EARLY SUMMER (1951)

Twenty-eight year-old Noriko lives in a nice house with her extended family which includes her mother and father, her brother, his wife and their two children.  Their days are totally normal: school, work, household chores, enjoying each others company.  It's pretty much a perfect life, but still her family and friends are worried about Noriko not being able to find a suitable husband.  Noriko's not worried though.  She's very happy in her current situation and doesn't seem to care if she ever gets married.

That is a very simplified version of the story, but unfortunately I have a very simplified brain.  I would love to be able to write long elegant paragraphs filled with beautiful sentences in the style of Flannery O'Connor or John Steinbeck that would create a tear in the corner of your eye, but sadly my little-bitty brain just can't do it.  So instead I'll simply say that EARLY SUMMER is one of the most beautiful films I've ever seen.  In every aspect it is perfect and I feel blessed that I have been able to enjoy it so many times over the years.

My highest recommendation.

THE SLAMMIN' SALMON (2009)

Another excellent comedy by the five-man comedy group Broken Lizard.  This time around the entire movie takes place inside a restaurant called The Slammin' Salmon, named after the owner: retired heavyweight boxer "Slammin" Cleon Salmon. Anyway, Mr. Salmon has lost a bet with the Japanese yukaza and he has to come up with $20,000 cash by tomorrow. So he offers his wait staff a reward of $10,000 to the person who can sell the most that night.  The loser gets a beating. When the wait staff hears this they go nuts and will do anything to win...or, at least, not lose.

This is a great idea for a movie and minus all the crude humor it actually reminds me a lot of the old screwball comedies of the 1930's.  Super-fast pace, mile a minute dialogue, multiple things going on at one time, hilarious one-liners non-stop, great physical humor and a fantastic supporting cast.  The most pleasant surprise though was just how funny Michael Clarke Duncan was.  He was hilarious!  I think every time he was on screen I was cracking up.  His lines were funny, but his delivery was absolutely perfect.

I really like this movie a lot and have enjoyed it many times over the years.  Highly recommended.