There is something in a film that can speak to inherent prettiness. I’m not talking about an explicitly of any kind, but rather a kind of ….. general goodness. Something that everyone can relate to because it’s a human beauty.

Here is a list of films that I feel provoke that feeling, maybe in a vessel of melancholy or humor, but after some thought with the end result that of purity. You know I love to get philosophical, so I’ll define that kind of purity as beauty. Each interpretation is my own and without consulting anyone else’s, so let me know if you think something different.

In no particular order, here are the relatively recent films I believe inspire individual beauty. I also find the colors and presentation in all these movies to be arrestingly pretty.

There are so many from past to present so I’m just sticking to the last few years and indies so there’s more likelihood of them not having been seen.

-Lars and the Real Girl: What is more beautiful than a community collectively appreciating what it is to be a flawed human? The comical relief is essential to the digestible nature of a film otherwise very easily seen as weird ….. And yet to feel for Lars is so natural. His plight become’s everyone’s plight and weird becomes normal, acceptable and even endearing.

-Little Miss Sunshine: This movie already got a ton of press, awards, etc but I wanted to include it because I really love it. This movie is about dreams. It’s about those dreams meeting reality and in that intersection there is family. There are those who have your back and are the makers or supporters of those dreams, wherever they may go and whether they want to or not.

-Amelie: This film changed my life. I thought it to be filled with such beauty, that I could hardly believe it. Must be my favorite of all time. I feel it’s about finding your passion, or enjoying your passions, whether it be coin collecting, polka dancing or cat petting. It’s about finding that unique passion in others and maybe contributing a little where you can to help bring happiness. It’s about the little things that conspire to beauty.

-Stranger Than Fiction: This movie is about goodness. That’s it. That’s what it’s about. I keep writing more, and then deleting it, so I’m just going to leave it at that.

-Juno: I got to see this with my nieces, which I value to be a special theater-going experience. It’s so amusingly poignant on the issues of love, life, and sacrifice. And how all are the same thing really. And how to embrace that. I cried. My nieces cried. But we laughed too ….. we laughed and cried together and even my husband and brother thought it was pretty good.

-The Station Agent: I’d like to say this is about tolerance, but not in the racial, religious etc. way. More in the learning to be patient way, with ourselves and with other each other, and being open to what we might find, for better or worse.

-Buffalo 66: Sometimes all you need it someone who believes in you. I have a John Lennon song ringing in my head ….. like an Old Navy ad at Christmas time which is very aggravating. Anyway,  the characters in this film are very quirky and flawed. But I love the message, it’s pretty powerful in it’s simplicity. This is the ‘darkest’ of the choices so if you’re sensitive to that it may not be the best. 

I think all these movies make you feel better about the possibilities in yourself and others, and generally make for a pretty good-looking life.  Take yourself home for a date on the couch and see what results you get; it is cheaper than a facial.