Bad Blogger, Bad Blogger!

I'm sorry I have not been posting as much lately. I have been excruciatingly busy and I apologize.

So I had the opportunity to watch Little MIss Sunshine a couple of days ago. What an absolute gem of a film. It swept the SAG Awards the other day and I believe it is a strong Best Picture candidate for the Oscars. Everything about this small independent film shines. Abigail Breslin plays Olive, a young, awkward girl who dreams of being a young beauty queen. Her dysfunctional family includes her father and an unsuccessful motivational speaker (Greg Kinnear), her all too honest and overtaxed mother (Toni Collette), her brother (Paul Danno) who has taken a vow of silence and not spoken in nearly a year, her gay uncle who has just been released from a psychiatric facility after trying to kill himself (Steve Carell of The Office), and her paternal grandfather (Alan Arkin) who is biting in his criticism of others and fighting his own demons.

The film follows the story of Olive, who is given the chance to compete in a beauty pageant in California. The family does not have the money to fly from their home in New Mexico, thus they embark on a trouble filled journey in the family's aging yellow VW Vanagon. The dialogue of the film is smart, fresh, and believable. The casting of the film is genius and each actor seems to own their character with such certainty and authenticity. I have followed the career of Toni Collette with particular interest since seeing Muriel's Wedding many years ago and she never disappoints, always bringing 110 percent to everything she does. Finally, the set design of this film deserves a special note of praise. Perhaps I appreciated it because it reminded me of places where I have grown up and visited, but everything from the dining room scene at the beginning of the film (complete with bad cabinets and Formica flooring) straight through to the beauty pageant scenes at the end of the film embody a reality that is seldom seen in film. If this picture wins multiple awards, it will continue a trend in Hollywood to award smaller less expensive films that are truly the voice of film today.

If you have not had the chance to see this film, rent it today! You will thoroughly enjoy every moment of it.

Cuidate all.