Nebraska and The Lunchbox

I've seen two delightful and fairly upbeat movies lately. The first is Nebraska. It's about an older father (left), with dementia who is convinced that he won a million dollars through a sweepstakes letter that he got in the mail, and his son (right) who knows he didn't, but finally gives in and drives him to Nebraska to try to get the money anyway. The father spent much of his life, and his son's childhood, drinking too much, so the son sees this as an opportunity to learn about his father. En route, they stop in the town that the father grew up in. It's funny, it's poignant, and the trip helps father and son understand each other.

The second is The Lunchbox, which Cardigan suggested.

The website teases: "Mumbai's Dabbawallah's are a community of 5000 Dabba (lunchbox) deliverymen. Harvard University analyzed their delivery system and concluded that just one in a million lunchboxes is ever delivered to the wrong address. This film is the story of that one lunchbox."

Really, the film is about getting to the right place on the wrong train--it's about human errors and the relationships that can result.

Ila is trying to regain her husband's affection through her cooking, sending him fancy lunches everyday (a Like Water for Chocolate-esque idea, but without the magical realism). The lunches accidentally go to Saajan, an accountant about to retire. His wife has died; he's lonely; and he's very stuck in his ways. They strike up a relationship through letters. (And I'm a sucker for relationships through letters.) The film is about love and sacrifice and courage. The only thing to complain about is the ending.