If you get a chance, try and see Once. It is a small Irish film about a singer/songwriter and an immigrant woman musician. The storyline is very simple: the singer/songwriter (Glen Hansard) meets the immigrant (Marketa Irglova.) They begin to share their music and encourage each other. Then they decide to make a demo tape for Glen Hansard to take to London. The film is almost cinema verite in its simplicity. All the music was written by Glen Hansard or Marketa Irglova or both. Hansard was the guitar player in The Commitments movie and now is in The Frames band. The music is incredible! If you miss it in the theaters, look for it later on DVD and/or buy the soundtrack. I did.

I saw two different films in the last two weeks centered on unexpected/unwanted pregnancy. Though this is one of the least funny of all predicaments that women find themselves in, both are comedies. And both are surprisingly funny.

The first (and best) is Waitress. A young woman who desperately wants to leave her really scary husband, finds her plans for escape thwarted when she finds herself pregnant. Most of the film takes place in the diner where she not only waitresses, but also creates fabulous pies. Wonderful cast, wonderful movie.

On the much cruder and ruder end of pregnancy is Knocked Up. About a young woman whose receives the promotion of her dreams (to on-air position) who celebrates the promotion a little too energetically and ends up pregnant by an unemployed stoner/loser. She insists on having the baby and on having the loser be a part of her pregnancy and parenthood.

Just saw Miss Potter with Renee Zellweger as Beatrix Potter. The film manages to capture the stifling social restrictions of turn of the century England and the intoxicating feeling in the air that it might be possible to have a life outside those strictures if you were willing to go it alone.

Beatrix Potter really was an amazing woman. She had to put up with an incredible amount of scorn from her mother and the publishers who first rejected her "bunny book." It is likely that the only reason the Warne's took on Peter Rabbit was to discourage their brother, Norman, from joining the firm. They thought that assigning him such a ridiculous project would cause him to give it up. They were wrong on all counts.

Hollywood seems to have taken fewer liberties with Potter's life than is often true. Maybe because her life was so extraordinary that they didn't need to.

Tomorrow I am going to see Bridge to Terabithia. Going to see the movie version of a favorite book is always iffy. But I was encouraged on two fronts: first, author Katherine Paterson's son wrote the screenplay, and second, I read a review which talked about the fact that Disney was totally misrepresenting the film with its "magical adventure" trailer. The fantasy of Terabithia, for those who are not familiar with the book (Hey! Get busy and read it!) is a relatively small part of the book. Apparently the film got it right, but the trailer got it wrong. So, I am keeping my fingers crossed. I will let you know how it goes.

Pan's Labyrinth I have very mixed feelings about this movie. On one level it is an incredibly fine fairy tale on the other, it is one of the most egregiously violent movies I have seen. I knew from the reviews that it was violent, but I could not have imagined how violent. At least you can see the violence coming and have time to hide your eyes ( if you are as wimpy as I am.)

The story: a young girl accompanies her mother to the country house of her sadistic step-father in post-civil war Spain. The girl discovers a hidden world of fairies where they believe her to be the missing princess of their kingdom. She is put through trials while her mother suffers through a difficult pregnancy and her step-father beats and tortures suspected rebels. It is a dark movie in every way, but the fairy tale story is rich and original and tantalizing.

See it. But be forewarned: it is difficult to watch at times.

Mrs. Palfrey At the Claremont is one of those small, sweet movies that I really love with the added bonus of having a gorgeous male lead (think Orlando Bloom.) It is the story of Mrs. Palfrey (big surprise) an old widow who moves into a residential hotel in London to gain some independence from her daughter. She attempts to make contact with her nephew who doesn't bother to return her phone calls. She stumbles (literally) into a young man who offers to pretend to be her nephew for an evening. This is not a Harold and Maude thing, though. They become close friends (not lovers) and, while some of the plot turns are predictable, it is still delightful.

Anime (or any animated films of any kind with only a very few exceptions) never really interested me until I stumbled across Hayao Miyazaki. It is not only that they are brilliantly animated, but, much more importantly, the stories are incredible ( in a very credible way) Films like Spirited Away and Castle in the Air are unlike anything American or European film makers have ever created. Even Miyazaki's interpretation of the Diana Wynne Jones Howl's Moving Castle is unexpected. His plots avoid cliches and his characters are more multidimensional than many live-action films. Don't take my word for it, beg, borrow, or rent these films. See for yourself.

