Of late I've been into "vignette" movies more than anything else -- movies that are focused on capturing a few days or a few weeks in a character's life, which never have the impossible-fairy-tale-ending or the catastrophic tear-jerking moments, but rather boast of the quiet joys and small sorrows of everyday life. I like to see realistic characters with their quirks, to understand their daily struggles and the minor issues people deal with every day-- to fall in love with a character rather than a plot, to weep and celebrate for the small triumphs and tragedies with a few ordinary characters in the brutal honesty/ humility of normalcy. The slower pace of these types of movies, the simplicity of their scenes bring me close like a zoomed-in lens and I have to hold so still and rapt to get a sharp, beautiful picture, where each statement could be loaded with hidden meaning, and every scene cloaked with artistic beauty.



I had a set of posters once called "quiet beauty" -- a series of muted soft-lit photographs of flowers, vases, grapes, and I hung them on my wall because they were soothing and reminded me of the natural grace and calm present within simplicity. Isn't it amazing, that no matter where you are, in what area of the world, there is beauty? That beauty does not lie in just one specialized locale on the globe that we have to pilgrimage to in order to partake? Something I tend to take for granted.

It's not easy to do the right thing, neither is it always right to do the easy thing.

And so we hang on, clutching at what we can and hanging on with all our might........