Unwritten

I'm inspired by a girl. The one on TV. Watching the Natasha Bedingfield video for "Unwritten" was far more enriching than the two films I had watched earlier in the day, Red Eye and Match Point, both worthy efforts but far less invigorating than young Miss Bedingfield's ode to life yet to be lived.

I've often gone to Borders to preview her album before heading to my dead-end part time job to lift my spirits, "These Words" providing an especially jubilant lift, the words being "I love you, I love you, I love you", sung with absolute sincerity and joy. The transcendence of pop music sure can be transcendent sometimes.

For the films, I preferred Red Eye for the details. The disgusted look from a stewardess as Cillian makes an arch comment, the complicity of a young girl sealed with a glance, the discomfort of McAdams as she decides to flirt with Cillian, and the seamless narrative that pays off every set up: the wallet, the pen, the book, the boat, the girl. Each introduced organically as a natural part of a character's life, highlighted unobtrusively, and then utilized satisfyingly in the story. It's craft, and I like it. It was also surprisingly brutal and Rachel was looking lovely.

Match Point also attracted me by its narrative, very clean and well-executed but without the attention to detail of the plane movie. It's also far less acute as far as human behavior goes, each character fulfilling their role in the plot without adding any eccentric detail or warmth. But it sustained itself nicely story-wise, proceeded logically, was crisply shot, and had a nice shirt-ripping scene. A solid work that I will forget completely in the next few minutes, while Natasha's optimism and rhythm will carry me for weeks. She also had great make-up in the video.