and then Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring (again). This was definitely an upgrade over the hastily-chosen “Death and the Maiden”. It had been a busy week, and being wracked with indecision (as I often am, when it comes to movie selection), I thought it would be simple to show a tense, Polanski thriller… after all,  Roman’s been in the news again, and several of you have been asking for a retrospective of sorts. I recalled having watched Maiden a few years ago, and although a vaguely unpleasant feeling accompanied that recollection, I attributed it to being a Polanski. Aren’t his movies supposed to make us uncomfortable? The reviewers were absolutely polarized by the film: Roger Ebert hated it and Time Out loved it, for example. That pairing of critiques usually makes for a great MovieNight selection.

Anyway… while doing a screen/sound check on Wednesday evening, we got drawn into watching the film about half way through, and I remembered clearly why I hadn’t felt comfortable with it the first time around. It was adapted from a play (as was the previous week’s feature) and the dialogue seemed stilted – the performances over the top, especially that of Ms. Weaver.

Although one shouldn’t expect every MovieNight selection to be chock full of laughs, there should at least be something to smile about. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring delivered plenty of smiles.