The "No Sticks" Season

In the movie business there’s the pre- Oscar season with all of the pre-Oscar parties, and the pre-Oscar rutting and promotional planting; this is a good time for movies. Then there’s the Oscar season itself and it floats into view like the monsoon’s with a torrent of last minute hopefuls strewn among those already expectant contenders. Afterwards, there’s what I call the “No Sticks” season. That’s the time when, if “good” movies were sticks you wouldn’t be able to find two to rub together to make enough friction to warm up a box-office, let alone set one on fire. We are in the “no-stick” season, so I dedicate this column to one of my favorite genre’s.

Magical realism is that quality in films that has to do with the concept of “heightened reality” or another dimension of reality that is visualized through the use of symbolic or metaphoric structure. This term, coined in 1949 by Alejo Carpentier as the “lo real maravilloso,” means “The Marvelous Reality,” and the Cuban historian meant reality as if viewed through the eyes of a child.

Maybe it was my early indoctrination into literary classics like the Jungle Book, or The Cremation of Sam McGee, or possibly it was the story about three, house building pigs trying to out-wit a wolf. Whatever it was, I grew up with an enjoyment of stories that use heightened reality or magical realism, and I tend to gravitate to those films that fill this need. Often, when I talk about this, people are suspicious that I am speaking about movies that only children would be interested in. They are surprised when I mention some of the classics, both current and past that they, themselves have found entertaining and enjoyable. Here are some of my favorites, and I’ll wager there are some listed that you have seen yet may not have considered the conveyance of magical realism.

The Adventures of Barron von Munchausen - It’s A Wonderful Life - American Beauty- Like Water For Chocolate - Amelie - Lost Horizon - Bagdad Cafe - Magnolia - Big Fish - The Milagro Beanfield War - Brazil - Naked Lunch - The Butcher Boy - The Never Ending Story - Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - O Brother, Where Art Thou? - Chocolat - Once Upon A Time In Mexico - Cinema Paradiso - Queen of Hearts - Contact - Red Violin - Dead Man - Roxanne - Donnie Darko - Saca Una Foto - Edward Scissorhands - Singing In The Rain - El Norte - The Secret of Roan Inish - Eve’s Bayou - Spirited Away - Field of Dreams - Tiempo de Morir - Frieda - Unstrung Heros - Great Expectations - What Dreams May Come - Whale Rider

Surprised? A number of these are classic standards and offer those moments of heightened reality that we know float around waiting to happen; sometimes they happen right on the screen in front of us. If you enjoy this kind of movie almost any one of the above films is a good bet that can be found at the local video store. Pick one up on the way home, and you can begin your adventure into magical realism tonight