Still "Dancing with the Birds"

Hello AGAIN!

I am taking this day off as a mental health day and am doing my best to write AS MANY OF THE THINGS as I possibly can and oh man I'm loving it.  I have missed having the time, energy, and cognitive ability to write these last few months as deep parenting-induced sleep deprivation set in, but thanks to Husband, sleep training, a Child who is responsive to sleep training, and my ability to set my own schedule, I actually have all three of those crucial ingredients at the same time!

This is not the first, nor do I suspect will it be the last, rewatching post.  But the workhorse movies that can be watched over and over deserve to be celebrated for the immense amount of emotional labor they do (this also goes to the TV shows that tolerate being heavily rewatched).

Lately our first Child has gotten back into watching "Dancing with the Birds" (2019), and I am here to declare emphatically that this movie is a precious gem and I insist that everyone watches it.

I know I'm going to risk repeating myself, but seriously: this movie is gentle, beautiful, sweet, child-friendly, AND educational.  What more can we ask for in these trying times?

Lately, I've been particularly appreciating: 

• The subtleties of the masterful music choices to accompany each bird.  The lilting guitar as the flame bowerbird begins his courtship dance and the castanets as his dance gains confidence?  The crescendo of horns while the lance-tailed manakin does his perch bounces?  The swing in the music as the superb bird of paradise prances in his semicircle around his would-be mate?  Every second is perfection!

• The cute disgruntled noises made by the jilted Guianan cock-of-the-rock who over and over again is not chosen.

• The confident, matter-of-fact, and inquisitive female birds, and especially the building enthusiasm of the female lance-tailed manakin as she dances in response to the male.

• The ability of the final scene of the Carola's parotia dancing to T. Rex's "Cosmic Dancer" to still destroy me.  Every damn time!  It is so good!!

What an amazing feat to make a film that is so infinitely charming, and whose details continue to enfold the more you watch it.  This is such a jewel of a movie.  It still gets an enthusiastic 5.

{Heart}