Ten years after a happy Indiana marriage
and five years after a sad California divorce
I sold my wedding rings in Portland, Oregon
and bought a chest of drawers
older than the two of us put together.
Now, I do not say it to disrespect
the blissfully coupled, or to incur your pity
but I feel a lightness and an optimism
that my clean laundry will no longer
pile up on the bed.
Agatha Christie meets Mark Heap and (zomg) Stephen Mangan in this most recent adaptation of her 1965 mystery. A pair of witty Janes (Miss Marple plus a young protégé) help Mangan’s earnest but not-as-sharp Scotland Yard inspector investigate a pair of murders at a posh London hotel positively oozing with postwar intrigue. Heap plays the uptight and jumpy hotel manager, of course. Ridiculously convoluted and stagy denouement, of course. Expect nothing less! Hokey and wonderful.
****
SEE… riveting live shows from the extraordinary noise duo of Detroit!
SEE… stylish performance art swathed in exquisite melancholy!
SEE… Canada!
Bless this rockumentary for capturing music from The White Stripes’ 2007 tour and throwing in a geography lesson for good measure. The band endeavored to visit every province and territory of our Great Northern Neighbor, playing informal daytime gigs among larger venues, and we are taken into that Yellowknife café, Winnipeg city bus, Saskatoon bowling alley, Halifax pool hall. How refreshing that many lovely images are allowed to linger: nothing less than the Ken Burns treatment for their last waltz at the 10th anniversary show in Nova Scotia. In fact, my only complaint is the point where their songs are hacked apart and medley-ed together in any entirely unsatisfying way.
Photo: Autumn de Wilde
Most adorable fan: kid who wears horse head to concert.
Best evidence, secondary to Coffee and Cigarettes itself, that Meg and Jack White are perfect Jim Jarmusch muses: “White Moon” at the piano.
Favorite performances: “In the Cold, Cold Night” (hot!) and “Black Jack Davey” in Whitehorse and “Catch Hell Blues” and definitely “I’m Slowly Turning Into You” and… Aw, now I just want to watch it all over again.
Fascinating! Electrifying! Overwhelming! Must-see in splendid 2D!
****
(I am tempted to assign an additional half star for the generous footage of Jack White in a kilt but don’t want to get, you know, carried away.)