Just watched Laurel Canyon

I really like Lisa Cholodenko’s movies. They explore, they notice, they amorally report. It’s….interesting. I can’t always say that I have a reaction of any strength … but sometimes that reaction is to not have a reaction. Lisa’s movies always seem to have that style (her previous film was “High Art”).

An actress that I really noticed in The Truman Show, Natascha McElhone, plays one of the pivotal roles. Natascha is all cheekbone and jaw and deep seeking eyes. She affects an Israeli (I thought it was Russian) accent and plays a medical resident with an agenda on one of the protagonists.

They have several very frustrated and inescapably romantic discussions. One of the zinger exchanges is…

(setting: Sara’s volvo, abandoned garage) Sam (a psychiatrist): “You’re having a sexuality crisis?” Sara (also a psychiatrist, heh): “No, I’m not having any kind of crisis.”

Frances McDormand plays her usual brilliant self and Christian Bale plays the /ultimate/ tightly wound (this time sans homicidal instinct as we have come to expect from American Psycho) good citizen out-not-to-be-a-loser.

It’s a movie that really explores curiosity, fidelity, California, and estrangement.

I love independent movies, ones that make you think and that don’t give you answers.