films and an attempt at a top ten

Watching Jerry Maguire again.

I rarely watch films more than once and if I do, there’s something special that draws me to it. When Harry Met Sally, Pulp Fiction, The Birdcage, Gigi, Ghostbusters, Singing in the Rain, Lock Stock and 2 Smoking Barrels, The Fisher King and Beauty and the Beast, they are the ones I will watch wherever, whenever if I have the chance. I hope the list gets a little longer soon, there aren’t any films in that list from the 21^st century.

Charismatic as Tom Cruise is, what I love about this film is the relationship between Marcy and Rod Tidwell (and Renee Zellweger doing both geeky and vulnerable). “My whole life is this family and it cannot function without him,” she weeps into the phone. She is mouthy and passionate and he is self-obsessed and cocky. It’s a film and therefore difficult to associate with real life – especially when everyone has such great teeth – but they love each other and they work as a couple. The significance of Maguire’s relationship with Dorothy is only relevant against the backdrop of theirs. It’s easy to be sidetracked by the “cute kid in glasses” (prizes for the tv connection) but he is the reason for their relationship, they are the paradigm.

The film also has sport in it. Unfortunately it’s American, but having tried to rewrite it as an English classic involving a spin bowler and an Oxbridge sports agent I realise Crowe got it right.

Reading the list again I’m glad Lock Stock is in it, I might otherwise have been tempted to include Notting Hill. Good as a lot of English films are, my top ten has mainly American exports. Number 10 is actually Amelie and not Jerry Maguire, but as soon the words “top ten” have tapped through the keyboard I’m plagued by more and more films that deserve note. Like Rob in High Fidelity, I find it difficult to decide on a list when it feels like it matters.

Read Persuasion last weekend. I love Jane Austen. She waxes lyrical in this one and it doesn’t surprise me to discover it was her last novel. I find 2 Timothy as moving. I read it as Paul’s last letter to Timothy (once you’ve removed the less Pauline sections!) and have found myself in tears. I may have been menstruating at the time, but it still takes a bit of sentimental cheese to get the tear glands going. If you haven’t read Persuasion I recommend it hugely, especially if you’re over one and twenty. If you’re a man then you’re a potential husband for many many years yet so it might serve you better to learn the rules of American football, write a screenplay and make women across the globe swoon.