OK film fans, we've got a near blizzard coming down on us, which made for an interesting drive home, and after a bowl of mediocre chili I'm ready for tonight's film. And given my feelings about this little experiment it seems apropos.
Julie & Julia is a film of two women's lives, Julie Powell (Amy Adams) and Julia Childs (Meryl Streep, the greatest living actor in the world. The former is an aspiring writer, unable to finish her novel and stuck in a cubicle call center job, who starts a blog with the goal of cooking 542 dishes in 365 days. The dishes come from Julie Child's revolutionary cook book Mastering the Art of French Cooking.
The film starts with Julie's average and unfulfilled life and ends with her achieving success far beyond her goals. She starts the blog, with some coaxing from her husband, as a way to cope with a life that doesn't seem to have lived up to her potential after college. We witness both her euphoria in crafting a fine meal and her meltdowns as both the meals and her marriage suffer disappointments. Amy Adams is an actress whose cheerful manner can make anything seem better, to wit Junebug.
Despite Amy Adams' performance, Julie isn't really the star here. Streep's Julia Child is truly something to marvel. She not only captures Julia for those of us old enough to recall her from her TV show, she captures her brave and unyielding spirit as well. It brings to life a Julia Child I never knew and made me wish this entire film was about her life, which is far more interesting than Julie's.
This is a cute film with a charming premise, which is why Julie Powell's blog lead to her becoming published and ultimately the creation of this film based on her simple decision to write about something she liked doing. But it's also a film about achieving your goals when the only thing standing in your way is yourself.
After seeing this I get why my sister brought up this film and the blog idea to me this past Thanksgiving. My family has always been supportive of my more artistic fantasies and my sister thought that a blog might be a good outlet for me. You see, I too am a cubicle farmer in a call center. Without question I am not now, nor have I in some time, living up to my potential. Around the same time as my sister's suggestion a co-worker of mine overheard me talking about film with another co-worker and offhandedly commented that "you sound like you should have a blog on film."
And with those two suggestions, a lifetime of film watching, a couple of semesters of film classes and a desire to do something creative, this blog was born. Only I'm beginning to worry about my little project. I realize this is not a flashy site with lots of gossip and pictures of celebrities, but I really thought I might find some other film lovers who would be interested in taking this journey with me. Otherwise this is beginning to feel like I'm just posting my personal journal online and that feels little embarrassing. Then again maybe I'm just getting in my own way.
Get out of your own way! You have something to say, and film is your passion. IQ tests and grades and childhood precociousness create our (and others') expectations of our potential. We are the only ones who are living in our heads though, so find a way to express your passion, even if your employment does not coincide. The only one you owe an explanation to is you. Find a new way to define "potential." At the end of your life, if you are able to say, "I used my abilities for good purposes," then you will have lived a life to be proud of.
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