THE FILMS OF 2019

The lovely new film Little Women explicitly references Louisa May Alcott’s adage that having many troubles justifies writing jolly stories – though it would be cynical to see Little Women as frothy and superficial. It’s obvious that so many of us are living through an era of struggle and concern, so a little jolliness — married to authenticity in depiction of life’s difficulties — goes a long way. In 2019, a good handful of movies left me feeling elevated; better still, the most joyful films of the year were also among the wisest.

Joy and even a bit of wisdom appeared in Long Shot, a political satire about what it takes to get elected, and how honesty about vulnerability might actually attract voters now that we’ve had three years of uncensored id from the top. Terminator: Dark Fate, unsurprisingly, relied on over-the-top violence to drive its action, but also rooted itself in a real world of pro-women, pro-immigrant politics. Spiderman: Far From Home married the sensibilities of a John Hughes high school comedy with a post-millennial sensitivities of gender diversity, tolerance, and a keenness to find less lethal solutions to defeating bad guys. And Ford v Ferrari excited and nourished audiences looking for fast cars and the joy of living rather than the need to win. It was an action film in which relationships mattered. But for cinematic action that towered above them all there was the documentary reconstruction Apollo 11, a genuinely astonishing use of the big screen to reveal the sheer doggedness of the moon landing mission.

READ THE REST OF THIS PIECE AT SOJOURNERS, HERE: https://sojo.net/articles/best-films-2019

ANNIE ROSS - SEEING THE TRUTH VIA ITS OPPOSITE

Sometimes we see the New Story best when we look at its opposite. Sometimes it's easier to identify connection, creativity, community and the common good when we take a healthy look at the shadow of separation, dehumanizing conformity, isolation and selfishness. I've been thinking about in this in the light of the death earlier this week of the extraordinary singer and actor Annie Ross.

One of the greatest performances in one of the bleakest of films is the one Annie Ross gives in SHORT CUTS (1993). An embodiment of the failure to see the impact of our own selfishness, and lament for its consequences, Annie's character is a warning. The whole film is a warning - really only to be watched when you want to face the darkness, and be reminded of why the only way to live freely and find the support we need is to do so in interdependent community, where everyone has the chance to serve from their gifts, and ask for help wherever they experience need. 

Annie Ross was rightly best known as a magnificent jazz vocalist, but her performance in SHORT CUTS is what I'll remember her for. She died earlier this week, and you can read more about her here: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/22/arts/music/annie-ross-dies.html

HOWL

I re-watched HOWL the other night - the extraordinary film about Allen Ginsburg's poem, his life, and the obscenity trial that sought to ban the book. It's a moving, inspirational film - the heart of the poem illuminated by wonderful animation, the heart of the poet illuminated by words he is known to have spoken. 

The poem speaks prophetically - not a prediction of the future, but a revelation of the deepest inner truths: that sometimes the people considered mad by the wider society are the ones speaking the most truth.

The new story welcomes marginalized voices speaking truth, welcomes lament for our sorrows, and invites vision for a better way.

HOWL is an amazing resource - I'd love to chat about it if you've seen it; and if you haven't, maybe take a look.

Here’s the trailer.

DREAMING THE WORLD

The geography of my mind is the geography of the world I walk in — John Moriarty

We live in anxious times, with our vision often limited to suspicion of others, concern about the future, and withdrawing into enclaves of the familiar.  It can become a self-fulling prophecy, a vicious cycle which does not produce the security, never mind the happiness we seek. It's becoming clearer by the day that we need to be dislodged from the narrow circles of self-oriented, tribal thinking. There is a more expansive universe, characterized by connection, sharing, and taking responsibility for co-creating the next good day. 

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The Porch is a place where we talk about these things, and learn together how to share and live into a better story. We've been doing it for a few years now, in our magazine and events - but in these new days of self-isolation for the sake of the common good, we're launching a new project, and experimenting with it here.

Dreaming the World is a seven week course led by Gareth Higgins, based on the idea that how we look the world shapes how we experience it. We'll watch seven movies - one from each continent - and learn about a more global way of thinking. There'll be a short video introduction for each film, and a written essay too; a members' Facebook page for conversation; and an invitation to a weekly video call to discuss the movie and its implications for how we might live better (you can join in person, or just watch or listen to the recording later).

We're valuing the course at $15 per class - around the price of a fitness class - and asking $105 for the entire course - but we don't turn anyone away on financial grounds. You're invited to pay whatever you can afford - we just ask that you consider the resources you have available, your desire to support our work, and a sense of mutual respect. If you can contribute more that will help us offer scholarships to folk who don't currently have the resources to pay to register for the course.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION AND HOW TO REGISTER. We’d love to have you with us.

GRIEF, HOPE, MEN

There are moments when art marks a moment of change from which I can date my life — when the bigger truth I had not yet spoken could be recognized unfolding in front of me. Sometimes these truths, and these works, are so awake that they give me more life.

I think of seeing Disney’s Fantasia at 7 years old, and elevated-terrified by the scale and possibility of life itself; or reading Alice Walker’s The Color Purple and trusting that even the hardest circumstances can be redeemed, with healing for the survivors and mercy offered to the wrongdoers. And now there is Matthew Lopez’s play The Inheritance, currently on Broadway through mid-March, in which a century-old English novel (E.M. Forster’s Howards End) gently soundtracks, or perhaps orchestrates, the lives of gay men in their 30s during the period when President Obama was moving out of office, President Trump was moving in, and many of us wondered just where on earth we were.

The plot is not complicated: We’re here to watch a young man find himself. But the inner workings are vast: We’re really here to watch an entire generation learn who it really is, what its responsibilities are, its gifts, and on whose shoulders it stands.

Read more here.