Popcorn, Etc. | No. 28
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Ho ho ho!!!
It’s Christmastime. I love it. November was…not kind to me. Covid plus other errant stressors made for a kind of a constant tightness in my chest but I am finally feeling in the clear (cue piano falling on me from a great height). We trimmed the tree last night, put up all of our festive decorations, and I lit my little pine candle. Joy to the world, etc.
The virus is still oh-so-around, so please be cautious and healthy. I took myself to some matinees last week and I’m glad to report the theaters were nearly empty (apologies to movie theater operators, may your businesses be thriving).
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Now, the movies! Here’s what I’ve been viewing, both in-theater and on-couch:
Allison pulled up EDWARD SCISSORHANDS last week as a selection for a not-Christmas Christmas-Movie, if that makes sense. I think that category includes movies that are not as overt in their cheer as, say, A CHRISTMAS STORY, but contain some level of thematic or aesthetic Christmasness. I’d put CAROL in this batch. DIE HARD was in this category but it seems to have risen to full Christmas-Movie status in the last however many years. What else? Do share in the comments. Anyways. As a child, I was terrified not only of Edward Scissorhands but of all Tim Burton creations. NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS caused me many…nightmares. I know I had seen Edward Scissorhands but the only impact it made on me was one of horror. I had to put a lot of trust in Alli the other night. But OOF! Was I glad I did. What a gorgeous, moving film. And how telling that for years I’d avoided it because of how scared I was, when the movie is so about choosing love and acceptance over fear. The cast is brilliant, and it made me sad that we have lost Johnny Depp’s thoughtfulness and invention to whatever fresh type of monster he has become in his older age. Dianne Wiest is a life-affirming Avon lady and Winona Ryder is our beautiful and angsty proxy, falling in love with Edward as she dances under his ice sculpture snow. Lovely and powerful, not to mention aesthetically perfect. Tim Burton, I beg you, leave the CGI behind! Return to these striking, minimalist roots!
And last night we settled in for WHITE CHRISTMAS. (Full disclosure we still have twenty minutes left because I’m a widdle waby and need my sweep). We were charmed and wooed by Danny Kaye, Bing Crosby, Vera Ellen, and Rosemary Clooney as they sang and danced their post-war Vermont fairy tale. ….And then we were deeply trouble and confused to see the “minstrel show” scene which I had completely forgotten about..?!?! A quick Google led me to this piece from the Mary Sue, which parses through Irving Berlin’s history of racist songwriting, and the ways in which the producers of White Christmas deemed the reworkings and re-uses of these songs and performances less problematic than the originals. And here’s one from the Philadelphia Inquirer, further contextualizing minstrel and blackface in American pop culture. It was pretty jarring to watch something that was so obviously, overtly racist and then read about how it was in fact made in the era as an anti-racist choice. May it motivate myself and other white people to make the biggest strides possible. What I had also forgotten but very much enjoyed was the “Choreography” piece, a hilarious Martha Graham send-up.
I had a spare afternoon last Wednesday and hopped on the bus to see HOUSE OF GUCCI, which…lol. I was hoping for at least a “campy” “romp” but instead it’s a pretty boring, baffling, and ridiculous thing. So many amazing actors doing so many different accents and behaving as if they are all in completely different movies. What is Jared Leto’s deal? Like if I were his co-worker and he showed up to work just like, “I’m gonna do me,” regardless of it affecting everybody else’s ability to do their job, oh man, I’d be so pissed, and yet he keeps getting cast in things. This all said, I gotta say, I thought Gaga was pretty great (even if her Italian accent was definitely….???!? not Italian??? Maybe Romanian??? What is an Estonian accent???? Was it that…??!).
Lo and behold the free afternoons just kept coming last week! Erin and I met up for a noon-time SPENCER. I have not seen anything else from Pablo Larrain but I feel now that I must. I had neutral expectations here and I left in a bit of a stunned state, completely haunted and moved by Kristen Stewart’s performance and the expert telling of a what is essentially a study of love trying to win out against rampant abuse, bullying, and hurt. Kristen Stewart spends much of the movie Kristen Stewart-ing, looking askance and holding her arms and biting her cheeks, but its done to great effect, building a rich image of a woman underwater, unable to express anything at all, with no home anywhere, not even in her own body. Sally Hawkins brings warmth as Princess Diana’s loving dresser. The costumes are brilliant, Jonny Greenwood’s score unsettling and free-wheeling. It’s a not a biopic, it’s a psychological thriller, and in that, a moving look at illness and entrapment and love.
Now for the culinary portion of the evening.
If you don’t feel like purchasing the aforementioned pine candle, might I suggest bringing holiday smells into your home through a different channel? I made this spiced simple syrup last night and it filled the apartment with festivity. I’m looking forward to using it in a cocktail, but I suspect it would also be lovely over ice cream, to amp up hot cocoa, or drizzled on a cozy bowl of buttered oatmeal.
Spiced Syrup
6 inch piece of ginger
2 cinnamon sticks
4 whole cloves
4 whole black peppercorns
3/4 cup sugar
5 whole cardamom pods, lightly crushed
Peel the ginger and grate using the large holes of a box grater. Put this grated ginger, plus cinnamon sticks, cloves, and peppercorns in a small saucepan with 1 1/2 cups of water. Bring to a boil then set at a low simmer for about 20 minutes, until the liquid has reduced by half and it is very fragrant.
Add the sugar and cardamom pods and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Let cool completely, then strain and save for whatever! This should keep well in the fridge for a couple weeks, in other words, until New Year’s :) .
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Happy holidays, see you next week!
Nina
I consider all the Harry Potter movies Christmas movies, but particularly 1-3! Also, oddly enough, Bend it like Beckham??