Sunday March 20

Sideways/Million Dollar Baby

Joanna went skiing with friends for the weekend, so I was left alone to contemplate the universe. Finally got up the nerve to do something for the first time: see a movie alone. I walked down to Los Gatos Cinema on Friday night to see Sideways, and enjoyed the experience so much that I went back Saturday night to see Million Dollar Baby.

While walking back from coffee this morning in the rain, it struck me how both movies had very similar themes, with very different interpretations. The lead of each film was a normal person in solitary pursuit of a dream that they hoped to define their life. Million Dollar Baby is about how it feels to achieve that dream, while Sideways looks at how it feels to never get there. Each film ends in a bittersweet way, with one trying to put a positive spin on death, and the other to life as a failure.

I thought Sideways was clearly the superior film. Million Dollar Baby tried to teach us about the meaning of life, while Sideways confronted the reality that life has no meaning. Clint Eastwood made me sit through an hour and a half of predictable Hollywood crap before delivering his message, while Sideways felt fresh from beginning to end.