Lock Yourself in Weekend: See the World From Your Couch

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No passport? Fear customs? Couldn’t take a week off to go on vacation this summer? Watch some movies and see the world from your living room…

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Yes, its a musical about drag queens but its also a hilarious road movie starring Hugo Weaving, Guy Pearce, and Terrance Stamp that shows some of the most breathtaking views of the Australia Outback.  Weaving stars as a Sidney drag queen who takes his friends (Stamp and Peace) on a trip to perform their act at a hotel and allow Weaving to meet his son.  Riding in their old bus Priscilla, they eventually meet a small-twon but open minded mechanic (Bill Hunter) who joins them.  The movie doesn’t shy away from issues like AIDS, hate crimes, and LGBT families, but the cult movie keeps the energy up and is laugh out loud funny with remarkable performances by the four leads.  And the elaborately staged musical numbers in the mountains and desert are a cinematic wonder.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MV-Zzasrky8

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Richard Linklater’s romantic drama starring Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy as an American-traveler and French student who ride a train from Budapest to Vienna and walk around the city all night, talking about life, love, and philosphy.  Knowing they’ll bid farewell by morning, they find themselves being more honest with one another than they’ve been with anyone else.  Turning the city into a romantic fantasy, they wander the streets, go to the Wiener Risenrad Ferris Wheel at sunset, the donaukanal at midnight, and flirt at a cafe.  One of Linklater’s most enduring films (he’s revisited the characters in two other films), it is considered one of the most romantic films made during the improv/indie 90s, but also turns Vienna into a city with a magical romantic energy that rivals Paris.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9v6X-Dytlko

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Oil magnate Felix Harper (Burt Lancaster) sends top executive Mac (Peter Reigert) to a small coastal town in Scotland to buy a top piece of land for drilling.  His mission is to negotiate the sale of the town and most of the town people want to sell, but then Mac see’s the town’s beauty (including the ability to see the northern lights from the beach) he can’t stand the idea of turning the land into an oil refinery.  Fortunately there are a few hold-outs who prevent the sale and brings Harper to the town to finalize the negotiations.  The Scottish town created on film (using one for the town scenes and one for the beach sequences) will make you want to move to Scotland, open a little inn and hang out at the beach waiting for that magical view of the Northern Lights.  “Called a small film to treasure” by Ebert, It is also a smart comedy, insightful, and includes a score by Dire Straits leader Mark Knopfler.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4WQZbGMrl4

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Aging movie star Bob Harris (Oscar nominee Bill Murray) is filming commercials in Tokyo when he meets Charlotte (Scarlett  Johnson) the young wife of a photographer in the hotel bar.  Both unsure of their marriages, they begin bonding over being strangers in a strange land.  Sophia Coppola’s breakthrough film as an auteur (earning multiple Oscar nominations and winning best screenplay), the movie not only tells the story of an unusual friendship with whimsical sadness, it also explores the cultural differences of a city obsessed with American pop culture despite having its own beauty and traditions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sU0oZsqeG_s

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5.  Canada:  One Week (2008)

Possibly the best of Woody Allen’s current European tour movies, the sexy movie about polyamorous affairs stars Penelope Cruz, Rebecca Hall, Scarlett Johanson, and Javier Bardem.  Using the seductive beauty of Spain to show Bardem’s ability to seduce these three different women, and the energy of the city of Barcelona compared to the relaxed beauty of Oviedo are direct comparisions to the personalities of Christina (Scarlette Johanson) and Vicki (Rebecca Hall). And Cruz has never been more fun and charming then when playing Bardem’s crazy ex-wife who just can’t seem to get over him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39PuFOTjtk8

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And speaking of polyamorous affairs, the controversal Mexican road movie is like an artistic version of a teenage boy’s ultimate fantasy.  Two bored best friends (Diego Luna and Gael García Bernal) are left alone for the summer by their girlfriends and meet a beautiful older Spanish woman (Maribel Verdú) who agrees to go on a road trip with the two boys to find a mythical beach.  Although they initially each try to seduce her, she has her own sexual fantasies abou the two boys.  With an incredible (almost) overbearing soundtrack of Spanish and Spanish influenced music, the cinematography of the Mexican coast, beaches, and coves makes the movie an intoxicating experience.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Qg6n7V3kO4

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