It’s the 349th Day of January

(Or January 2024 and what I watched.)

Meryl Streep and Shirley Maclaine in Postcards from the Edge (1990). Photo: Screenshot.

The first movie I watched this year was Postcards from the Edge, Mike Nichols’ adaptation of Carrie Fisher’s book of the same name. I love this movie a stupid amount; I can recite 97% of it by heart. There’s prickly relationship between mother (Shirley MacLaine) and daughter (Meryl Streep) that only becomes thornier when the daughter leaves rehab and has to stay with the mother. It is consciously about “the industry,” but stuffed with enough visual gags and inside jokes to not be self-consciously about “the industry.” It’s rounded out with a half-dozen lovingly lived-in supporting performances: Dennis Quaid as a dreamy himbo, CCH Pounder as a harsh-but-fair AA sponsor, Gene Hackman as a taciturn director who only barks orders, Annette Bening saying “endolphins.” (It’s a brilliant little line reading, and also Annette Bening’s first film performance!) I have always been impressed by this one particul…