Pas de Joie Cinema

Welcome to Pas de Joie Cinema where I will unapologetically comment on films that are without joy, challenge or kill your joy, or maybe just suck the joy right out of you.

Some time ago, I sat with a group of people and talked over dinner about opening an actual place that showed only these kind of films and that had a comfort food concession stand. People knew not to take me too seriously, of course, since most of these “projects” just go on in my head. But we did have fun with it.

One friend suggested that the logo be of someone in the fetal position and that I, a psychotherapist, consider offering exit counseling. There was talk of Lars von Trier and Atom Egoyan marathons, a dark comedy night, and there was a seemingly endless list of joyless cinema favorites over the course of the meal. The list manifested something like this:

Dinner guest: “Hey, what about ‘Last Exit to BROOOKLLYYYNNN?'”

Rest of table: “Uuuhhhhhrrrrrggghh….”

Another dinner guest: “Yeah, put that on the list.”

And so began the concept.

Well, I can’t afford to open a cinema and have not had the wherewithal to propose a Pas de Joie night somewhere. Not to mention, of all the people I’ve told about this, I can count on one hand the number who said, “Yeah! I’d go!” Go figure. It’s cool because I realize that what I most like to do is talk about films that have impressed me in this way.

When I was getting my degree, one way in which to explore concepts in human behavior was to diagnose characters in films. I earned a bunch of “A”s and found the process exciting. Which is great, considering that I’ll be paying for that degree for the rest of my natural goddamned life. But I digress into personal pas de joie.

So, here I am, joining the 21st century by becoming one with the blogosphere. Lemme tell you a little of what you might expect.

1. Film synopsis with spoiler alerts.

2. Une Èchelle Pas de Joie or scale of joylessness from 0 – 10 for each film along with the corresponding comfort food one might consider to ameliorate the situation.

3. An opportunity for you to share that punched-in-the-guts feeling you got from the film in question and to be met with sympathy from me and anyone else who might be reading.

I’m new at this, so all kinds of things may come and go because change is inevitable. Does that make you sad? Awww. So, once again, welcome and I do thank you for reading and thank you in advance for your good-natured participation.

XO,

Scylla666