About the Author
Tasha Cotter is the author of That Bird Your Heart (Finishing Line Press) and Some Churches (Gold Wake Press). A graduate of the University of Kentucky and the Bluegrass Writers Studio, her work has appeared in or is forthcoming in NANO Fiction, Verse Daily, The Rumpus, and elsewhere. You can find her online at www.tashacotter.com or on twitter @TashCotter.
She has also provided us with a lovely list of her top ten movies!
TOP 10 MOVIES
First! A word of caution on this list!
I don’t actually watch a LOT of movies! I’m more of a Hulu/ sitcom binge watcher (I’m a long-time devotee of shows like 30 Rock, Parks and Recreation, and The West Wing) BUT I’m gonna give this my best shot. Here we go…
The Talented Mr. Ripley -- This is hands-down one of the best movies, ever. I’m dead serious. The casting is perfect: Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Matt Damon. Based on the Patricia Highsmith novel, the movie takes place in New York and Italy. It’s gorgeous to watch and I absolutely love watching Ripley turn and turn until he becomes this murderous monster, no longer recognizable to anyone. Not even himself.
Little Women -- Because I’m a die-hard fan of the book, it was only natural that I would fall in love with the movie -- and nothing beats the Winona Ryder version, btw. In my mind, Jo March will always look like Winona Ryder and Laurie will always be Christian Bale. This movie brought the book to life in such a great way for me.
Christmas Vacation -- This movie is something my family watches Every. Single. Christmas. At least once. Some people like Will Ferrell’s Elf, some are all about It’s a Wonderful Life….I’ve always loved this movie. I like to laugh, what can I say? Chevy Chase is at his best. My favorite character? Cousin Eddie, of course.
The Royal Tenenbaums -- This movie took a while to grow on me, but the more I see it, the more I love it. I just love Wes Anderson movies, in general (it was hard not to include Moonrise Kingdom on this list). There’s something about his use of color and cinematography that just appeals to me. I love the narrative of this movie and I came to adore these characters. Anderson infuses them with whimsy and comedic charm. I can’t resist.
Amelie -- I immediately loved this movie when it was first assigned to me in a college french class. I think I was spellbound by the bright colors, dazzling cinematography, but more than anything, by the narrative. It’s the story of a woman who ultimately decides to do something daring with her unremarkable life. What’s the movie about? It’s about how life will surprise you. It’s about destiny. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that Montmartre is the setting for such a dream-like story.
High Fidelity -- I’m a big Nick Hornby fan and so when I found out about this movie, I had to see it right away -- I loved the book. I thought John Cusack was the perfect Rob Gordon. He’s an underdog. He’s an anti-hero. I loved how the story follows a guy who was obsessed by music and how he’s writing about his top 5 break-ups (including the one in-progress). And then there’s Jack Black! Is there anything better than when Jack Black performs on stage? I don’t think so.
Lost in Translation -- I knew this movie was special the first time I saw it. I generally really, really like Sofia Coppola movies. They’re artistic. They’re gorgeous. And they also go deep within whatever world they’re inhabiting (and BONUS: there’s usually a terrific soundtrack). For me, the magic of this movie is in the casting: Scarlett Johansson and Bill Murray are perfect together, set adrift in their own lives, finding themselves there and not there, together, in Tokyo.
Jurassic Park -- I was only nine years old when this movie came out, but it changed my life. It really, really did. I saw it multiple times in the theatre and then begged my parents to let me get the VHS. I was always a science nerd in school. I shopped at the Discovery Channel store. (I actually owned a t-shirt displaying the cats of North America, for some reason.) I took all the high level science courses in school. So this movie kind of ruled my life. I wanted to be Sam Neill, digging up dinosaur bones in some far off place.
When Harry Met Sally... -- Because I love to laugh and because I’m a sucker for a good love story, this movie just clicked with me. Billy Crystal is phenomenal and I love the way he makes Meg Ryan laugh in the movie. You can just see over the course of time they stay with each other. They never forget. Their story is so good and so funny. And when I first saw it, it was an unusual story. Not the kind of love story I was used to seeing. And I liked that. The movie takes a long view of love. (Isn’t Nora Ephron an absolute genius?)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind -- This is a more complicated pick for me. I’m including it on this list because it shook me up when I first saw it. I was twenty years old and with a group of my best friends. This movie made me feel something I hadn’t in a long time. It’s hard to say what that was, exactly, but the movie made me feel. It made me cry. And think. And laugh. I can’t really even watch the movie again because of how powerful it was for me. But I listen to the soundtrack (Jon Brion -- another creative genius) all the time and when I do, I’m twenty again, sitting in that dark theatre with my very best friends and we’re all young and in love with life and trying to grow up and figuring out how to do that.
About the Book
Most of the working-class secretaries in New York City don’t spend their mornings wrestling skirts from beneath roosting chickens or cleaning egg yolk off their heels. But Sophie Waldrop does, thanks to her boyfriend, Scott, and the organic egg business he runs out of her 5th floor walk-up. Though they’ve been dating since high school, Scott no longer pulls his weight in the relationship—financially or emotionally. Sophie’s ready to send him, and his chickens, packing.
The day she breaks up with Scott, Sophie’s boss introduces her to the firm’s new client, Nick Jackson—the hottest up-and-coming actor in Hollywood. Sophie can’t believe her luck when her boss volunteers her to be Nick’s date for a red carpet award ceremony that same night. Freshly single, Sophie tries to keep things in perspective as her “work event” leads to a budding romance. She didn’t expect to like Nick, and she certainly didn’t expect him to like her.
When her dream job lands in her lap, Sophie rejoices that her hard work has finally paid off. But she soon learns that it may have been Nick's influence that opened the doors and created the opportunities that she would rather have earned for herself.
Nick’s hectic schedule, the persistent leading ladies with whom he works, and Sophie’s own promotion and career ambitions further complicate their fairy-tale romance. Can Nick and Sophie make their love last, or will their relationship be more like the paparazzi’s camera flashes—fast, bright, and fading?
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