Whenever I see a movie, I secretly think I could have done it better.
I’ve never made a movie, nor have I ever acted or even held a movie camera, and yet I really think that.
I’ve yet to walk away from any film not thinking I would have played all the parts better, male and female, or that I would have done the make up and hair more accurately, picked a more character appropriate wardrobe and fiddled with the lighting just a bit more until everyone looked a little prettier.
While brushing those little leftover bits of popcorn from my lap I always find myself shaking my head and chuckling as I imagine all the silly running back and forth that must have gone on to make whatever film I just saw, knowing I could easily make an entire movie in one take.
But that’s all changed now that I saw Melissa Leo’s white boots in “The Fighter.” There is nothing I could say that could possibly prepare you for the genius you are about to witness when you go see this movie and watch that foul woman, Alice Ward, walk up the stairs in a pair of white pleather boots. Forget the perfect pitch of Leo's (Alice's) accent and hairstyle, or the way she sits there impaling her lungs with one cigarette after another mimicking the toxicity of her mothering. Forget the fact that Chritian Bale is not a real crack addict or that Marky Mark walks around with that body attached to his neck the whole time or any of the other marvels that are this film. Melissa Leo’s boots have mastered the art of story telling in a way that I actually heard my heart rip when I saw them.
I never thought I would say these words, but I could not have done this one better.
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