Sessions

Deb 10      Me 10

I remember seeing Whats Eating Gilbert Grape and there was a kid with mental issues and I was sure he wasn't acting; too good. Then there was Diving Bell and Butterfly and Rainman that portrayed disabilities very convincingly. Add this to that list. This movie has a guy with polio and the prosthetics and make up, the general and specific demeanor are really incredible. You think this is just a polio victim with the skills of De Niro.

The guy needs to get laid and follows the advice of his Father friend and gets a sex therapist. This is played by Helen Hunt who also does a great job. Now I'm not shy about celebrating skin in movies. I'd much rather see skin than blood and sadly, most of the time one is brutally destroyed so the other can flow out onto the screen. Here it was the way it oughtta be. Good healthy skin being used for the way it oughtta be used. They don't shy away from skin here and I think it the way movies should go.

Ahh, but the movie. I like a story worth telling told well. This was excellent. It has promoted days of conversation about client/therapist relations, about awareness of handicapped people as just regular folk, about religion, the value of friendships, all kinds of great little sub-topics have come up that were touched on in the film. And most of the time we are commenting on how well handled they are in the movie. Often there was a set-ups for typical Hollywood cliches but they were completely avoided. Whatta relief. Icing on the cake is that is is based an a true story which caters to my biographic leanings. Like Juno and Lars and the Real Girl it is filled with positive people in what would normally be a negative environment. Put more of that in the movies.