The Secret Life of Words and My Hormones

The Secret Life of Words is the latest film by Spanish writer/director Isabel Coixet (My Life Without Me). I rented this and you can too. As per usual I won't say much...which is key because I didn't know much going in and that was extremely beneficial. I really like this movie. I am thinking about it a lot today, the day after watching it. People seem kind of split on it though...and I understand why. It's not easy. But it's also not breathtakingly perfect. It's has it's flaws. Rotten Tomatoes rating is 71% Fresh...the same percentage as Cold Mountain and Girl with a Pearl Earring (just to give you an idea)...but Secret's rating is based on a total of 34 reviews (US and Canadian). Pearl Earring (not a huge movie by any means) had 166 reviews counted by Rotten Tomatoes and 49 of them were rotten while 117 were raves. Of Secret's 34 reviews, 24 were glowing while 10 were pans. Not bad at all.

So Secret obviously had a very limited release (in fact it's still being released-- according to imdb.com the film was just released in New Zealand and it was filmed back in 2004!

Oh and one last bit of trivia for you...the film has over 2000 votes on imdb.com with an average user rating of 7.5 out of 10. This is quite impressive for a little film, I must say.

So why should you see this film? Well, it's staying with me and that's always a good sign. It is slow to start so be aware. You have to stick with it. Such wonderful performances. It really knocks you on your ass when everything comes out. It's important to hear these things now. Man's inhumanity to man, our loneliness, our inability to reach out, our deep deep sadness...it's universal and it should bring us together and not isolate us further.

Please seek out The Secret Life of Words...it's worthy of your attention. Sarah Polley and Tim Robbins are stellar and the lives of the supporting cast are key to the film as well....really nice.

Now....what about my hormones???

Oh man. It's fun being in my thirties. But I must say I think about sex ALOT now. It's funny. I think to myself...is this what being a man is like? Am I getting closer and closer to having a dick each and every day?

That's all.

Just went upstairs to tell my neighbor above me that if he could keep the intense banging down on my ceiling that would be great. He invited me in and wanted to know what he could do. I told him it was the heavy walking and when he got excited listening to music the banging with his feet on the floor (my ceiling) was a bit crazy-making. He seemed cool if a bit medicated...it came out that I was writing downstairs
"Oh, you're a writer. Do you like prose?"
"Um...well, that's not really my thing...I write plays and television stuff"
"Oh that's cool! I'm am actor!"
"Oh really?"
"Do you like Edgar Allen Poe?"
"Um...ya he's good. He's not my favorite..."
My neighbor stares at me. Just stares. His eyelids begin to drop a little over his eyes.
"I'm sure he's great though....OK, well thanks Kareem...I'll see you later"
As he saw me off, he told me I should get extra "cool" points today for coming up and talking to him about the noise...and that I should write about it in my journal. I sure hope that was a weed pipe I saw on my way out the door.

peace, darlins