Off The Map is a beautiful low-key movie that may be a little hard to find in the theaters, but it is worth looking for. It is the story of a family that lives in the middle of nowhere in New Mexico with no electricity or indoor plumbing. The self-sufficient trio are troubled only by the father's profound depression until an IRS man shows up to audit them. A moving meditation on love, friendship, art, self-sufficiency, and the debilitating effects of depression on everyone. Joan Allen, in particular, deserves an Oscar for her brilliantly nuanced performance as the mother.

Finding Neverland with Johnny Depp. Depp is superb as the Scottish J. M. Barrie author of Peter Pan. The story, based on Barrie's life, begins with him pacing backstage as his latest play bombs. The next morning (?) he takes his usual constitutional in Kensington Park and has his fateful meeting with Sylvia and her three boys. He soon becomes a fixture in their household much to the scandal of all about them. Barrie is as much--or more--of a child as the children and documents all their imaginative adventures which eventually become the play Peter Pan. It is one of those movies where it is hard to say exactly what it was that made the movie so compelling and satisfying. Whatever it is, don't miss this one. I have no doubt that it will find its way into our permanent collection once it is available as a dvd. But don't wait until then! You will regret it.

Fahrenheit 9/11 Michael Moore, who puts a dark kind of humor into his documentary exposes, has outdone himself. I can think of nothing that gives me more hope of defeating George W. Bush in the Fall than the fact that this emphatically anti-Bush film has broken all records for documentary films; theaters in my region which have rarely, if ever, sold out have sold out screening after screening. Is it a good film? Yes. Is it an important film? Again, yes. It is impossible to walk away from this film without being outraged or without chuckling over one clip or another.

In America reminds me a little of Angela's Ashes (the book by Frank McCourt) in that it views a crushing sort of stress through the eyes of a child who sees it all as a great adventure. Both are true stories beautifully told. In America is the story of an Irish family coming to New York so the father can find work acting and so they can all try to recover after the loss of their son. It must have been a grim and frightening time for the parents, but the two young girls have a blast and so will you.

Pieces of April is the only "Thanksgiving" movie I can actively recommend. In fact I recommend it despite the fact that it is a Thanksgiving movie. The movie manages to sidestep all of the obvious turns and produce a touching, often funny, and very believable story.

The Station Agent is a quiet, often delightful, movie. A train-obsessed dwarf named Finn inherits a small abandoned railroad station and moves in hoping for solitude away from gawking people. Instead he finds himself drawn unwillingly into a friendship with two others who have their own problems. Quirky, sometimes laugh-out-loud funny, it is ultimately a moving exploration of love, loss and friendship.

American Splendor A film as unique as the lives which inspired it, it is made up of vignettes, animation and interviews with the actual people. This is the story of Harvey Pekar, the file clerk who joined forces with R.Crumb to create a comic book of the common man (based on himself.) This led to Harvey meeting and marrying a fellow comic book nerd, together they proved that there really is somebody out there for everyone.

My First Mister (available on DVD) is the funny, touching story of a rebellious teenage girl (played by Leelee Sobieski) and a stuffy older man (played by Albert Brooks). Before you groan that you have seen this scenario a hundred times, let me point out that it sidesteps all of the cliches. They do not fall in love, at least not romantically. In fact, the movie will surprise you over and over again.

L'Auberge Espagnol This is a hilarious multi-lingual French film where a French college student, panicky about his future, goes to Spain on a foreign exchange program called Erasmus. He ends up sharing an apartment with a mixture of college students from all over the world. If you miss it in the theaters, look for it on DVD later on. It is worth seeking out.

Whale Rider This film from New Zealand explores the problems of rigidly hanging onto traditions in the modern world and resolves them in a beautiful and surprising ending. It reminded me of the Secret of Roan Inish and Into the West which also explore how legend and myth live on despite modern skepticism. All three are worth seeing time and time again.

Real Women Have Curves is a loving and all-too-believable story about a latina newly graduated from high school who wants to go on to college, but whose parents want her to remain a traditional dutiful daughter. (And, yes, her mother thinks she is too fat to catch a husband.)