Skip to main content

Life as a House - Review

Revisited this movie because there was nothing else in the library to rent.  Sometimes the decision is made for us.  This was a good one.  The movie I mean.

It came back to me - the last time I saw it was probably when both the cast and myself were much younger - 10 years younger but the story still resonated.

It revolves around an out of work architect who is dying of cancer and decides to fulfill a wish to build his own house (that it overlooks a bluff facing the Pacific makes for some nice scenery - I could not have watched his punk kid with paint and metal on his face without that addition).

The parallels or metaphors of building his house and his once married life back from the crumbled state it is in are played out well with Kevin Kline and Kristen Scott in lead roles.  Other typical Americanisms of A sleeps with B and B sleeps with C then A finds out she really wants to sleep with C are added for extra entertainment.

Protagonist is a stoic man in his mid forties who has fallen prey to seemingly mindless and monotonous work to earn a living.   He is a creative mind but has not found a way to make life enjoyable in all aspects of work and family.  Ultimately he dies of cancer but through some last minute fortitude he is able to pull his fragmented family back together and see the dream house stand up by the ocean.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Back in DC

This time for a tech conference in the realm of what else? AI. But applied to an oft neglected space called Knowledge Management. The latter is a community of practice that focuses on analyzing, organizing and making available reams of data that have been gathered over time by various functions within an organization for anyone in the company to utilize. This function or process is ripe for applying AI agents (or agentic AI framework) and optimize for better outcomes. It was informative. More rewarding was getting acquainted with folks who practice this craft as well as learning of what they see in the corporate or public sectors. Since the venue was Washington DC it also afforded me the chance to take evening strolls albeit the weather was trying. With wind chill in the single digit it still is a glamorous place to perambulate through history absorbing what this country has been through since its founding days. I was able to visit the place Lincoln was killed along with his monument t...
Post a Comment
Read more

Costa Rica

 Our first foray into Central America. That elongated isthmus that forms the geographic boundary between two vast continents of North and South America. Specifically landing for NYE 2026 in San Jose, Costa Rica. Capital city for this region that does not have its own army, instead relying on its big bro the Estados Unidos to the north is a metropolis of approx. 500K people. Largely wilderness and with both a Pacific and Carribean/Atlantic coast the country is rich in bio diversity. In Spanish it means the rich coast so named by Columbus landing in early 16th century and being mesmerized by the local tribes sporting gold jewelry.   Our stay included visiting the foothills of a large strato volcano called Arenal and enjoying the naturally heated thermal baths for a while.  Lunching amidst lush forest and watching indigenous species of avian noise makers fly overhead. Toucans, some sort of pea hens, multiple song bird species completed the spectacle. Iguanas and a lonel...
Post a Comment
Read more

Charges attract

It is said that opposites attract meaning people with contrary viewpoint sometimes find chemistry to be together.  But I'm referring to a modern twist where people are merely attracted towards a common place because their uber communication device aka smart phone is about to die.  The charging station. From airports to hotel lobbies or even bathrooms, when in need they are attracted to this power outlet like moths to a flame or a junkie to a needle. A whole new business of supplying these hyper connected folks is now born whose lifesaver product is a backup charge. Asian tourists perpetually carry a phone sized battery pack stuck to their latest Apple phone updating their status to folks in Hong Kong or Shanghai or Bangalore as they pose for selfies with weird facial expressions and fingers pointed out in a letter V. Vain? PS:  I dis'charged' my blogger duties making this insightful observation as my phone is about to breathe it's last and my flight gets call...
2 comments
Read more