Bytowne Cinema - Please Give

I am guessing it is mostly foodies who read the blogs of other foodies. And one might wonder if foodies 'do' anything else other than food. And, perhaps, although we like to say we aren't food snobs, to anyone watching our lives from the outside, our food snob colour may appear to be painted pretty bright.

But for even the most die-hard foodie, surely there is life beyond the end of our fork.

Well I am here to tell you that I think that this is true of me. Skeptics unite! I can tell you with faithful honesty that I do make things as 'regular and everyday' as rice krispie squares and I make them as the recipe is specifically written on the box. Well, first be wowed that I would be so 'regular and everyday' in my choice of quick lunchbox treats. But no fancy modifications? It's true. Me, who has a life beyond the end of a fork, loves plain rice krispie squares. And in fact the last time I made them, I ended my day at a lecture at Carleton University on quantum physics. The award winning documentary movie The Quantum Tamers was being premiered here in Ottawa by the University of Waterloo's Perimeter Institute. So I do have a life. Okay, I may not ever do that quantum physics thing again, because that was pretty heady, but I will make more rice krispie squares. My life beyond the end of the fork does consist of many other things and one of those is going out to see a really great movie.



This is quite a lead in just to say that if you get the chance to slip down to the Bytowne Cinema to see Please Give, I think you just might like it. I am a bit of a Rebecca Hall fan (Frost/Nixon and Vicky Cristina Barcelona), although the lead in this film is actually Oscar-nominated (Capote and Being John Malkovich) Catherine Keener. It is just a touching everyday life flick about a NYC couple and their 91-year-old neighbour and her two single granddaughters. They each have their own stories but so too do their lives intersect. The grandmother's directness (something I have learned is just part of the physiological evolution of aging) garners the most laughs. The boy population in the audience this evening was aplenty so there are many who would agree that it is not a chick flick. The 86 minutes move very quickly. The movie is in town until Thursday.

(And if this really needs to be a blog entry about food, the Bytowne has popcorn like no other.)

Have you seen any really good movies lately?

Bytowne Cinema
325 Rideau Street
Ottawa, Ontario