21 January 2005
benny and joon
we watched one of my all-time favorite movies last night - benny and joon. it has a super young johnny depp in it, aidan quinn, mary stuart masterson, and julianne moore. mary stuary masterson, who plays joon, is mentally ill; she falls for quirky sam, played by johnny, who is a nutcase and a clown for other reasons (he makes grilled cheese sandwiches by ironing them, and mashed potatoes by whacking the cooked potato with a tennis racket....). together, they somehow manage to function. depp's character thinks he is the next buster keaton, or wants to be, and has a pretty incredible set of acting stunts in the movie that are cute and quirky. charming, cute, good music. including "i will walk 500 miles", a song which i like quite a bit.
i saw it the first time in 1994 (it came out in 1993 in the US, but it took longer in Germany); i was 17, out in berlin. the movie was showing late, at 11 pm or so, and we were allowed to go, my friend and i. a) i felt awfully grownup going that late at night. b) i remember we walked down the ku'dam afterwards, at night, enjoing the sights and sounds of berlin. c) i remember seeing an older couple in front of us, making out. which bugged me. movie romance was fine, but seeing it in person? please, get a hotel room. d) the movie theatre was empty, but still, being germany, we had assigned seats. i think the big thing was: i felt grown up, going to a late showing of a movie, and, because it was a good movie, the night stands out for me.
some quotes from it (damn, i really am enamored with this flick):
Sam: Why don't you like raisins?
Joon: Well, they taste sweet, but really they're just humiliated grapes.
Joon: He can really cook, can't he?
Benny: Yeah, although for grilled cheese, I might use the wool setting.
Joon: That's what I told him.
Benny: Really? What did he use?
Joon: Rayon. Silk would have been too soggy. Cotton would have...
Benny: Would have burned it.
Joon: Right. Fortunately, he consulted me before giving it steam. I was four square against it.
later gaters. time for some grilled cheese! :)
dandlioneyes at 10:53 am