Brothers and Sisters

After two and a half weeks in Vancouver, my brother returning to the snowy scapes of our nation's capital. To mark the occasion, I watched The Savages, an old movie with two of my favourite actors, Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Linney and Hoffman play siblings Wendy and Jon confronted with the task of caring for their dementia-addled father after his girlfriend passes. Jon is a Brecht scholar and Wendy is a office temp and a playwright at night. Though director and screenwriter Tamara Jenkins keeps it light, this is a sad movie. I would not recommend it for any other reason than the stellar performances or if you're looking for a slice of life. I would rather watch movies for escapism. That's just how I'm feeling these days.

In the literary section, I'm reading Marie Brenner's memoir Apples and Oranges, which charts another difficult brother/sister relationship. Carl Brenner is a fruit farmer and Marie Brenner is a journalist for Vanity Fair and the New York Times Magazine. The Brenners have impressive pedigree - their aunt was a friend of Diego Rivera, Edward Weston and Tina Modotti, and published writer - but their family history is fraught with tensions between siblings. Brenner asks if these relationships are hereditary.

To be continued...