Miss Potter: Chris Noonan, director. Do you know the Tale of Peter Rabbit? "Once upon a time there were 4 little rabbits and their names were Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail and Peter...Don't go into Mr McGregor's garden." You might end up as rabbit stew or rabbit pie, right? At the Embarcadero Cinema, I met a smart mom Laura & her 7-year old, bespectacled, daughter Sophia. We chatted about a scene in Robert De Niro's film, The Good Shepherd among the nearly sold-out crowd here to see this wonderful "little" biopic based on the life of Beatrix Potter (1866-1943) Sophia sat bleary-eyed & ate her popcorn. Question to supermom: Did she remember the Joe Pesci as neurotic, Italian mobster (what else could he possibly play?) scene in Miami where he is hired gun to counterintelligence chief Matt Damon character (Edward Wilson). The exchange is bound to rattle a few heads. "The Italians have family & Catholicism, the Irish has homeland, the Jews have tradition, and the n#$%(n-word) have music. What do you have, Edward? WE WERE HERE FIRST, AND ALL OF YOU ARE JUST VISITORS."
In Miss Potter, Renee Zellweger, plays the iconic, strong-willed spinster who created a series of books that are beloved today as 100 years ago. They have NEVER gone out of print. Beatrix swam again the tide, with great strength in a time when most women of her class (they are actually "parvenus") were looking for a good marriage. Emily Watson plays another dowdy spinster -- sister to publisher friend (Warne). They both agree men are useful for 2 reasons. "1) financial support; and 2) procreation."
Miss Potter has no friends, except for the animals who come alive in her imagination and are actually animated, jump off the parchment. Sophia, seated next to me, was nonplussed & a little confused, or so her mother intimated after the film.
Protocol forbids me giving away the ending to this somewhat sad tale. Suffice to say, it's a weepie. Men actually weep, or so we've been told by Zellweger. Did I? Yes, but not because of conventional reasons. The Weinstein brothers production could have had more intensity, conflict, drama. It's is not their usual fare! Caveat emptor! Instead it's a cut above a tv-biopic production: melodramatic mush about how one woman handles the loss of a loved one & retreats into her art & nature? Will it break her or make her stronger? I'd say wait for the video to find out
Fusio (www.fusio.com) Embarcadero One. Home of the original firecracker port fusilli, a ginger-braised pork firecaracker-hot habanero pesto & sour cream -- heat & flavor snap! crackle! pop! Come here to savor the world from Thai to Italian, one forkful at a time. Satisfying salads for the global set. Try the Chinese Chicken Salad or grilled Wild Salmon. Gabe, our waiter, a 10-year transplant from New Hampshire, looked exhausted but came alive when he talked about his other gig: rock-guitarist/teacher at Paul Green School of Rock on Geary & Mason. The kids at the school are very enthusiastic. He lives for Sonic Youth & his favorite guitarist is Keith Richards. Drop in sometime and ask for Gabe, a gracious and sensitive waitperson.
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Huntington Square. Met Garrison Keillor looking craggy-faced & folksy in long Black coat & red scarf.
Cold as a witch's tit, I said. Sorry for the paganism! I love your Prairie Home Companion, I said, but oh! the Altman movie...
What did you think? he asked.
It's at the bottom of my top-10 2006 list but I think it does not live up to the great Altman oeuvre.
We exchanged a little laughter. (I had remembered his words, "People have tried and they have tried, but sex is not better than sweet corn.") Corn may be out of season but never "corniness" as only Keillor knows how to dish it out!
He was enjoying the sparkling sun & enjoying the family outing with his young wife and daughter, who was looking quite like a cute, toothy rabbit. Dinner at the Huntington Big Four Restaurant opposite the park. Hardly the time of year for sweet country corn but a great place to spot a celebrity in San Francisco!
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