Fall, with its increasing darkness, can be a rough emotional ride. Feeling and expressing what you feel is extra important—and movies can help.
Here are two movies you’ll love.
Neither are new, so it might be “movies you’ve loved and will love again!”
Movies You’ll Love #1:
The first movie is one I’ve written about before: Departures.
2009 Best Foreign Language Film Oscar Winner, it is a quiet but deeply satisfying film delving into that seldom spoken of subject: Death.
Death and Laughter
Full of humor as well as fodder for tears, I especially like the way it captures the unique healing these “undertakers” (preparers of the deceased for the coffin) provide.
Watching Departures again was especially rich because a friend of mine is doing grief work workshops—and the movie reinforced what she talks about. It’s only through grieving deeply that we can be released once again into joy.
It’s only through acknowledging the guarantee of death that we can live and love fully—no holds barred.
The script is excellent, acting top notch, the soundtrack exquisite.
Watch Departures if your heart is in need of more ease.
It may well launch you into a much-needed cry—one that leaves your spirits lighter, and your heart more at peace.
Movies You’ll Love #2:
The second movie is an old one that I had never seen before: Ball of Fire starring Gary Cooper and a very young Barbara Stanwyck. (I’ve seen her in westerns where she is tough-as-nails like Bette Davis, but never as a singing show girl, and never this young!)
The charm of this movie is the contrast of these two characters. Gary Cooper is playing one of his super-innocent, upright, well-spoken and oblivious roles (think Mr. Deeds Goes to Town.) while Barbara is the girlfriend of a mobster.
Feel-Good Happy Ending
Of course it’s a love story, with one of those feel-good happy endings! In this day and age, a “clean” movie like this one, full of snappy dialogue and a list of accomplished actors, both starring and character roles, is rare.
Watch Ball of Fire when your heart is ready for a fun frolic!
Coach’s Challenge:
Take your self-care seriously, and line your entertainment up to release emotions. Try these two movies you’ll love. Cry, laugh, and you’ll feel lighter.
