Whatever Works

I wonder occasionally why I want to spend my efforts messing up perfectly good photographs. It takes a lot of time. But an old hotel seems to call for a certain mood. I don't know. There are many roads to nowhere and we can take only so many. Some more than others, sure. Perhaps it is wrong-headed to subscribe to the "journey, not the destination" philosophy. Perhaps the destination is what matters. We will remember Obama, but what about Ron Paul?

Speaking of Paul, I saw "Bruno" the other night. It is not a good movie, but Paul is certainly the loser in it. I don't know that he can overcome the image he portrays there.

Last night, I went to see the new Woody Allen film "Whatever Works." I went expecting to be disappointed. The reviews I read said the movie was flawed and mediocre. Maybe having low expectations helped, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. The critics don't like it when Allen pairs an older man and a younger woman. But it is truly funny. The old guy is no hero, just a pathetic schlemiel who deals with fate, fatalism, and self-delusion. Think Chaucer's "The Miller's Tale." The movie resounds with one of Allen's favorite themes--Luck. There is no big plan, he suggests, so take the small morsels of happiness wherever you can find them. He is talking to himself, obviously, but it is fun to listen in.

The movie is made for a small audience, so I won't recommend it. We walked into the theater at then end of the previews and were the only two there. Just before the movie began, a woman walked in alone. And that was it, just the three of us. Most people wouldn't like the movie, I know, but I don't like the films that most people like either, so there's that. As Allen says, whatever works.