I Discover Ross McElwee (late as usual)

A chance off-comment by my colleague Jenni Olson led me to acquire the Ross McElwee DVD Collection which includes "Sherman's March." A Southern revelation, indeed, and as someone raised in Charlottesville, VA, I can say that his style completely resonates with my own sense of the South. (Originally released in 1986, I completely missed it. Sherman, of course, missed Charlottesville in his march, so maybe that's why this film didn't leap out at me sooner.)

Highly recommended.

The closest to a prose equivalent I can think of - except not Southern - is "The Education of Jane," in which a young woman who just broke up with her husband takes a trip to the Gallapagos (compliments of her mother), and searches for love amidst the blue-footed boobies as she retraces her childhood hero Charles Darwin's travels there. Similar in the wry tone, the mixing of history and the current affairs of the heart. A favorite book . . .