Isabel Coixet, Isabel Coixet, I must remember that name. I didn’t remember before, and she directed Talk to Her. I’d of thought I’d remember . . . truth is, it’s seldom I remember a great many names and titles these days.
I am certain I rented The Secret Life of Words for the wrong reasons unless simply loving words is cause enough. I’m also certain that I thought it was going to be a Will Short sort of documentary with interesting takes on crossword puzzle people or Scrabble fanatics or Spelling Bee participants. What a surprise to find what I found. After watching Tim Robbins and Sarah Polley and others play out their roles in a dismal factory and then on an oil rig, I checked out existing reviews; I wanted to know if the impact the movie had on me had worked to similar effect on others. Apparently, a few found the work as worthy as I do, but the majority found it “slow” and the characters “unbelieveable” or was it “unconvincing.” Personally, I applaud the director’s choice to slow down the events and allow the mudlike existence of the main character, Hannah, to become less screen role-ish and more real. There is a perfection to this timing, this slow (and almost strangled) re-emergence into some semblance of living again. I really don’t know how to write movie reviews at all, but I wanted to share with anyone who might stumble upon this blog that The Secret Life of Words is so worth watching IF you are into movies that enter your mind and occupy it with lives and how they are lived. I am always blown away by people valuing people — and that happens in this flick.
lynn doiron writes 