way even though it seemed like nothing would ever happen but as they drank more then smoked some marijuana, the two of them eventually gravitated toward one another. They stayed up after everyone else went to bed, the fire dancing off their faces, smelling the smoke on each other's skin. They didn't kiss for long before he was trying to take off her shirt and she kept feeling eyes on them coming from the tents set up all around them. So she took his hand and led him off into the dark. They didn't have to go far before they found seclusion and she could hardly contain herself, wanting to feel him so bad. Earlier in the night a long debate had spread around the campfire about the decorum of condoms. She had fallen on the mandatory side until one was truly in a relationship, even glanced his way when she spoke but then, when he reached for his wallet, she couldn't fathom the idea. She had to feel him up against her. She craved that more than anything. So she pushed his hand away and pulled him into such intimacy that tears sprang from her eyes. Now she was in a bind and needed to get ahold of him. Crazy to think that after that night they didn't even try for something more permanent but once they were done, they went back to their own tents and sleep separated them. The next morning they seemed to be a thousand miles away and then she was packing and leaving, thinking to herself that if she needed to see him again then she could find him. Christ, what was she going to tell him. She was more scared now than when he first touched her, when his want came flooding out of his eyes. What if he said no? Could she take this journey alone? Did she even want to take this journey with him? Right now, she still had so many options but once she said something to him, then everything would change. But something inside her needed to let him know, wanted to be connected to him forever, regardless of what that meant. She wanted to watch him grow handsome someday, even if it was only in the face of his child.

127 Hours - Danny Boyle (2010)

Danny Boyle is a very good filmmaker. He's done some pretty crazy stuff and has never been stuck in one form or genre. He appears to be interested in trying different things and some of them work to perfection, while a couple haven't performed so well. Lately, he's been getting it right. This movie is the first undertaking since he made the world swoon with "Slumdog Millionaire" and it's pretty impressive. Not very many directors can make a film about a guy stuck in a ditch for three-quarters of the movie and have you completely mesmerized. And not many actors can be stuck in one position for that long and cause you to feel so much empathy for him. That's why James Franco's performance ranks up there with one of the best that I've seen. "127 Hours" is based on the true story about a man who takes a journey out into the wilderness for a day and gets stuck between a rock and hard place, literally. For the next 127 hours he waits and waits and waits for someone to come and save him because there is absolutely no way he is getting out on his own. Meanwhile he reflects on some moments in his life, some choices he's made and prepares for the worst. Eventually he must do something absolutely stunning in order to get out of his predicament and live to tell the tale. I thought it was a very intimate portrayal of a terrible situation and as you watch the movie, you can't help but put yourself in this man's place.Would you have the determination and will to get out alive? So hard to know but somehow this guy did it.