40 Shades of Blue - The Movie

Have you ever had the experience when you watch a movie...and your house (the one you are watching the movie from and actually live in) is the set?

I went 30 years and 4 months living free of this...until Tuesday night.

#dwh2 is the primary set for the Ira Sachs movie "Forty Shades of Blue" filmed right here in Memphis in 2004. I tried to speculate what the movie was about prior to reading the blurb...but I'll spare you my interpretation and let you read it yourself....

"As James is a legend in Memphis, a white man who produced black music back in the 60s and 70s, the heyday of Memphis Soul. Now in his later years, hes still living the high life in a comfortable house in the right part of town. He lives with his girlfriend, Laura, a Russian beauty whom he met on tour in Moscow. Laura spends most of her time alone, raising their three-year-old son, Sam. A stranger in Memphis, she lives a comfortable but alienated life. Alan also has a grown-up son, Michael, with whom he has a complicated relationship fuelled by jealousy, disappointment and anger. When Michael returns home for the first time in many years the initial hostility he radiates towards his fathers girl develops into something much more, and a messy, dangerous affair ensues. In the bars and bedrooms of this very contemporary city, a love triangle forms, illuminating the hearts and souls of these three tangled lives."

The movie was the 2005 Sundance Film Festival Grand Prize winner and nomimated at various other film festivals that year.

This movie is for sure an acquired taste what with the plot line and all, but I was glad to see a movie filmed in Memphis that was free from violence, drugs, and legal activity. It seems as though movies like Hustle & Flow, Black Snake Moan, The Rainmaker, The Firm, The Client to name a few were full of scandal and legal conversation, and police officers.  (Which many people believe to be the nature of the city.) I am pleased to report that this movie didn't have a single police officer or arrest scene in it.

When we were looking at the house before purchase, we found out that a movie was filmed here but I thought perhaps it was just a single scene. As we were moving into the house, I was unpacking china in one of the cupboards and rolled up on the actual movie script. VERY FASCINATING!

While many of the interior rooms have stayed the same there have been some changes. The exterior is now a different color and the landscaping around the house is quite different. For example, we have a different fence. This was very obvious to us as we watched many of the outdoor scenes. The kitchen and breakfast room are the same, in fact our refrigerator is in the movie! (yes this dates our appliances...they're old) The living room and all of the original brown wood paneling is still the same. The blue bathroom is the same. The bathroom that Laura, the main character, uses in several scenes...what is now Geoff's bathroom, has different wallpaper, as does the master bedroom. Several rooms were repainted. In the little boy's room, there is an exposed brick wall. I knew it was there but it was fun to see what it actually looks like. At one point this room too had brown wood paneling and has since been dry walled and painted pink stripes. (I love.)

I highly recommend the movie. It was excellent.

It is for sure a piece of art and not that of a blockbuster with all of it's loud and flashy bells and whistles. It's an Indie film...it was at Sundance for Pete's sake....

It examines and exposes real live behaviors that probably do in fact happen within families. Many people probably found it to be slow. Instead of slow, I found it to be conceptually rich.
It's taken me 2 days to unpack all of the underlined themes and relationships.  Making connections is a key in this movie. Also, knowing the lifestyle climate in Memphis, I found this movie to be even more amazing. Actually...I suspect being in the space the movie was filmed is in contributes to my contemplation and further examination of the movie. I'm putting away clothes in the very closets, and closing doors in the same rooms. My perspective of this movie is going to be different...always.


to see stills from the movie click here then click on 40 Shades of Blue.
And...P.S. the music playing during the stills is a good representation of the movie's tone.

7 Days - 20 Photos

On Friday night, Handsome hid under the blue velvet couch in the sunroom

On Saturday, I went to see "The Help" with Katherine, Elizabeth, and Ellen. 

Seeing this movie just up the road from Jackson, MS 

in Memphis was really something. 

It looked an awful lot like my new 'ville. 

New Tervis Tumblers for the Dow Wards. 

