Is It a Wonderful Life, Really?

I'll have to admit that the next pairing is likely to be a moody one, but I find it philosophically fascinating. It's a Wonderful Life and Donnie Darko. Obviously the second movie is informed by the older film, and so I would suggest watching Donnie Darko as the 2nd feature. Both of these films are reflections on what the world would be like without the main character. They are both meditations on the impact of one person's life--they are both about the struggle to understand your place in the world and what life is all about. And despite the holiday kitsch associated with the one and the pretentious teen angst associated with the other, I find them both to be profoundly human, profoundly moving. They make me think about my life--and that may not always leave me happy, but it makes me want to be a better person, and in that regard I think they make a great pairing for a night of contemplation. Not exactly a cheery evening, but not dark and bitter, either. Not really. Because these two films are all about how it's impossible to really know (outside of a miraculous disruption of the space/time continuum) what the measure of a person really is--and that happiness is what you get when you're doing your best to make a better world in the little ways that you can. And that's a good thing to think about now and then. I would suggest trying this pairing with buffalo burgers (with blue cheese crumbles) and a milkshake.