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2003-08-04 | 12:24 a.m.

corduroy licorice kept falling asleep on the job as a coffee bean bouquet tester at the folger's packing plant. only announcements over the plant's paging system would jar him enough to make him wake up and smell the coffee.

***

i'm a fan of scented lotions. sometimes i smell so good, i want to date myself.

it makes a lot of sense when i think about it. i have so much in common with me. me and i like the same music, food, movies and activities. we have very similar backgrounds and values. oh sure, i get on my nerves sometimes, but aren't relationships about compromise and overcoming the other's flaws to find a deeper bond? scented lotion or self-love potion? you be the judge.

***

two movie reviews:

first, a french film called the housekeeper. i think foreign films and sunday afternoons are a marriage made in heaven, and this was a nice bit of movie mousse to sate my sweet tooth this weekend.

like many french films, it involves bicycles, baguettes and a plot as sheer and sexy as parisian lingerie. as the story goes, a middle-aged man falls for his young missy of a live-in housekeeper. while the story was slim, the acting was subtly superb--especially the lead actor, jean-pierre bacri (also the lead in the taste of others) whose wrinkled brow reticence rang sweetly true.

now for the movie that i really want to rave about: the secret lives of dentists. starring campbell scott and hope davis as dentists who have partnered in their practices and their marriage with mixed results. they have three lovely daughters, a successful business, a rambling house, a mountain cabin and an aching void between them--an untreated cavity, if you will, that neither one is ready to examine.

campbell scott is amazing as the emotionally novocained (sorry, i had to) husband who suspects his wife is having an affair, but doesn't want to face the domino effect that confronting her might set off. hope davis is heartbreaking as a woman who has opera in her soul, but can't find that kind of passion for her family life.

the film was delicately directed by alan rudolph and gorgeously written by craig lucas (adapted from a novella by jane smiley). the dialogue was authentic, touching and often hilarious. speaking of humor, denis leary appears occasionally as a kind of alter ego who pushes campbell's character to change his ineffectual ways and makes snide remarks when he doesn't. the device works nicely. another happy surprise is that even the kids are good little actors.

evidently, campbell scott co-produced this film and has been shepherding the project since 1989. i have a newfound appreciation for him for bringing such a beautifully bittersweet story to the screen.

the secret lives of dentists will definitely appear on my top ten of 2003 list. in other words, i smell oscar!

in addition to loving the film, i really enjoyed what my favorite movie reviewer mike d'angelo had to say about it in his mini-review.

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take a peek at these - (c) 2000-2003 nictate:

health tip
2005-03-16

health tip
2005-03-16

moving house
2004-11-19

quibbling with quitherfeather
2004-11-17

catcher in the wry
2004-11-16