Though our wedding day was nearing 6 years ago, it's still like a honeymoon. 

I'm addicted...get over it.

Something to celebrate with friends and drinks...

On Sunday my friend, Elizabeth graduated from The University of Memphis magna cum from the university honors college.  Yes, I like being around extra smart people who have good things to say. 

Hi...this is me in my Warby Parker glasses. 

They're awesome. 

An orange velvet chair in my co workers office. 

A late breakfast/lunch on my desk at work.

Don't worry, more food followed. 

Straws, like that of Kate Spade.  

A demi bev after work on Monday.

I'm loving our house. 

I switched lampshades. 

Orange silk for white parchment. 

This shade is silver on the inside, shhhh don't tell. 

You can see a little bit of the silver undercoat from this perspective. 

Elvis' vigil was on Monday.

Something to put on the ol' bucket list. 

A new Elle Decor arrived this week. 

That's always exciting. 

Lunch on Wednesday. 

Yum...Lean Cuisine

A Kate Spade print on the side table next to my desk. 

Can't forget my love for this guy. 

He's Handsome!

Now for the biggest event of the week...

My friends Melissa and Scott had a baby on Monday!

Welcome Clarabella!

This week was has flown by with not many words, just pictures. 

The weekend is nearly here! 

Take some pictures. 

Wall Street 2

Wall Street: 2

Did you know that this movie made over $19 Million this weekend? Yeah, that's kind of amazing.  Not nearly as much money as they were waging over in the movie, but none the less not to shabby for the box office.

The Canadian and I have been making plans for weeks to go see this movie.  In the final stages of preparation this week we checked out what theaters the movie would be playing at in the Memphis area. We have two "go to" theaters, The Paradiso and Studio on the Square.  As it would happen, it was playing at neither.  (Why, can you tell me?)  My handy IPhone App told me that it was playing at 3 theaters in town.  Long story short, we went to ALL 3 of them!  Seriously.  The first theater we went to, in Memphis off of Summer was to be at approximately 2:30.  We showed up, not playing at that theater.
So we went to on to option #2, even further from our burrow of town.  Arrived to that theater for a 3:45 showing and the theater absolutely REEKED! Awful.  Miserable.  Perhaps worst smell you could imagine. The theater seats were so yucky, I was almost afraid to sit my own self down in the chair.  After "checking" in on my Facebook app we decided immediately to get out of Dodge.  We were able to get a ticket refund and back to the parking lot we went with sore noses to try to reroute our plans.
Now on to option #3...27 miles from option #2. We had 37 minutes to get there.  ON the road we go, and to the theater we arrive. Finally, a theater that was playing the movie, and actually smelled like a movie theater. Success.  All of this happened even before the movie started, I was starting to think perhaps it wasn't meant to be.

On an unrelated subject, one of the most difficult things about being on this medical study is going out in public.  That sounds weird but it is very true.  The temptations of eating/drinking items off of my dietitian preselected list is very difficult.  The movie theater was perhaps the worst possible place to go.  The smell of movie theater popcorn is absolutely excruciating. But after the wild goose chase, our arrival at the theater only allowed us time to find our seats, no time to stand in a line.  (Thanks be to God.)

On to the movie.

I ABSOLUTELY LOVED THIS MOVIE.
END OF STORY.

Here is one of the reasons why....

In the opening scene of the movie you see Carey Mulligan in Shia LaBeouf's fabulous NYC penthouse apartment.  I must admit seeing this apartment made my heart beat a little faster. This fabulous character (the apartment) had many good scenes during the movie...all of which I loved despite what was actually happening in the movie plot. Am I a home decor junky? Yup. All the way.

The photos of this beautiful apartment are from an article based on the real estate listing.  "What, let me grab my checkbook" you say....yes the apartment has recently been up for grabs.  If you plan to purchase this love nest with over 3300 sq. feet (on the first floor alone) of luxury living space.  You're going to need that $19 mill raked in from opening weekend to make that check good!

(Images via Google search)