Resolution of the New Year resolution

I was watching King Kong when it hit me. But first, some background. I have an amazing marriage—six years later we still agree on all the big issues (money, parents, values, priorities) but the small things? Forget it. Suffice it to say that every time the husband goes out of town I get a cultural transfusion.

I do three things like they’re going out of style: listen to the soundtrack of Baiju Bawra at full volume (he likes jazz and classic rock, I do too but old Hindi music is in my blood), party in noisy places with old friends and watch a movie a day on DVD. I’ve only been alone to the theatre once (Bad Education, Almodovar, May 2005), but somehow when I’m watching a DVD at home I don’t care if I don’t have anyone to turn to and say, ‘‘Brilliant’’.

So, anyway, I’m watching Peter Jackson’s gorgeous ape juggle three T-Rexes and one Naomi Watts. Kong makes a late appearance—the first hour of the movie is a grim sketch of showbiz in New York during the Great Depression. And I think how odd that these days even mainstream $200 million-plus whoppers like King Kong and Harry Potter are dark movies. Note to myself: Must learn to appreciate happy endings.

And, suddenly, I want to keep track of all the good movies I see during the year. And all the random thoughts that flit through my head when I see these movies.

Like how Paul Haggis’ attempt to explore race in America in 2005’s ‘important film’ Crash can never hope to disturb me as much as a Spike Lee movie. Or how, by the time he made The 400 Blows, the sexy Francois Truffaut had seen 3,000 movies. And whether Jim Jarmusch should have ended Broken Flowers the way he did? Or (after Dark Water) when Hollywood will give up trying to remake Hideo Nakata films?

So that’s what I’m going to do in the new year. Keep a movie diary. And since I want it to be something I can keep revisiting, I’ll try to stick to the best ones. So no more Neal ‘n’ Nikki in the new year. Let’s see if I can make this one work.