At the Movies. With your host, Suzie Q

There's something about watching a movie in front of a cinema-sized screen, in a darkened room with my fellow people, that just fills my creative well. It makes me feel like I'm in some kinda giant womb, there in the dark, with nothing to do but be told a big stowy and suck my thumb ... or eat popcorn and a strawberry choc-top. I love the movies. And it's been too long.

There is something about that experience that just wells me up, you know? It feels childlike and magical for me and the creative cogs start turning, and I start getting story ideas. But of course, I have to let them all fly away, which is a luxury all it's own, 'cause I'm in the middle of a stowy and this is all about being fed.

Ahhhhh :)

I especially love it when it's a good Australian movie, which it was tonight: The Black Balloon. A coming-of-age story told from the point of view of Thomas, who is 15 going on 16 and has just met the adorable Jackie at the new school he's started attending after his soldier father is stationed in a new barracks. Thomas has an autistic brother Charlie, and the main thrust of the story is about Thomas coming to terms with the facts of his situation while trying to work his way through that horrid, shitty age where your peers opinions are everything and they're often mean.. The scenes of Thomas in Phys Ed swimming classes brought back to me all the claustrophobia of my own high school experiences, about how much of teenagerhood is just pure embarrassment and shame. YUK! And the burgeoning romance between Thomas and Jackie was so sweet it literally brought tears to my eyes. The movie, in that quintessential Aussie way, highlights the darkness and light of life, full of quirk and a bit of whimsy and twice I thought I was going to burst into tears. It was lovely.

Luke Ford is quite amazing in his performance as the autistic Charlie. Toni Collette is a maestro. Nice to see Eric Thomson on the big screen. No passengers in this movie; accomplished performances all. Great debut from first-time director Elissa Down.




Not the way you wanna get to school when you're 15. Catching a ride on Charlie's special school bus :)