The Cranes Are Flying

One of the nice things about living in Hawai‘i nowadays is the cable channels that don't take the time difference between the Islands and the Mainland into account.

Back when Kim was a kid, even the big three networks shows had to arrive by ship or plane, and so they got everything late. Of course CNN and the bigger networks are all live, with adjusted schedules, but some of the smaller ones aren't. I see the time discrepancy as a plus, and here's why.

I put the kids to bed the other night around 8:30-8:45...the usual time and then did something very rare for me. Turned on the TV. I'm so out of the habit of watching TV, I don't have a favorite show (last show I followed was the first season of 24), I just use the TV for dvd's and video games (a ps2 on semipermanent loan from iamnotasurfer).

So if I were on the mainland cruising around the Turner Classic movies or AMC channels after the kids bedtime, I'd probably see the more mainstream black and whites, and the foreign movies would be coming on at 3:00 a.m. ready for your tivo.

Well, those are exactly the movies that are on after J & L hit the sack.

So I stumbled across "The Cranes Are Flying". Insanely great movie about a young Russian couple separated by WWII. Made in the late 1950's during the Khrushchev thaw, a nominee for best foreign film Oscar, Winner of the Cannes Palme d'or. Beautiful cinematography, great acting, even cool special effects for a deeply personal drama. If you are looking to fill out your Netflix queue, this is a great one.