Little Miss Sunshine

Last night I went to see a movie. I had to get the nanny to baby-sit so I could go to yoga, so I decided to make an evening of it and go see a movie afterwards.

I went to see Little Miss Sunshine, at Cinema Nouveau, which is where nearly all my favourite movies screen. What a gem of a movie it was! I loved it. I gasped, laughed out loud, cringed and smiled.

The official movie site and trailer etc are here.

It's hard to describe it, and actually make it sound worth watching, because the synopsis sounds as if it should be awful: a terribly dysfunctional family is forced by circumstance to travel across the country at short notice in an old beat up VW bus, to get the young daughter to the finals of the Little Miss Sunshine pageant'. Vomit - right?

Well it could have been awful, but instead it is brilliantly clever, subtle and really heart warming in the end. Much of the meaning, humour and message is unspoken, and there are some quite hilarious moments, although it is at times heart wrenchingly tragic. Go see it if you get a chance, you won't be disappointed.

"Little Miss Sunshine is an American family road comedy that shatters the mold. Brazenly satirical and yet deeply human, the film introduces audiences to one of the most endearingly fractured families in recent cinema history: the Hoovers, whose trip to a pre-pubescent beauty pageant results not only in comic mayhem but in death, transformation and a moving look at the surprising rewards of being losers in a winning-crazed culture."