ohbloodyhell8

I caught the last hour or so of Kramer vs Kramer tonight.  Good Lord.  The movie came out in 1979 and I’ve watched it I don’t know how many times yet still it makes me CRY LIKE A BABY!

Dustin Hoffman is so amazing in this movie.  The scene in the park when he tells Billy that he’s so lucky because he gets to go live with Mommy breaks my heart.  When Billy asks if he’ll still kiss him goodnight and he says he won’t be able to do that anymore.  Tears, down the side of my face.  Then the scene when they make breakfast and they show how they got a routine with the french toast…sob fest.

Joanna as she comes to pick Billy up and she says how she should have painted clouds in Billy’s room so he would feel like he was home…”I realized he already is home”.  The smile on Ted’s face that peaks through Joanna’s hair as she says she’s not going to take him is awesome.

This movie struck such a chord in the country at the time and it stuck with me for decades.  Divorce was becoming common at the time but to have the child be with the father was groundbreaking.  The court testimony was so riveting, still is.  When Ted wonders why mothers are naturally better…why can’t a father do all of that.  Anyway, he says it better.  He had a script.  Both performances, and Billy’s performance, were wonderfully nuanced.  It is one of my favorite movies, but I do tend to only watch it when I need a good cry.

I love that oxymoron.  There is such truth in it.  Sometimes you just really need to cry.  I could use a good cry tonight, but I came into the movie so late I only wept a little.  I could throw in another tearjerker (Terms of Endearment anyone?) and bawl my eyes out.  Or I could fold laundry.  That could make me cry too!

I realized watching Kramer vs Kramer tonight that this may be where I developed the habit of painting murals on bedroom walls.  Why not use the walls in your house as space for art?  Might as well enjoy the space you are living in each day.  And like Ted and Billy, I love french toast for breakfast.

Might go look for another movie.  A tearjerker.  Have myself a good cry.