This movie is my perfect romance movie. Sexy, smart, and ultimately more about coming into your own than changing for someone else. (See also: Cuban Fury, another entry on The List) I love this movie so much I can even forgive the trope of breaking/cutting/chopping the heel off a shoe to make it a flat. (It Does Not Work That Way.)
I remember this VHS in our house my entire childhood but I don't remember when I first saw it. It was forbidden. Sexy, violent, and with a healthy smattering of drug use, it wasn't going to fly. I probably watched it on cable in high school and promptly bought the DVD when I got to college.
This is a movie that I will stop whatever I'm doing if I see it on TV/streaming channel and watch it. So many vacations have been punctuated with half-viewings of Romancing the Stone because that's what was on cable (what a treat!) and it never disappoints. I've seen it many many times but this is the first time I really related to Joan Wilder as a human. It's astonishing to me that the movie makes me think of glamorous sex-bomb Kathleen Turner, "she's just like me!" The very fact that this film is so dear to me just highlights what so many other entries have illustrated: I have spent my life pining after adventure. Joan Wilder is a bookish nobody who insists on pulling her beautiful, thick hair into sad little buns while she writes the sweeping stories she wishes she was living. That she believes that this journey is well beyond her abilities and she goes anyways really hit me this time. She keeps plodding along even when she's exhausted and beaten and eventually she blossoms into the capable, adventurous soul she always was. Golly that sounds so trite when I write it out but it's a testament to Turner and Zemeckis that they make it work. I am so invested in Joan succeeding as a human. And, as someone who spent the better part of 30 years fighting my big, curly hair tooth and nail, it is really affecting to watch her journey play out in her hair. Letting it down, letting it be wavy and voluminous. It honestly brought a tear to my eye. The ultimate goal, I'm realizing, is to stay true to my romantic, earnest, and intelligent self, but learning how to let my hair down and cross those scary bridges. Even when I fall a bit.
This might be, to my mind, Robert Zemeckis' best work. If only because it is so lacking in technical spectacle and the story rings true and is fun even without his usual bells and whistles. Romancing the Stone proves that he doesn't need that crutch and I wish we saw that more often in his work.
Another banger of a score from Alan Silvestri. I never tire of this score and I was amused by how many musical cues Ben and I remembered/called out as we watched. That's how well we know this movie and how perfect the music is. Specifically the synth percussion that hits the moment before Joan throws the switchblade and the saxophone that swells as the Angelina comes into view at the end. So good.
I have infinite fondness for the character of Juan. So earnestly excited to meet his favorite author. He reads her books out loud to his thugs! He's so proud of his family and community! Just love all of that.
Thinking about this movie all week, I keep coming back to what a cinnamon roll Jack is. I guess I always assumed he was lying to Joan at the hotel but now I realize it was earnest and... well that's lovely. There are so many surprising little details in this movie for (forgive me, Mr. Zemeckis) being a romance directed by a man. Jack's vulnerability and devotion to the dream of his boat. That with Joan's hair story, we never get the sexy-letting-down-her-hair moment that's such a trope. She shifts her hair off camera which gives it extra agency, to me. It's not a performance for the audience/camera lens. It's a shift she needs/wants to do. It's lovely.
Acrylic on MDF/Digital
"The Bus to Cartagena"
Takeaways:
-I had such high hopes for this one. I know it's not bad, but it's not the classic romance cover I wanted it to be. It is (understatement) such a bummer that my joke chickens turned out so much better than my Kathleen Turner (who looks more like Kelly McGillis or Cybil Shepherd - not bad by any stretch, but not who I was going for).
-I liked painting on the MDF instead of canvas but the added step of priming is a strike against it. I continue to love acrylic paint, though. Couldn't have salvaged this as much as I did without it.
-Despite having a really clear idea for this, I took too long to figure out what the layout was so I really struggled with that. Many thanks to Ben for being a late in the game photo reference. No one makes a better Joan Wilder than you, my Love.
-I'm grateful that my eye is getting good enough that I can see where the problems were, so I can correct them, but I lost so much steam on this when I realized on Thursday morning (when I thought I was almost done) that I needed to redo 40% of Joan's figure. Really disheartening.
I hope you have a great week. I know the world is just... a lot. It's a lot right now. Maybe it always has been. And if you are having a hard time keeping your head up, I am right there with you. Take a couple hours, let your hair down, watch a movie that lifts your spirits, and then get back out there and fight the good fight. We can't do it without you.
In that vein, next week's movie is a doozy. The 4.5 hour epic, Gettysburg. What in the heck am I going to make for that? We'll find out together, I guess.