Two-Movie Tuesday: The Hold Over the Moon
Sometimes working through our grief means escaping from this cold, hard world, if only for a little while; sometimes it means learning how to embrace the warmth already here.
The Holdovers (2023)
The world is a bitter and complicated place filled with death, loneliness, and mental illness, but movies as simply and softly constructed as this (no hard scene cuts here, only long cross fade exhales) make it a little less so, for a warm, unhurried moment. A perfect Christmas punch blend of heartfelt relationship and character arcs (see the final handshake), tasteful and authentic drama, and spikes of cheeky, profane humour to keep it grounded. Wonderful performances and music throughout.
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Over the Moon (2020)
Not everything lands (the bunny romance is pointless) but overall it’s beautiful: the (terrestrial) cultural landscape is refreshing, the mixture of mysticism and metaphor on the moon is fascinating (love that the question of its scientific reality goes unaddressed; I like the mommy explanation best too), and Fei Fei’s emotional journey through grief to love across both planes is poignantly told from tear-jerking early montage to “I want my sister!” to family dinner around the mooncake table.
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Here’s to family, to eating together, and to being held when we’re sad.