I haven't watched many movies lately, so I thought it was interesting that I chose 3 movies that had startling similarities.
"Secretary," an American romantic comedy. Sort of.
"Audition," a Japanese horror flick. Sort of.
"Lust/Caution," a Chinese spy thriller. Sort of.
Different genres, different countries, different languages, different casts.
All are about young women and middle-aged men. Very pretty young women, but not movie stars, not glamorous. And the men are average-looking and really just kind of creepy. Well, Tony Leung is handsome, but definitely creepy here.
All have a strong role-playing theme.
Do these movies validate or repudiate middle-aged man/young woman pairings?
How do they develop the natural sexual attraction into the cognitive drama of romance?
Have the women all been robbed of identity, subordinated by male fantasy?
More importantly, why did I choose them? A prurient interest in erotic violence?
Note to older men: this is not an invitation for you to hit on me. Sorry.

"Freakish garbage phoenix"

I'm thinking of going to see "Brazil" tonight at the La Jolla Village theater.