Did that get your attention? Don’t get your hopes up. Because I’m pretty sure you’re not thinking what I’m thinking. I’m thinking about how good it feels to relax into a good, thought-provoking, well-scripted, well-acted movie. I’m thinking how happy my brain is with me, when I’ve done such.

And my brain is very happy with me tonight as I gave it sex twice, meaning I watched–count ’em–two movies of “erudite value” (aka artsy fartsy). And there was considerable foreplay, as I’ve been meaning to see these two movies for a very long time. And I do think I heard my brain sigh upon completion.

With the snow I’ve been hoping for finally arriving on the first day of spring, I took the day off and settled in front of the fireplace to watch Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle followed by The Elephant Man. And I had a simply delicious time. As I said, my brain is now sated and happy…ready to get on to the pedestrian matters of everyday life. Me? I found the films so interesting that I want to know more. Which means another book-buying binge is around the corner. But it’s what I live for. I’m not complaining.

Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle is, of course, about writer and poet Dorothy Parker (the Maureen Dowd of the Roaring Twenties) and the notorious Algonquin Round Table of which she was the most famous member. The movie, while starring Jennifer Jason Leigh in the title role, is more of an ensemble piece as there were so many writing luminaries who were a part of that group or at least made an appearance now and then. Miss Leigh studied recordings of Dorothy Parker’s voice in preparation for the role, and it is fascinating to hear her and the rest of her sharp-tongued and quick-witted literary coterie exchange banter.

Directed by David Lynch of Twin Peaks fame and filmed in black and white, The Elephant Man chronicles the relationship between Dr. Frederick Treeves (Anthony Hopkins) and the tragically deformed and terminally ill John Merrick (John Hurt). That Treeves is presented as an ambiguous character–empathizing with Merrick, yet gaining fame in the medical community due to their association–lends a lot of credibility to the truth of this movie. The cinematography is breathtaking, the muted blacks and greys emphasizing the industrial revolution that was taking place in England at the time.

In other words: Two Thumbs Up!

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