serious seventies

his serious face.

date night:  argo & communal

argo, wherein ben affleck has his serious face on and his chest hair grown back in.

the story's compelling, but the film's a mess.  i spent most of it wondering a) if affleck was going to smile or if his character development/ acting technique was going to rest entirely on a lack of smiling and b) what artificial obstacles the script would construct to create artificial suspense and c) how many avacado-colored corded phones, televisions with faux-wood panelling, and typewriters the props master would pull from the warehouse (or where ever it is hollywood keeps it's '70's furniture.) i predicted all  answers accurately, though i won't give them away in case you want to see the film.  this is just to say that argo, while based on the really interesting true story of six foreign service workers who escape iran in 1979 by posing as a film crew, relies too much on faux suspense, underdeveloped characters, and too many references to '70's culture, just in case we forgot that star wars was popular, tom brokaw was on the news and young, dudes had long hair and ugly glasses, and people could smoke on planes.  there were some really good moments, particularly with alan arkin and john goodman, who rarely makes a misstep in anything.  and i will say that, even though i knew the suspenseful moments had been sorely trumped up, my palms were still sweating and i was pretty engaged throughout the entire film.

even during it's eternal denouement.

oh, and speaking of chicks, i'm trying to decide if this film passes the bechdel test.  this test asks the question: does the film have two female characters 1) with names and 2) who talk to each other about something other than a male love interest?

i guess i would have to say argo passes, just barely, because the canadian ambassador's wife, named flora, talks to her housekeeper, named sahara, about the six americans hiding in the embassy.  I believe they each have one line of dialogue in the scene.

after argo, we stopped by communal for dessert.  we had some cheese, a nice french cheese and a sheep cheese, with honey, cherry preserves, and bread.  they were out of the squash gingerbread with creme anglaise, which is what i really wanted, so we had a valhrona chocolate lava cake.  the cheese was delicious and the cake was pretty good, but i expect a lot more than pretty good at communal.

legwear:  black tights

inspiration:  cherry preserves

looking forward: to writing my paper tomorrow so i can stop worrying about it