Over the course of 2020 and 2021, I watched at least one movie every day. I did this for me. I did this to challenge myself to start the year with a somewhat ambitious, but achievable goal. But in the process, I found that there were days where something positive happened to me even on the worst of moments.
So, I went into 2022 with the goal of continuing to spread joy. But also adding the additional goal of watching movies more consciously and purposefully. So here I am to tell you about some of the best things I watched each month in order to help give you something to look forward to, something to think about or just something to help brighten your day.
This is how I found a Little Joy in March.
I watched at least one movie every day in March. I documented 31 of those movies. 22 of those documented I had never seen before.
These were the 3 I found the most joy in.
1. Blue Valentine
Blue Valentine is by no means an easy movie to watch. But the simple story and emotionally driven characters keep this movie compelling throughout its difficult story and exhausting subject matter. Both Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams shine as they explore some of the ugliest sides of a relationship and contrast their own performances across two different times and two different states of existence.
2. Full Metal Jacket
Stanley Kubrick’s Semi-satirical war movie is such a brutal reminder of just how flawed the American Military Machine can be. By breaking the movie into two parts, both equally brutal for wildly different reasons, the movie just hits you in the face with its horrifying portrayals and mostly irredeemable characters. By the end of the movie you just don’t even know who to root for and what makes that even more broken is just how much that seems to be true today.
3. Belfast
This was my favorite of the Best Picture nominees from the Oscars this year. It’s perspective on The Troubles and how they unfold within Belfast are simultaneously naïvely hopeful and brutally traumatizing. To watch the way in which a child’s life is quickly ripped out from under him through circumstances beyond his control speaks of a timeless and continuous reality that we need to work harder to prevent. And the whole piece is backed up by brilliant writing and direction from Sir Kenneth Branagh.
And that is how I found a Little Joy in March.
Let me know a moment you found some joy last month. And as always thanks for taking some time to get Ploominated!
Ploominate 