Monday, April 23, 2012

Heading Home

The Road Scholar program was over around lunch time today. DH and I got in our cars and began to head north. Not too far from Sarasota we stopped at the Ellenton Outlets. Ellenton is a really big center with lots of good stores. I did a lot of browsing but just a little buying. I was delighted to get a new battery for my watch. The battery died on Saturday and we were just too booked up with the film festival to get to a jeweler. I had no idea how many times per day I look at my watch until it stopped working. Of course, I can check my iPhone but it's so much more obvious than glancing at one's wrist. What a pleasure to have a working watch again.

We're currently in Silver Springs, FL. We had intended to get into Georgia today but time just got away from us. Hopefully tomorrow we'll be able to drive the entire day. I am hoping we will be home by Wednesday evening or Thursday at the latest.

I'm listening to Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese. It's a wonderful book and really helps to pass the time on these long drives.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Sarasota Film Festival, Part I

Wow! It's been over a month since I last posted. We've left Crystal River and are at the Sarasota Film Festival. We're doing the Road Scholar part of the festival, but this year we decided to come early to catch some extra films and enjoy Sarasota. It's so different from Crystal River and so much fun to be here.

I've seen six films so far. Opening night we saw Robot and Frank starring Frank Langella, Susan Sarandon and a robot. It's a comedy about a second story man in the early stages of dementia. We really enjoyed it. Watch for it soon in theaters near you.

On Saturday we saw Polisse, a French film about the child protective unit of the Paris Police. It was fast moving, poignant and funny. I love films with subtitles. I don't miss any of the dialogue. DH was pleased about how much of the French he understood. This one may not make it to the burbs of NJ but I'm sure it will be available at some point in Manhattan.

Sunday DH and I chose separate films. I went to 17 Girls, another French language film about a rash of pregnancies among high school students in a small town. Purportedly the plot was based on an incident that took place in the US. I think it lost something in the translation. It wasn't fully believable. I wasn't happy with the director's filming style, too many long pauses. DH saw Teddy Bear which he thoroughly enjoyed.

DH joined me and we went to The Intouchables, another French language film (are you sensing a pattern here?). After a sky diving accident renders him a quadriplegic, a wealthy widower hires an assistant from an impoverished, dysfunctional family. The relationship that develops between the two and the changes that friendship makes in both their lives is touching. DH and I loved this film.

Tuesday I went to a documentary, Book Club, about some women in the DC area who have been members of a book club since the 1940's. It was a great film with wonderful interviews with women who have lived through so many phases of the women's movement.  DH then joined me for mussels at brasserie belge before we saw our Second English language film, The Perfect Wedding, a film that manages to cover adoption, alcoholism, dementia and homosexuality all in one family. Oh, and there were two weddings. It was like able, but a bit too contrived for my taste.

We've changed hotels now and are ready to join the Road Scholar portion of the film festival. I'll report again when we've seen a few more films.